Dakshayani Velayudhan

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Dakshayani Velayudhan (4 July 1912 – 20 July 1978) was an Indian politician and leader of the oppressed classes. Belonging to the Pulayar community, she was among the first generation of^[1] people to be educated from the community. She holds several distinctions including becoming the first woman from her community to wear an upper cloth, the first Scheduled Caste woman graduate in India, a science graduate, a member of the Cochin Legislative Council and of being one of nine female members of the Constituent Assembly of India.^[2][3] But it is not correct to mention that she was one of the first women from her community to wear an upper cloth. Her elder sister and her mother Thayyithara Maani may be given this credit prior to her.^[4] Mother Maani lived up to the post independent period in India and died in 1959.

Honouring Dakshayani Velayudhan, the first and only Dalit woman MLA, the Kerala government has constituted the ‘Dakshayani Velayudhan Award’ which will be given to women who contributed in empowering other women in the state. The budget earmarked Rs 2 crore for the award.^[5] This was announced by the Kerala Finance Minister Dr. Thomas Isaac during the presentation of Kerala Budget 2019 in the Legislative Assembly on 31 January 2019.^[6]