Girija Vyas

:"This article is partly based on the [http://ncw.nic.in/commission.htm N.C.W. website] "

Girija Vyas is an Indian politician, poet and author.

After obtaining a Doctorate in Philosophy, she taught at the Mohanlal Sukhadia University of Udaipur and the University of Delaware. In 1985, as a candidate of the Indian National Congress party, she was elected as an M.L.A. from Udaipur, Rajasthan and served as a Minister in the Provincial Government of Rajasthan till 1990.

In 1991, she was elected to the Indian Parliament, representing Udaipur, Rajasthan in the Lok Sabha and was appointed as a Deputy Minister in the Federal Government of India in the Narsimha Rao ministry

From 2001-2004, she was also the President, Rajasthan Provincial Congress Committee. Currently, she is Chairperson, Media Department, All India Congress Committee and member, Indo-EU Civil Society.

In February 2005, the Congress Party dominated U.P.A. Government of Manmohan Singh nominated her to the position of the Chairperson of the Fifth National Commission for Women, a Constitutional & Statutory body, a position she currently holds.

She remains an M.L.A. in Rajasthan.

Controversy

She was implicated in the Petrol Pump allotment scam as a beneficiary. The Indian Express, on Sunday, October 24, 2004, in an article titled "Why Congress’s top spokesperson may not like to raise the BJP’s petrol pump scam", reported that a two-judge panel told Supreme Court that Girija Vyas’s pump be cancelled. The reason cited was that she fixed the interview, pulled strings, and fudged records [http://www.indianexpress.com/india-news/full_story.php?content_id=57590] . She opposes the amendment of section 498A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/498a] of the Indian Penal Code, under whose provisions Indian men and their extended families can be jailed without trial on the basis of a verbal complaint by an estranged spouseFact|date=February 2008.

Positions held

* M.L.A., Rajasthan
* Minister of State, Government of Rajasthan
* President, Rajasthan Provincial Congress Committee for five years.
* Member of Indian Parliament in the lower house or Lok Sabha several times
* Minister in the Government of India in the 1991s.
* Chairperson, Media Department, All India Congress Committee
* Special Invitee, Congress Working Committee, All India Congress Committee
* Chairperson, National Commission for Women