Nirmala Deshpande

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Nirmala Deshpande (October 19, 1929 - May 1, 2008)^[1] was a noted Gandhian, social activist and a nominated Member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. Her father P Y Deshpande was a Marathi writer.

Deshpande received the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award and the Padma Vibhushan in 2006.

Deshpande was born to Vimala and P Y Deshpande in Nagpur on October 19, 1929, and completed her education there. She was also a Rajya Sabha member since 1997 and her name was considered briefly for the President's post — a nomination that eventually went to Pratibha Patil.

Among other honours that came her way was a nomination for the Nobel peace prize in 2005. Having vowed never to marry, Deshpande, known as the "Manaskanya" of Acharya Vinoba Bhave, joined the Bhoodan movement in 1952 when her tryst with social service began.

She undertook 40,000-km padyatra across India to carry Mahatma Gandhi's message of Gram Swaraj. She firmly believed that although it was difficult to practice Gandhian principles, it was the only way towards a truly democratic society.

Deshpande was also known to be the spirit behind the peace marches in Punjab and Kashmir when violence was at its peak in these regions and the social fabric was being torn asunder. Her peace mission to Kashmir in 1994 and her initiative to organise India-Pakistan meet in 1996 were some of her major achievements in her decades of public service.

She often played her part in peaceful and democratic resolution of conflicts whether nationally (by intervening to stop riots) or internationally (by participating in track-two diplomacy to improve Indo-Pak bilaterals). The Tibetan cause, too, was close to her heart. Deshpande had authored several novels in Hindi, one of which got her a national award, apart from writing plays, travelogues, a commentary on Isha Upanishad and a biography of Vinoba Bhave.

Widely respected Gandhian and a recipient of Padma Vibhushan, Nirmala Deshpande, who devoted more than 60 years of her life towards promoting communal harmony and serving women, tribals and the dispossessed, died at age 79 in New Delhi on May 01, 2008.

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