Lata Thakur

Lata Thakur was a Scheduled Tribe candidate and won the 1972 MLA seat from Lahaul and Spiti against Thakur Devi Singh of the Lok Raj Party.{{Cite book |last1=Jaffrelot |first1=Christophe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tDN0MinxMigC&q=lata+thakur&pg=PA409 |title=Rise of the Plebeians?: The Changing Face of the Indian Legislative Assemblies |last2=Kumar |first2=Sanjay |date=2012-05-04 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-51661-0 |language=en}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RR4c8iuY__MC&dq=lata+thakur+mla+lahaul+spiti&pg=RA4-PA26 |title=Socialist India |date=1972 |publisher=Indian National Congress. All India Congress Committee. |language=en}}

At Lata Thakur's request, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited the Lahaul and Spiti valleys in June 1972.{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Ashwani |date=2022-02-14 |title=PM Modi To Relive Old Memories In Himachal's Keylong |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-pm-modi-to-relive-old-memories-in-himachals-keylong/360726 |access-date=3 November 2022 |website= |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=India |first=Granthshala |date=2022-09-28 |title=Congress leader Dunichand Thakur no more: Died at the age of 91, Lahaul-Spiti Congress lost priceless Ratan- Ravi Thakur |url=https://granthshala.in/congress-leader-dunichand-thakur-no-more-died-at-the-age-of-91-lahaul-spiti-congress-lost-priceless-ratan-ravi-thakur/ |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=Granthshala India |language=en-US}}{{Cite book |last=Roberto Vitali |url=http://archive.org/details/a-short-guide-to-key-gonpa-roberto-vitali |title=A Short Guide To Key Gonpa |year=2000 |pages=58}} Gandhi again visited Spiti in June 1974, though this time only to Sumdo, near the Indo-Tibetan frontier. This visit nonetheless further bolstered Congress's and Lata Thakur's position there.{{Cite book |last=Issar |first=Brigadier Satish K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o1U1EAAAQBAJ&q=lata+thakur |title=Vision, Courage and Service: Life and Times of General T.N. Raina, MVC |date=2021-06-15 |publisher=Vision Books |isbn=978-93-86268-52-5 |language=en}} Lata Thakur brought about the provision of supplying fuelwood at subsidized rates and without transportation charges to all locals of the remote Spiti valley for the winter.{{Cite web |last=Bodh |first=Top Singh |title=122 Winter Days Stranded in a snowed-in place |url=https://www.bcmtouring.com/forums/attachments/122-days-trapped-pdf.789632/ |access-date=3 November 2022}}

Alongside, Lata Thakur served as the president of the Himachal Pradesh Youth Congress Committee.{{Cite web |title=Biodata of Ravi Thakur |url=https://ncst.gov.in/sites/default/files/documents/commission_profile/biodatavc5856614304.pdf |access-date=3 November 2022}} As Youth Congress convener, she contended that the youth should be involved in the drawing of development projects.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bBBDAAAAYAAJ&dq=women+on+the+march+1976+lata+thakur+google+books&pg=RA3-PA14 |title=Women on the March |date=1976 |publisher=Smt. Mukul Banerjee for the Women's Front of All India Congress Committee |pages=14 |language=en}} She also served as the president of the Himalayan Buddhist Society at Manali.{{Cite web |title=Himalayan Buddhist Society Manali |url=http://testwebsites.cybraintech.com/hbsm/history.html |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=testwebsites.cybraintech.com}} Lata Thakur and Vidya Stokes were critical of Yashwant Singh Parmar's book Polyandry in the Himalayas, claiming that the book could have a negative effect on the women of the state, and that Parmar did not understand Himachali women well.{{Cite book |last=Elmore |first=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AbUwDwAAQBAJ&q=lata+thakur+&pg=PA1 |title=Becoming Religious in a Secular Age |date=2016-07-05 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-29054-9 |pages=55 |language=en}}File:Gemur Lahaul Oct20 D72 17824.jpg

Around the time of the inauguration of the Atal Tunnel in October 2020, there were claims that Lata Thakur had been instrumental in initiating the idea of building a tunnel under the Rohtang Pass, so as to provide the Lahaul valley with round-the-year road connectivity. The claims were that she had talked to Indira Gandhi of this need on one of the PM's visits to the Lahaul and Spiti district during Lata's tenure as MLA, and that the chain of events set-off by this discussion had materialised several decades later in the form of the Atal Tunnel.{{Cite web |last=Panwar |first=Tikender Singh |date=30 September 2020 |title=Rohtang Tunnel – Remember the Workers who Built it |url=https://www.newsclick.in/rohtang-tunnel-remember-workers-who-built-it |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=NewsClick |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Gupta |first=Dharam Prakash |date=2020-10-16 |title=BJP and Congress leaders vie to draw political mileage from Atal tunnel |url=http://himachalguardian.com/2020/10/bjp-and-congress-leaders-vie-to-draw-political-mileage-from-atal-tunnel/ |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=Himachal Guardian |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |last=Service |first=Statesman News |date=2020-10-04 |title=BJP, Cong spar to stake claim over Atal Tunnel construction |url=https://www.thestatesman.com/cities/shimla/bjp-cong-spar-stake-claim-atal-tunnel-construction-1502927714.html |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=The Statesman |language=en-US}}

Lata Thakur belonged to village Gemur of Lahaul tehsil, Lahaul and Spiti district.

She was married to Nihal Chand Thakur of Gemur.{{Cite book |last=Ghosh |first=Tapash Kumar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_otuAAAAMAAJ&q=lata+thakur+lahaul |title=A Profile of the Himalayan Lahaula |date=2002 |publisher=Anthropological Survey of India, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Department of Culture, Government of India |isbn=978-81-85579-52-8 |pages=216 |language=en}} Nihal Chand came from a local noble family. His forefathers had been the wazirs of Kolong in Lahaul since the seventeenth century. He was the younger brother of Lt. Col. Kushal Chand, MVC. Nihal Chand served on the Punjab Tribes Advisory Council until 1966, when Lahaul was merged into the emerging state of Himachal Pradesh. Nihal Chand had also contested the Himachal Pradesh Assembly seat, but was unsuccessful. He died in 1975.{{Cite book |last=Brentnall |first=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ayYbAvECXQwC&dq=thakur+nihal+chand&pg=PA364 |title=The Princely and Noble Families of the Former Indian Empire: Himachal Pradesh |date=2004 |publisher=Indus Publishing |isbn=978-81-7387-163-4 |pages=364 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Sahni |first=Ram Nath |title=Lahaul - The Mystery Land in the Himalayas |publisher=Indus Publishing Company |year=1994 |location=New Delhi |pages=96–100}}

In 1962, Lata Thakur and Nihal Chand Thakur had a son, whom they named Ravi Thakur, and who upon growing up also became a politician.

Lata Thakur was killed in a car accident near Pandoh (in Mandi district) on 14 December 1976, at the age of 35.{{Cite web |title=महिला दिवस पर याद आईं लता और इंदिरा |url=https://www.amarujala.com/himachal-pradesh/kullu/Kullu-57143-21 |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=Amar Ujala |language=hi}}

The Lata Thakur Memorial Stadium in village Udaipur of Lahaul and Spiti district is named after her, where a Lata Thakur Memorial T-20 Cricket Competition is held.{{Cite web |title=Lata Thakur Memorial Stadium (Stadium) - Udaipur, Himachal Pradesh |url=https://www.helpmecovid.com/in/154370_lata-thakur-memorial-stadium |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=www.helpmecovid.com}}{{Cite web |date=2017-06-01 |title=कुल्लू |url=https://www.bhaskar.com/HIM-OTH-MAT-latest-kullu-news-020004-2716723-NOR.html/ |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=Dainik Bhaskar |language=hi}}

Category:People from Lahaul and Spiti district

Category:Himachal Pradesh MLAs 1972–1977

Category:1941 births

Category:1976 deaths

Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Himachal Pradesh

Category:20th-century Indian women politicians

Category:1970s in Himachal Pradesh

Category:People from Punjab Province (British India)

Category:Road incident deaths in India

Category:Women members of the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly