elected to the Constituent Assembly from the Madras Province. She was the only woman in the panel of chairmen in the Constituent Assembly. She proposed Hindustani (Hindi+Urdu) as the national language of India but also expressed fear about the forceful campaign for Hindi in South India. She proposed a period of fifteen years of status quo to enable all the non-Hindi speakers to adopt and learn Hindi. Personal life Durgabai Deshmukh was born in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, British India, in the Gummidithala family belonging to Brahmin community; Durgabai was married at the age of 8 to her cousin, Subba Rao. She refused to live with him after her maturation, and her father and brother supported her decision. She later left him to pursue her education. In 1953, she married the then Finance Minister of India Chintaman Deshmukh. According to her own account, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was one of the three witnesses. C. D. Deshmukh had a daughter from a previous marriage but the couple remained otherwise childless. Though she had parted ways with Subba Rao, she supported his widow Timmaiamma after his death. Timmaiamma lived with Durgabai and Chintaman Deshmukh, and Durgabai also organised for her to get vocational training. Durgabai Deshmukh authored a book called The Stone That Speaketh. Her autobiography Chintaman and I was published one year before her death in 1981. She died in Narasannapeta, in Srikakulam district. Awards Paul G Hoffman Award Nehru Literacy Award UNESCO Award (for outstanding work in the field of literacy) Padma Vibhushan award from the government of India Jeevan award and Jagadeesh award Organizations established by Durgabai Andhra Mahila Sabha in 1938. Council for Social Development Durgabai Deshmukh Hospital in 1962. Sri Venkateswara College, New Delhi Andhra Education Society (AES) was founded in 1948 by Dr. Durgabai Deshmukh to serve the educational needs of Telugu children residing in Delhi. References External links Durgabai Deshmukh: A pioneer and a transformative leader, Prema Kasturi and Prema Srinivasan, The Hindu. Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in social work 1981 deaths 1909 births Members of the Constituent Assembly of India Prisoners and detainees of British India Politicians from Rajahmundry Indian independence activists from Andhra Pradesh Women in Andhra Pradesh politics Indian National Congress politicians from Andhra Pradesh Social workers 20th-century Indian politicians 20th-century Indian women politicians Women Indian independence activists Social workers from Andhra Pradesh