Iychettira Prema Cariappa

Iychettira Prema Cariappa was born in Virajpet, Kodagu on 15th August 1951. She is an Indian political and social worker. A politician from Indian National Congress party, she was a former Mayor of Bangalore and a former MP, as she was representing Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. She is also the chairperson of the Central Social Welfare Board.

Family

Father

Somayenda B Kushalappa

Mother

Somayenda Thangamma

Husband

Iychettira M Cariappa

Children

Son

Daughter

Education

She studied Bachelor of Arts from Teresian College Mysore.

Career

• She was elected as the Mayor of Bangalore in 2001
• She was elected to the Rajya Sabha for a six-year term in April 2002
• In 2008 she took over as chairperson of the Central Social Welfare Board
• 2004 she was a Member of Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Urban Development, Member of Central Silk Board, Coffee Board. She was also the President and Advisor for various Mahila Samajas and sports organizations, as well as the President of the Karnataka State Harijan Sevak Sangh

Achievements 

•  Prema Cariappa was the Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee, Bangalore City Corporation in1990-91.
• She was a Corporator in the Bangalore City Corporation between 1991 and 2001.
• She was the Deputy Leader of the Bangalore City Corporation 1n the year 1991-93.
• She became the Party Leader of the Bangalore City Corporation in1996-97.
• She was Secretary for the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee in the year1996-99
• She first became the deputy mayor of Bangalore in 1994-95 and then later she became the Mayor of Bangalore in 2000-01, she was the first woman to have occupied both positions.
• In April 2002 she was elected to the Rajya Sabha
• On 16 June 2004, she was appointed the Chief Whip of the Congress Party in the Rajya Sabha.
• She had strongly supported the Women’s Reservation Bill along with other women politicians from across parties during the winter session of 2006
• As a chairperson of the Central Social Welfare Board she focused the attention of the board on the plight of the girl child in India. she also launched the Balika Sanrakshan Abhiyan, a campaign against female foeticide in 2008
• She has worked for the uplift of the poor, widows and destitutes, the development of cities and villages, the improvement of water supply and sanitation and the maintenance of green cover
• She served in the Central Silk Board, Coffee Board, Urban Development Ministry consultative committee, external affairs committee and women’s empowerment committee.
• In 1998-99 she was Chairman of Public Works & Town Planning
• In 2000-2002 she was Member of Indian Institute of Public Administration
• In 2002-2004 she was Member of Committee on Urban and Rural Development. She was Member of Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Member, Hindi Salahakar Committee (Sub-Committee on Science and Technology). She was also a Member of Committee on External Affairs Member, Committee on Empowerment of Women Member, Committee on Government Assurances.

Conferences

• She travelled widely in the course of her work and has attended global conferences focused on her areas of interest.
• She participated in a World Conference on Women’s Security and Gender Equality held at Bangkok, Thailand in September 2002,
•  Participated in a Special Session on Children held at New York, U.S.A. in 2002
• Attended  World Conference on ‘Making the World a Better Place’ organised by Brahmakumaries at Mount Abu, Rajasthan, a South East Asia Seminar on AIDS held at Islamabad, Pakistan in 2005 and an Inter -Parliamentary Union (IPU) Conference on”Beyond Beijing:
• She participated as a national delegate at UN Headquarters in New York in March 2005 towards Gender Equality in Politics.
• She attended World Mayors Conference at Berlin, Germany in 2002 and visited China at the invitation of Indo-China Friendship Society to strengthen relationship and mutual understanding among people of the two countries

Awards

•  In 2009 she was awarded the Raṣţriya Gaurav Award by the India International Friendship Society
• She was conferred with the Indira Gandhi Award by the Indian Farm Journalist Association in 2009.
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