Who was the first female Speaker of the Lok Sabha in India?

Appeared in: Maharashtra CHO - 2020

Explanation

Meira Kumar was the first woman to be elected as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
She served as the 15th Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 2009 to 2014.
A lawyer and former diplomat, she was elected unopposed to this prestigious position.

Option A: Sushma Swaraj was a prominent political figure who held several key positions, including Minister of External Affairs and Chief Minister of Delhi, but she was never the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
Option C: Meena Kumari was a famous film actress and is not associated with a political career in the Indian Parliament.
Option D: Vasundhara Raje is a significant political leader who served as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, but she did not hold the position of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

Clinical Relevance

Nursing practice connection: This is primarily an exam-oriented knowledge point with limited direct bedside application, so retain First female Speaker of the Lok Sabha as background academic context rather than a clinical decision trigger.
This is a general knowledge question, often included in the non-nursing sections of competitive exams to test the candidate's awareness of national and political affairs.
Knowing such key facts about Indian history and politics is crucial for scoring well in the general awareness or general intelligence sections of nursing recruitment exams.
What if the question asked for the second female Speaker of the Lok Sabha? The answer would be Sumitra Mahajan, who served from 2014 to 2019.

How to Approach the Question

This is a factual recall question from the domain of general knowledge.
First, identify the key elements in the question: 'first female', 'Speaker', and 'Lok Sabha'.
Access your knowledge base regarding Indian political history and significant 'firsts'.
Evaluate each option against the question's requirement.
Eliminate options that are incorrect. For instance, Meena Kumari was an actress, not a politician.
Differentiate between the political roles of the remaining options (Sushma Swaraj, Vasundhara Raje) to identify the one who served as the Lok Sabha Speaker.

Concept Tested & Keywords

Concept Tested: First female Speaker of the Lok Sabha
Stem keywords: first female, Speaker, Lok Sabha, India
Lead-in keywords: Who
Clinical cues: Age/sex group narrows the expected diagnosis, intervention, or normal reference range.

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Practise the full Maharashtra CHO - 2020

Attempt every question from this paper in a timed mock, then review the full solution for each one.