ChristenHii at 08:10, 12 July 2025

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{{Short description|Indian educationist, social activist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Mehmooda Ali Shah
| image =
| imagesize =
| caption =
| birth_date = 1920
| birth_place = [[Srinagar]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], India
| death_date = 11 March 2014
| death_place = [[Srinagar]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], India
| restingplace = Malteng graveyard, [[Sri Nagar]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]]
| restingplacecoordinates =
| othername =
| occupation = Educationist<br>Social activist<br>Politician
| yearsactive =
| known for = Women's education
| spouse =
| domesticpartner =
| children =
| parents = Syed Ahmed Ali Shah<br>Dulhan Begum
| website =
| awards = [[Padma Shri]]<br>Most Outstanding Student of the Century
}}
'''Mehmooda Ahmed Ali Shah''' (1920–2014), also known as '''Miss Mehmooda''', was an Indian educationist, social activist and the principal of [[Government College for Women, M.A. Road Srinagar]].<ref name="The Life of a Kashmiri Woman: Dialectic of Resistance and Accommodation">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HNjiAwAAQBAJ&q=Mehmooda+Ali+Shah&pg=PA36 | title=The Life of a Kashmiri Woman: Dialectic of Resistance and Accommodation | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan | author=Nyla Ali Khan, Gopalkrishan Gandh | year=2014 | pages=36 of 160 | isbn=9781137463296}}</ref> She was a close friend of [[Indira Gandhi]] and is reported to have worked for creating awareness among the women of Kashmir about the importance of education and for their social empowerment.<ref name="PDP condoles death of Ms Mehmooda Ahmad Ali Shah">{{cite web | url=http://www.scoopnews.in/det.aspx?q=36350 | title=PDP condoles death of Ms Mehmooda Ahmad Ali Shah | publisher=Scoop News | date=11 March 2014 | accessdate=10 December 2015}}</ref> The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the [[Padma Shri]], in 2006, for her contributions to Indian education.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web|url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |accessdate=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archivedate=15 October 2015 }}</ref>

== Biography ==
Mehmooda Ali Shah was born in 1920 to Dulhan Begum and Syed Ahmed Ali Shah, a Forest Range Officer, in [[Srinagar]] in the princely state of Kashmir in the [[British India]] and did her schooling at the local Missionary Girls' School (present day [[Mallinson Girls School]]) from where was the first girl to pass the 10th standard examination.<ref name="Mehmooda Ahmed Ali Shah - Obituary">{{cite web | url=http://www.kashmirlife.net/mehmooda-ahmed-ali-shah0306-57275/ | title=Mehmooda Ahmed Ali Shah - Obituary | publisher=Kashmir Life | date=24 March 2014 | accessdate=11 December 2015}}</ref> She was the only girl child of the Ali Shah couple, her three brothers would later become high ranking officials; Naseer Ahmed, a medical academic and a medical college principal, Syed Ahmad Shah, a Deputy Inspector General of Police and the third, Zameer Ahmad, a sessions judge.<ref name="Mehmooda Shah passes away">{{cite web | url=http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/kashmir/mehmooda-shah-passes-away/165675.html | title=Mehmooda Shah passes away | publisher=Greater Kashmir | date=12 March 2014 | accessdate=11 December 2015}}</ref> Moving to [[Lahore]] for her higher studies, she graduated in Arts (BA) from the [[Punjab University, Lahore]] and continued there to secure a graduate degree in Education (BEd) and a post graduate degree (MA) in Political Science. She is known to be the first woman post graduate of the [[Punjab University, Lahore]].<ref name="Mehmooda Ahmed Ali Shah - Obituary" /> She also gained a postgraduate diploma in Leeds, UK.<ref name="Mehmooda Ahmed Ali Shah - Obituary" />

Reportedly on advice from [[Muhammad Iqbal]], the poet and political thinker, Mehmooda returned to Sri Nagar and joined a local school in [[Maisuma]] as a teacher.<ref name="Mehmooda Ahmed Ali Shah - Obituary" /> Later, when a new school was opened at [[Baramulla]] by the then Maharajah, she was appointed as the Headmistress. She worked there for a number of years till her appointment as the principal of the [[Government College for Women, M.A. Road Srinagar]] in 1954.<ref name="Mehmooda Ahmed Ali Shah - Obituary" /> During her tenure as the Headmistress and, later, as the principal, she is known to have worked to persuade the local women to pursue education<ref name="PDP condoles death of Ms Mehmooda Ahmad Ali Shah" /> and for the establishment of a second women's college in [[Srinagar]]. Her efforts are also reported in promoting arts and sports activities in the college.<ref name="Mehmooda Ahmed Ali Shah: A Great educationist">{{cite web | url=http://www.kashmirtimes.in/newsdet.aspx?q=30279 | title=Mehmooda Ahmed Ali Shah: A Great educationist | publisher=Kashmir Times | date=23 March 2014 | accessdate=11 December 2015}}</ref> In 1975, she resigned from the college and, reportedly influenced by her association with [[Indira Gandhi]], moved to Delhi to get involved with the activities of the [[Indian National Congress]]. She served the party as a Secretary of the [[All India Congress Committee]] (AICC), but returned to Srinagar after the death of Indira Gandhi in 1984, though she remained a member of the AICC.<ref name="Mehmooda Ahmed Ali Shah - Obituary" /> She also served as a member of the [[Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly]] from 1987 to 1990.<ref name="Details of Pensioners-Family Pensioners as on March 2014">{{cite web | url=http://jklegislativeassembly.nic.in/website%20material/pensioners.htm | title=Details of Pensioners-Family Pensioners as of March 2014 | publisher=J and K Legislative Assembly | date=2014 | accessdate=11 December 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222135214/http://jklegislativeassembly.nic.in/website%20material/pensioners.htm | archive-date=22 December 2015 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Government of India awarded her the civilian honour of the [[Padma Shri]] in 2006.<ref name="Padma Awards" /> In 2012, her alma mater, [[Mallinson Girls School]], honoured her as the "Most Outstanding Student of the Century".<ref name="Mehmooda Ahmed Ali Shah: A Great educationist" /> Mehmooda, a spinster throughout her life by choice, died on 11 March 2014, at the age of 94, at her residence in Srinagar. She was buried at the local graveyard in Malteng.<ref name="Mehmooda Shah passes away" />

== See also ==
{{portal|India|Education}}
* [[Government College for Women, M.A. Road Srinagar]]
* [[Muhammad Iqbal]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book | title=The Life of a Kashmiri Woman: Dialectic of Resistance and Accommodation | author=Khan, Nyla Ali | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=New York | year=2014 | doi=10.1057/9781137463296.0009 | doi-broken-date=1 July 2025 |isbn=9781137463296}}
* {{cite book | title=In a State of Violent Peace: Voices from the Kashmir Valley | publisher=HarperCollins India | author=Meera Khanna | year=2015 | pages=276 | isbn=9789351364825}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Mehmooda Ali}}
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:2014 deaths]]
[[Category:Kashmiri politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women educational theorists]]
[[Category:Indian women academics]]
[[Category:Indian social workers]]
[[Category:University of the Punjab alumni]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:People from Srinagar]]
[[Category:Jammu and Kashmir MLAs 1987–1996]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:Women members of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly]]
[[Category:Scientists from Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:Women scientists from Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:Scholars from Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:Women educators from Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:Educators from Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women educators]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educators]]

Mehmooda Ali Shah - Revision history

ChristenHii at 08:10, 12 July 2025