Mridula Sinha

Mridula Sinha is an Indian writer and politician. She is the current Governor of Goa. She was born on 27th November 1942 in the Chhapra Daramdur Yada village in the Muzaffarpur district in Bihar. Mridula is the daughter of Babu Chhabile Singh and Anupa Devi.

She studied at the local school in Chhapra and then in Balika Vidyapeeth in the Lakhisarai district. Mridula did an under graduate course in 1962 and a post graduate course in 1964 in Psychology from the Bihar University. She also earned a B. Ed. Degree from the Bihar University in 1971. Then she became a lecturer at the Dr. S. K. Sinha Women’s College in Motihari.

She then started a school in Muzaffarpur. She earned the Honorary Doctorate degree from the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University in Muzaffarpur. She is married to Bihar’s cabinet minister Dr. Ram Kripal Sinha. Mridula had a keen interest in writing since childhood but pursued a career in writing only after marriage with some encouragement from her husband. She wrote short stories on folk tales, village traditions and cultural matters, the stories were published Hindi magazines. She later compiled her short stories into a two volume Anthology series titled Bihar Ki Lok-Kathaye.

She wrote several novels like Sita Puni Boli, Dekhan Mein Choten Lagen, Gharwaas and Nayi Devyani. Her novel Jyo Mehendi Ko Rang inspired a short film by Doordarshan channel of the same title. One of her popular works is Ek Thi Rani Aisi Bhi, which was a biography on Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia, wife of the last Maharaja of Gwalior and a prominent politician.

Director Gul Bahar Singh filmed a historical drama in 2013 based on Mridula’s work with the same title. She is the editor and the founder of the magazine Panchva Stambh. Mridula took part in her husband’s political campaign for the district committee which aroused her interest in social welfare. She became the Chairperson of Central Social Welfare Board from 1998 to 2004.

She was a member of the national administration of the BJP till August 2014. During the 2014 Indian Elections, she was the head of the party’s female division. She took office as the Governor of Goa on 25th August 2014. Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed Mridula as an ambassador of the Swachh Bharata Abhiyan.

Mridula received awards and accolades like the Sahithya Bhushan Samman, Rashtriya Shikhar Samman, Pt. Deen Daya; Upadhyay Samman, Kalpataru Samman, Ojaswini Shikhar Samman and Sahithya Shri Samman.