India’s lower house of parliament elected a woman as its speaker Wednesday, a first in the male-dominated chamber’s history.
Meira Kumar is also a member of the “untouchable” Dalit class, the lowest rung in the centuries-old caste system in the country.
The speaker conducts the proceedings of the house. She will preside over 543 elected members, of which 58 are women.Read
Tags: first woman speaker, Meira Kumar
Five-term Lok Sabha MP Meira Kumar on Tuesday became the consensus candidate of the ruling UPA and the Opposition BJP for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker.
Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee led a UPA delegation to submit Kumar’s nomination papers to Lok Sabha Secretary General P D T Achary for the election to the Speaker’s post scheduled to be held on Wednesday.More
Tags: Lok Sabha Speaker, Meira Kumar