Sudha Murty, In Her First Rajya Sabha Speech, Raises 2 Key Issues

Philanthropist and author Sudha Murty, in her maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, called for a government-sponsored vaccination programme to combat cervical cancer, and also pitched for promoting domestic tourism. Sudha Murty was nominated by the President to the Rajya Sabha on the eve of International Women’s Day.

“There is a vaccination which is given to girls, between the age of nine and 14, known as a cervical vaccination. If the girls take that, it (cancer) can be avoided … we should promote vaccination for the benefit of our girls because prevention is better than cure,” Sudha Murty, the wife of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murty and the mother-in-law of the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, said.

Quoting her father, the philanthropist said when a mother dies, it is counted as one death in the hospital, but for the family, a mother is lost forever.

The government has handled a very “big vaccination drive during Covid” so it may not be very difficult to provide cervical vaccination to girls in the age group of 9-14 years, Sudha Murty said while speaking during a discussion on the motion of thanks on the President’s Address.

Sudha Murty said the cervical vaccination has been developed in the West, and it is being used for the last 20 years.

“It worked very well. It is not expensive. Today it is ₹1,400 for people like me who are in the field. If the government intervenes and negotiates…you can bring it to ₹700-800. We have such a large population. It will be beneficial for our girls in future,” she said.

Rajeev Shukla, who was at the chair, asked Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to convey the message to the health minister.

Sudha Murthy on tourism

Speaking on domestic tourism, Sudha Murty said there are 57 domestic tourist sites which should be considered as World Heritage Sites. These include Bahubali statue at Shravanabela Gola in Karnataka, Lingaraja Temple, Unakoti rock carvings in Tripura, Shivaji forts in Maharashtra, Chausath Yogini temple in Mitawali, Lothal in Gujarat, and Gol Gumbad, etc.

“In India, we have 42 World Heritage sites but 57 are pending … we should bother about those 57 sites,” Murty said.

She said the temples in Srirangam are marvellous.

She said a group of old monuments of Sarnath, which are 2,500 years old, are still not among World Heritage Sites.

Murty said that old Parliament Building design prototyping has been done from the thousands-year-old Chausath Yogini temple at Mitawali in Madhya Pradesh.