NEW DELHI: Embarking on the national stage as the youngest member of Manmohan Singh's council of ministers, 28-year-old Agatha Sangma promises to be the voice of the far-away North-East.
"It is good news for the North-East and definitely for Garo Hills," she says about her becoming a minister.
A lawyer by training with a degree in environment management from Nottingham University, UK, her name is a testimony to her father, former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno Sangma's passion for Agatha Christie's mysteries.
The bespectacled young MP from the remote region won applause by taking her oath in Hindi. But the North-East will always remain the backdrop to whichever stage she is on.
In an essay she wrote for a Times Group publication before the election, Agatha recalled the travail and hurt of Monika Devi, the athlete from Manipur, who had been disqualified in a dubious dope test hours before she was to take the flight to Beijing for the Olympics.
For the athlete, who had won laurels in international meets without the facilities her counterparts elsewhere enjoyed, the denial was traumatic, Agatha wrote.
A perceived indifference to the issues of the North-East in Parliament surprised Agatha when she first came to the Lok Sabha winning a by-election from Tura in 2008. "During the discussion on the Assam blasts in the House only the North-East MPs were present, as if it was an issue only for that region," she said about her experience as a first-termer in the House. She made her first speech in the Lok Sabha on that occasion.
Agatha, however, is keen to come out of the shadow of her father. She makes it a point to tell others that Purno Sangma, an important figure on the national scene in the nineties, has never given her tips on politics nor has he sought to groom her.
"I hope I will be able to create my own space," she says. Her other promise is to work for the empowerment of women and youth. Environment is one of her major concerns.
Agatha is dismissive of the charge that her political innings has begun from the family borough of Tura, the constituency which had returned her father many times.
"At the end of the day, I will not win with the four votes of my family; I will win with the votes of the people of Garo Hills," she points out.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Youngest-minister-wants-to-be-voice-of-North-East/articleshow/4590382.cms
"It is good news for the North-East and definitely for Garo Hills," she says about her becoming a minister.
A lawyer by training with a degree in environment management from Nottingham University, UK, her name is a testimony to her father, former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno Sangma's passion for Agatha Christie's mysteries.
The bespectacled young MP from the remote region won applause by taking her oath in Hindi. But the North-East will always remain the backdrop to whichever stage she is on.
In an essay she wrote for a Times Group publication before the election, Agatha recalled the travail and hurt of Monika Devi, the athlete from Manipur, who had been disqualified in a dubious dope test hours before she was to take the flight to Beijing for the Olympics.
For the athlete, who had won laurels in international meets without the facilities her counterparts elsewhere enjoyed, the denial was traumatic, Agatha wrote.
A perceived indifference to the issues of the North-East in Parliament surprised Agatha when she first came to the Lok Sabha winning a by-election from Tura in 2008. "During the discussion on the Assam blasts in the House only the North-East MPs were present, as if it was an issue only for that region," she said about her experience as a first-termer in the House. She made her first speech in the Lok Sabha on that occasion.
Agatha, however, is keen to come out of the shadow of her father. She makes it a point to tell others that Purno Sangma, an important figure on the national scene in the nineties, has never given her tips on politics nor has he sought to groom her.
"I hope I will be able to create my own space," she says. Her other promise is to work for the empowerment of women and youth. Environment is one of her major concerns.
Agatha is dismissive of the charge that her political innings has begun from the family borough of Tura, the constituency which had returned her father many times.
"At the end of the day, I will not win with the four votes of my family; I will win with the votes of the people of Garo Hills," she points out.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Youngest-minister-wants-to-be-voice-of-North-East/articleshow/4590382.cms
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