K.K. SHAILAJA TEACHER - PROFILE - HEALTH MINISTER OF KERALA

K.K. SHAILAJA TEACHER

K.K Shailaja who is popularly known as Shailaja teacher was born on 20 November 1956 to K. Kundan and K. K. Shantha. She hails from Kannur district and married to K. Bhaskaran in 1981. The couple have two sons named Lasith and Sobhith. She is 63 years old now. She is  the current health minister of Kerala and one of the two female ministers in the Pinarayi Vijayan government came into power in 2016.

She was born in a family of activists and freedom fighters. She obtained her Bachelors in Science from Pazhassi Raja NSS College Mattannur and Bachelor of Education from Visvesvarayya College in 1980. She then served as a high school teacher (science) at Shivapuram, Kannur . After a seven-year service, she retired in 2004 for full-time political action.

Shailaja Teacher entered politics through Students Federation of India (SFI) activities and later become a member of CPI (M) Central Committee. She is the State Secretary of All India Democratic Women's Association and Joint Secretary of its Central Committee.  She has authored two books- "Indian Varthamanavum Sthreesamoohavum" and "China- Rashtram, Rashtreeyam, Kazhchakal". She was the chief editor of "Sthree Sabdam" . 

She was a CPM, Central Committee member and Janadhipathya Mahila Association State Secretary. She was the editor of the Shylaja Mahila Association's Shrine Mahila Association, a district secretary, state secretary and secretary of the All India Mahila Association. The constituency lost from Peravoor constituency in 2011 after the constituency rebuilding. She represented Koothuparambu in 1996 and Peravoor in 2006 in the Kerala Legislative Assembly. Shailaja won a total of 67,013 votes in the Koothuparamba constituency in Kannur district by 12,291 votes. In the Pinarayi ministry, she is the minister in the department of health and social welfare.

Her leadership during the 'Nipah' virus outbreak was lauded by everyone. She had set up a team which enabled the fast diagnosis and further management of the deadly virus. She has received international attention for her leadership in tackling the Covid 19 pandemic in Kerala. Her effort  was appreciated by many international media including BBC, Guardian and Vogue. 

PROFILE OF AISHE GHOSH

AISHE GHOSH 

Aishe Ghosh originally hails from Durgapur in West Bengal. Her father Debasish Ghosh is a Damodar Valley Corporation employee and her mother, Sarmishtha, and  83-year-old maternal grandmother, Shanti Sinha. Her mother Sharmishta Ghosh is a homemaker. Her sister Ishika is presently doing her undergraduation from Syama Prasad Mookerjee College in New Delhi.

She did her schooling from D.A.V. Model School, in Durgapur, West Bengal. She later came to Delhi where she did her BA (Hons) in Political Science from Daulat Ram College of Delhi University. Ghosh has been pretty active in social work having worked with Asian Confluence and Middle East Institute in New Delhi.  She has also worked at the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies in Kolkata and been associated with the JNUSU since 2017.

Aishe Ghosh has been the first JNUSU President from SFI (Student Federation of India) in 13 years.  Ghosh won with a good amount of 2,313 votes out of the total 5,728 votes and her main agenda after becoming President is to keep the union from dissolving. 

She never engaged in politics when she was in her home state, but growing up in a home influenced by Leftist thinking gave her inkling towards Left politics. Ghosh passed her secondary and higher secondary exams from two private schools in the city, before joining Daulat Ram College (DRC) in New Delhi from where she graduated in political science. 

Thereafter, she enrolled at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for masters degree.  After completing her masters, she enrolled for MPhil at School of International Relations in JNU. She is at present a second-year student of MPhil. 

It was during her undergraduation days at Daulat Ram College that she was initiated into student politics. After enrolling at JNU, her involvement with student politics increased. She got elected as class representative twice, before being elected as the JNUSU president.