• Engineer-turned-philanthropist and author Sudha Murty was nominated to Rajya Sabha on March 8.

• Murty, 73, the former chairperson of Infosys Foundation, is renowned for her contribution to Kannada and English literature and is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar, Padma Shri (2006) and Padma Bhushan (2023).

• Murty, who was the first woman engineer to have worked with TELCO, is famously known to have provided the seed capital of Rs 10,000 from her emergency funds to her husband N.R. Narayana Murthy to start Infosys, which has a market cap of over $80 billion.

• Her daughter, Akshata, is married to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

• Murty has authored several books in Kannada, Marathi and English and specialises in children’s literature.

• Her novel, ‘Dollar Bahu’, originally written in Kannada and translated into English, was adapted into a televised series by Zee TV in 2001.

• Another Kannada novel ‘Runa’ was adapted into a Marathi film in 2003. 

• Her book ‘The Bird with the Golden Wings’ has been adapted into a Netflix series, and 52 stories from her books have been made into an animation show called ‘Story Time with Sudha Amma’. 

Nominated members of Rajya Sabha

• Article 80 of the Constitution lays down the maximum strength of Rajya Sabha as 250, out of which 12 members are nominated by the President and 238 are representatives of the states and also of the Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry.

• The members nominated by the President are persons having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of such matters as literature, science, art and social service.

• Rajya Sabha is a permanent House and is not subject to dissolution. However, one-third of members of Rajya Sabha retire after every second year. 

• A member who is elected/nominated for a full term serves for a period of six years. 

• Article 84 of the Constitution lays down the qualifications for membership of Parliament. 

• The member should be a citizen of India above 30 years of age and possessing such other qualifications as may be prescribed by law of Parliament.

• While the nominated members of Rajya Sabha have a right to vote in the election of the Vice-President of India, they are not entitled to vote in the election of the President of India.

• A nominated member can join a political party within six months of taking his/her seat in the Upper House.

• Under the Tenth Schedule, a nominated member is disqualified for being a member of the House if he/she joins any political party after the expiry of six months from the date on which he takes his seat

• The nominated members, who possess outstanding merit and distinction, add to the importance and dignity of Rajya Sabha and make it truly a House bestowing calm consideration on measures of national importance which come up before it.

• The nominated members have raised the standard of debates in the House by participating in the discussions on subjects of their interests and taking part in the debates on matters of national importance. 

• Classical dancer and theosophist Rukmini Devi Arundale was the first woman in Indian history to be nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha (1952-56 and 1956-62).

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