in the panel of chairmen in the Constituent Assembly. She was instrumental in the enactment of many social welfare laws. She failed to get elected to Parliament in 1952, and was later nominated to be a member of the Planning Commission. In that role, she mustered support for a national policy on social welfare. The policy resulted in the establishment of a Central Social Welfare Board in 1953. As the Board's first chairperson, she mobilized a large number of voluntary organizations to carry out its programs, which were aimed at education, training, and rehabilitation of needy women, children, and the disabled. She was the first to emphasise the need to set up separate Family Courts after studying the same during her visit to China in 1953. She discussed the idea with Justice M.C. Chagla and Justice P.B. Gajendragadkar of the Bombay High Court (at that time) and also with Jawaharlal Nehru. With similar demands for speedy justice for women in familial matters from women's movement and organisations, the Family Courts Act was enacted in 1984. She was the first chairperson of the National Council on Women's Education, established by the Government of India in 1958. In 1959, the committee presented its recommendations, as follows: "The Centre and State Governments should give priority to the education of girls. In the central ministry of education, a department of women's education should be created. For proper education of girls, a Director of Women's Education should be appointed in each state. Co-education should be properly organised at higher level of education. The University Grants Commission should specify a definite amount separately for the education of girls. In the first phase of development, provision of free education should be made for girls up to Class VIII Facilities in the choice of optional subjects should be made available for girls. Girls should get training facilities on a liberal basis. Education of Girls should be given due encouragement in rural areas. A large number of seats in various services should be reserved for them. Programmes for the development of adult women's education should be properly initiated and encouraged." To commemorate her legacy, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam has named its Department of Women Studies as Dr. Durgabai Deshmukh Centre for Women's Studies. In 1963, she was sent to Washington D.C. as a member of the Indian delegation to the World Food Congress. Contribution in Constituent Assembly She was then