India's first woman diplomat is no more
In the male controlled society, women are discouraged to achieve
success especially in the professional fields. The year 1949 was not the time when women were seen outside their home, which was considered as the right place for them. In that year an woman was bold and determined to enter the Indian civil
service. She fulfilled her dream and became the first female civil servant and diplomat too as she opted for the Foreign Service.
C. B. Muthamma is the woman, who is recognized as the first woman Indian diplomat in the country. After sixty years of her first induction in the Foreign Service, she died at the age of 85 at a private hospital in Bangalore after suffering insignificantly. She belongs to the place Virajpet of Kodagu district, Karnataka.
Her first appointment in the Foreign Service was the Indian Embassy, Paris as the third secretary. As ambassador, she served the countries Hungary, The Netherlands, and Ghana. She was also part of Indian diplomatic missions in several countries of Europe, Africa, and Asia. She was a member of the Palme
commission that was set up for Non-Government Commission on Disarmament and Security. This Commission was the brainchild of Olof Palme, the then Swedish Prime Minister.
A scholar in her own rights, she completed her studies in Karnataka and Chennai. She fought against the government when she was denied promotion because of her gender. The Supreme Court Justice V S Krishna Iyer ordered the government to appoint her as ambassador. A few books too she has written.