Alka Lamba

Alka Lamba

Alka Lamba (born September 21, 1975) previously a Congress politician is currently a volunteer of Aam Aadmi Party. After serving Indian National Congress in various departments for 20 years, she left Congress party on December 26, 2013 to volunteer for the Aam Aadmi Party. She is former President of Delhi University Students Union, former National President of National Students Union of India, former General Secretary of 'Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee' and former Secretary of ‘‘All India Congress Committee’‘. As of October 2013, Lamba is Chairperson of ‘‘NGO’‘ 'Go India Foundation'.

Personal life

Lamba was born on 21 September 1975 to Amar Nath Lamba and Raj Kumari Lamba in ‘‘New Delhi’’, India. She completed her schooling from Government Girls Senior Secondary School No.1, Delhi. Then she studied at ‘‘Delhi University’‘, ‘‘Dyal Singh College, Delhi’‘ and ‘‘St. Stephen's College, Delhi’‘ earning an ‘‘Master of Science’’ in Chemistry as well as an ‘‘MEd’‘.

Political career

Lamba began her political career in 1994 when she was in second year of B.Sc where she joined the National Students Union of India (NSUI) and had taken the responsibility as Delhi State Girl Convener. After one year in 1995, she contested the ‘‘Delhi University Students Union’‘(DUSU) election for the post of President and won by a huge margin. In 1996 she worked as All India Girl Convener for ‘‘NSUI’‘ and in 1997 she was appointed as the President of all India ‘‘NSUI’‘.

In 2002, she was appointed as the General Secretary of ‘‘All India Mahila Congress’’. In 2003, she unsuccessfully contested Delhi Assembly elections from ‘‘Moti Nagar metro station Constituency against the senior BJP leader Shri ‘‘Madan Lal Khurana’‘. In 2006 she became a member of ‘‘All India Congress Committee’‘ (AICC) and appointed as General Secretary of ‘‘Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee’‘ (DPCC). At the same time she was also appointed as Vice Chairperson of ‘‘National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development’‘ (NIPCCD), autonomous body of ‘‘Ministry of Women and Child Development’‘, ‘‘Government of India’‘. She was a Secretary ‘‘All India Congress Committee’‘ (AICC) at the ‘‘Indian National Congress’‘ from 2007 to 2011. She left ‘‘Indian National Congress’‘ in December 2013 in order to join ‘‘Aam Aadmi Party’‘.

Social work

Lamba started a ‘‘non-governmental organization’‘ 'Go India Foundation' in 2006 with the aim of empowering youths and encourage them to take part in political, social and economic development of India. The NGO also deals with women's issues. Lamba is Chairperson of this Go India Foundation (GIF). The organization arranged blood donation campaign in 250 districts of India on 15 August 2010, 63rd ‘‘Independence Day of India’‘ with aim to collect 63000 unit blood and made a record when over 65,000 people donated blood in one day throughout the nation and worldwide. The campaign was promoted by famous Bollywood personalities including ‘‘Salman Khan’‘, ‘‘Ritesh Deshmukh’‘, and ‘‘Dia Mirza’‘. On the appeal by Salman Khan, ‘‘Aamir Khan’‘ and many ‘‘Bollywood’‘ celebreties had donated blood to make the campaign successful. ‘‘Russian Ambassador to India’’ Alexander Kadakin had also appreciated and extended his support to this blood donation campaign.

Lamba has visited ‘‘UK’‘, ‘‘Russia’‘, ‘‘USA’‘, China, ‘‘Venezuela’‘ to attend seminars and give speeches about women empowerment, ‘‘Human Rights’‘ and Sustainable Development in ‘‘third world’‘ nations. In 2005, Lamba visited Venezuela to attend ‘‘World Festival of Youth and Students’‘. In 2006, she visited USA to attend conference on International women leadership program. In 2007 and 2008, she visited ‘‘London’‘ to attend ‘‘UN’‘'s ‘‘International Widows Day’‘ and tourism and cultural festival. In 2008-2009, Lamba visited ‘‘Nepal’‘ to attend seminar on Disaster Management Program. In 2010, Lamba travelled across ‘‘Brunei’‘, ‘‘Singapore’‘, ‘‘Bangladesh’‘, ‘‘Sri Lanka’‘, ‘‘Malaysia’‘ and ‘‘Maldives’‘ with the ‘‘2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games’‘ ‘‘Queen's Baton Relay’‘.

Awards and honors

• Best woman athlete of ‘‘Dyal Singh College, Delhi’‘ University (1995-1996)
• Best Student Leader of Delhi University (1995-1996)
• Shreshth Shree Award in Student Leadership (1995-1996)
• ‘‘Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award’‘ in the field of working for Women cause (2008-2009)

Controversies

Representing ‘‘National Commission for Women’‘ on July 16, 2012, as one of the member of the enquiry team of ‘‘2012 Guwahati molestation case’‘, Lamba met the victim of Guwahati molestation case, held a press-conference and revealed the victim's identity. The 'tip-off' made local media houses work overtime to find the victim's real identity. Some TV channels interviewed the victim's neighbours to come to the conclusion that the girl's name was not what she was forced to say by the channel that recorded her molestation and near-stripping. Such acts of Alka Lamba was widely criticized. Following this, she was removed from the fact-finding committee of NCW.

External links

• Alka Lamba on Twitter

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