Sailabala Das
{{Short description|Indian social worker and politician}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Sailabala Das
|image = Sailabala Das.jpg
|caption =
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|alt = Sailabala Das
|birth_name = Shoila Bala Hazra
|birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1875|03|25}}http://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/pre_member/1952_2003/d.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}
| birth_place = Chakraberia Road, Bhowanipore, Calcutta
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1968|04|29|1875|03|25}}
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| office = Member: Rajya Sabha
| constituency = Odisha
| term_start = 03 April 1952
| term_end = 02 April 1954
|party = Indian National Congress
|otherparty =
|alma_mater =Bethune College, Maria Grey Training College{{cite web|last1=Karlekar|first1=Malavika|title=A VOYAGE OUT – How Sailabala Das discovers that the Red Sea is not red|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090809/jsp/opinion/story_11332838.jsp|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141025155952/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090809/jsp/opinion/story_11332838.jsp|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 October 2014|publisher=The Telegraph|access-date=25 October 2014}}{{Use Indian English|date=October 2013}}
|profession = Educationist, Social Worker, Politician
|education =
|website =
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Sailabala Das (25 March 1875 – 29 April 1968) was a social worker and politician. She was the first woman from Odisha to go to England for higher studies.{{cite book|author=Sachidananda Mohanty|title=Early Women's Writings in Orissa, 1898–1950: A Lost Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WAicQsB1jkgC&pg=PA45|year=2005|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-0-7619-3308-3|pages=45–}}
Life
Sailabala Das, eldest child of Ambica Charan Hazra and Prosannamayee, was born on 25 March 1875 at the Bhowanipore (Calcutta) house of Madhusudan Das. She had five siblings.{{citation needed|date= August 2022}} Following her mother's death, she was adopted by Madhusudan Das.{{citation needed|date= August 2022}}
In 1903, she formed the Utkal Young Men's Association and managed the Utkal Young Women's Association.{{citation needed|date= August 2022}} She was instrumental in creation of the first women's college in Odisha, the main building of which was gifted by her.{{citation needed|date= August 2022}} She started a Hindu widow's training school to train widows to become high school teachers. On the political front, she started several branches of All-India Women's Conference. She established Orissa Nari Seba Sangha in 1941 for social welfare of women. Indian National Council for Women held its biennial conference in Cuttack, under her leadership.{{citation needed|date= August 2022}}
She extended her reach to Bihar, where she became the first woman inspector of prison cells in Patna, first woman to join the management committee of the Prince of Wales Medical College and became the Syndicate member of Patna University. Sailabala became the first woman Honorary Magistrate of India, adjudicating over 600 cases a year.{{cite web|last1=Pattanayak|first1=Saswat|title=Sailabala Das: The Dissent|date=14 March 2012 |url=http://kindlemag.in/sailabala-das-the-dissent/|publisher=Ink Publications|access-date=25 October 2014}}
In recognition to her contribution to education, Sir Edward Albert Gait, the last Lieutenant Governor of Orissa and Bihar, wanted to confer the Kaisar-i-Hind gold medal to her but she declined it.{{cite book|author=Sachidananda Mohanty|title=Literature and Social Reform in Colonial Orissa: The Legacy of Sailabala Das (1875–1968)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zAsTQCTCoZMC&pg=PR9|date=1 January 2006|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-260-2298-4|pages=9–}}
Shailabala Women's College, Cuttack is named after her.{{cite web|title=SB women's college Centenary Celebration begins in the presence of Vice President Hamid Ansari|url=http://discoverodisha.in/news/10/Event|publisher=Discover Odisha|access-date=25 October 2014|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090025/http://discoverodisha.in/news/10/Event|url-status=dead}}
Literary works
- A look After and Before – autobiography (1956){{cite web|last1=Karlekar|first1=Malavika|title=WONDER AND MELANCHOLY – Railway tales and travails from colonial India|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100104/jsp/opinion/story_11935106.jsp|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150423131141/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100104/jsp/opinion/story_11935106.jsp|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 April 2015|publisher=The Telegraph|access-date=26 October 2014}}
- Tribute of a Daughter to Her Father (2008){{cite book | title=Tribute of a Daughter to Her Father | publisher=Bona | author=Shailabala Das | year=2008 | pages=192 | isbn=978-8187493280}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Social Work}}
{{Padma Award winners of Odisha}}
{{Rajya Sabha Members from Odisha}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Das, Sailabala}}
Category:Rajya Sabha members from Odisha
Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Odisha
Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work
Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists
Category:Women in Odisha politics
Category:20th-century Indian women politicians
Category:20th-century Indian politicians
Category:Social workers from Odisha
Category:19th-century Indian women educators
Category:19th-century Indian educators
Category:20th-century Indian women educators
Category:20th-century Indian educators
Category:Women members of the Rajya Sabha
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