BrittnyFiorillo at 01:59, 9 December 2025

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{{Short description|Indian social worker and trade unionist}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Maniben Kara
| image = Maniben_Kara.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Maniben Kara
| birth_date = 1905
| birth_place = [[Bombay]], [[British India]] (now Mumbai, [[Maharashtra]], India)
| death_date = 1979
| death_place =
| restingplace =
| restingplacecoordinates =
| othername =
| occupation = Social worker, trade unionist
| yearsactive =
| known for =
| spouse =
| domesticpartner =
| children =
| parents =
| website =
| awards = [[Padma Shri]]
}}

'''Maniben Kara''' (1905–1979)<ref name="Women Pioneers In India's Renaissance">{{cite book|url=https://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/women-pioneers-in-india-s-renaissance-IDD677/|title=Women Pioneers In India's Renaissance|publisher=National Book Trust, India|year=2003|isbn=81-237-3766 1|editor-last=Nayar|editor-first=Sushila|pages=469|editor-last2=Mankekar|editor-first2=Kamla|editor-link2=Kamla Mankekar}}</ref> was an Indian social worker and trade unionist.<ref name="Women in Modern India, Volume 4">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjilIrVt9hUC&q=Kumari+Maniben+Kara&pg=PA174 | title=Women in Modern India, Volume 4 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | author=Geraldine Hancock Forbes | year=1999 | pages=290 | isbn=9780521653770}}</ref> She was a founder member of the [[Hind Mazdoor Sabha]] and served as its president.<ref name="Labour Rights">{{cite web | url=http://www.labour-rights-india.eu/index.php?id=partners_mki | title=Labour Rights | publisher=Labour Rights | date=2015 | access-date=15 May 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215233255/http://www.labour-rights-india.eu/index.php?id=partners_mki | archive-date=15 February 2015 | url-status=dead }}</ref> She was honoured by the [[Government of India]] in 1970 with [[Padma Shri]], the fourth highest Indian civilian award.<ref name="Padma Shri">{{cite web|url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Shri |publisher=Padma Shri |date=2015 |access-date=11 November 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015 }}</ref>

==Early life==
Born in 1905 in [[Bombay]], [[British India]] (now [[Mumbai]]) in a middle-class family to an [[Arya Samaj]] member, Maniben Kara did her schooling at St. Columba High School, Gamdevi, Mumbai and secured a diploma in Social science from the [[University of Birmingham]].<ref name="Stree Shakti">{{cite web | url=http://www.streeshakti.com/bookM.aspx?author=9 | title=Stree Shakti | publisher=Stree Shakti | date=2015 | access-date=16 May 2015}}</ref>

==Career==
Returning to India in 1929, she got involved with the Independence movement, founded ''Seva Mandir'' and a printing press and published ''Independent India'',<ref name="Independent India">{{cite web | url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007132445 | title=Independent India | publisher=Hathi Trust | date=2015 | access-date=16 May 2015}}</ref> a nationalist publication for the Indian revolutionary, [[M. N. Roy]].<ref name="Stree Shakti" /> Later, she was known to have been influenced by [[Narayan Malhar Joshi]], one of the early leaders of the [[All India Trade Union Congress]],<ref name="N. M. Joshi">{{cite web | url=http://www.thehindu.com/2005/05/31/stories/2005053100610902.htm | title=N. M. Joshi | date=31 May 1955 | work=[[The Hindu]] | access-date=16 May 2015}}{{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> and started engaging in trade union activism.<ref name="Stree Shakti" /> Her area of operations was at the slums of Mumbai, the dwelling place of many of the conservancy workers of the Bombay Improvement Trust.<ref name="Stree Shakti" /> She established a Mothers' Club and a Healthcare Centre and spread the message of hygiene and literacy among the slum dwellers.<ref name="Stree Shakti" /> Later she started social organization called ;'' Seva Mandir'' which was later merged with NGO called ''Bhangini Samaj''<ref name="Women Pioneers In India's Renaissance"/>

The next stage of her work started with organizing workers' unions at Mumbai port and dockyard which later expanded to cover the tailors and textile workers.<ref name="Stree Shakti" /> She joined the [[All India Trade Union Congress]], the trade union arm of the [[Communist Party of India]], and led several labour strikes which led to her arrest and solitary confinement in 1932.<ref name="Stree Shakti" /> After Formation of Congress Ministries in 1937, [[All India Trade Union Congress]] and Indian National Congress drifted apart. Maniben was member of ''Royis Party'' led by [[M. N. Roy|M N Roy.]] Royst Party Started New central Trade Union Organization named ''Indian Federation of Labour (IFL).'' She continued her activities through the days of [[Indian freedom struggle]] and was nominated to the [[Central Legislative Assembly]] in 1946, entrusted with the responsibility of the labour ministry.<ref name="Stree Shakti" /> Post Independence, After [[Partition of India|Partition]] IFL joined [[Hind Mazdoor Sabha]].<ref name="Women Pioneers In India's Renaissance"/> She was a key member when the [[Hind Mazdoor Sabha]] was formed in 1948<ref name="Labor and Politics in India">{{cite journal | title=Labor and Politics in India | author=Richard L. Park | journal=Far Eastern Review |date=August 1949 | volume=18 | issue=16 | pages=181–187| doi=10.2307/3024423 |jstor = 3024423}}</ref> and was also involved with the [[All India Railwaymen's Federation]] and was its former president.<ref name="AIRF">{{cite web | url=http://www.airfindia.com/Women%20Wing%20AIRF.html | title=AIRF | publisher=AIRF | date=2015 | access-date=15 May 2015}}</ref> She was also a founding member of the [[International Confederation of Free Trade Unions]] (ICFTU)<ref name="Stree Shakti" /> and was involved with government committees such as National Committee on the Status of Women<ref name="National Committee on the Status of Women">{{cite web | url=http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/JP-59.pdf | title=National Committee on the Status of Women | publisher=ICSSR | date=2015 | access-date=15 May 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150811211828/http://arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/JP-59.pdf | archive-date=11 August 2015 | url-status=dead }}</ref> and other government initiatives.<ref name="INFLIBNET">{{cite web | url=http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/812/16/16_bibliography%201.pdf | title=INFLIBNET | publisher=INFLIBNET | date=2015 | access-date=16 May 2015}}</ref>

Maniben Kara, who never contested in a political election,<ref name="Women's Rights and World Development">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qnJ9J9UygR0C&q=Kumari+Maniben+Kara&pg=PA312 | title=Women's Rights and World Development | publisher=Sarup and sons | author=Bela Rani Sharma | year=1998 | pages=383 | isbn=9788176250153}}</ref> was honoured by the [[Government of India]] with the civilian award of [[Padma Shri]] in 1970. Nine years later, she died, at the age of 74.<ref name="Stree Shakti" /> [[Hind Mazdoor Sabha]] honoured her by establishing an institute in her name, the Maniben Kara Institute (MKI), in 1980.<ref name="Labour Rights" /> The Western Railways Union started a trust in her honour, the Maniben Kara Foundation,<ref name="Maniben Kara Foundation">{{cite web | url=http://www.indiacom.com/mumbai/maniben-kara-foundation_mumbai_mum_1180543.html | title=Maniben Kara Foundation | publisher=Indiacom | date=2015 | access-date=16 May 2015}}</ref> and maintains the Maniben Kara Foundation Hall, in [[Grant Road (South Mumbai, India)|Grant Road]] area in Mumbai.<ref name="Maniben Kara Foundation Hall">{{cite web | url=http://www.mojostreet.com/place/government-buildings/maniben-kara-foundation-hall-grant-road-mumbai-maharashtra-india-1661419 | title=Maniben Kara Foundation Hall | publisher=Mojo Street | date=2015 | access-date=16 May 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630042929/http://www.mojostreet.com/place/government-buildings/maniben-kara-foundation-hall-grant-road-mumbai-maharashtra-india-1661419 | archive-date=30 June 2016 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Trade Unionism]]
* [[Hind Mazdoor Sabha]]
* [[International Confederation of Free Trade Unions]]
* [[All India Trade Union Congress]]
* [[M. N. Roy]]
* [[Narayan Malhar Joshi]]
{{div col end}}
{{portal|India}}

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Social Work}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kara, Maniben}}
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work]]
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Trade unionists from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Politicians from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Indian women trade unionists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women educational theorists]]
[[Category:Women in Maharashtra politics]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women politicians]]
[[Category:Social workers from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Women educators from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Educators from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women educators]]

Maniben Kara - Revision history

BrittnyFiorillo at 01:59, 9 December 2025