Neera Shastri

Neera Shastri is an ex-member of national executive of Bharatiya Janata Party and a noted woman activist. She was a member of National Commission of Backward Castes. She is the youngest daughter- in-law of Lal Bahadur Shastri, the former prime minister of India. Mrs Neera Shastri joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1993.

Early life
Mrs Neera Shastri was born on 13 October 1955 in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. She has completed her MSc in Zoology from Jodhpur (with specialisation in Entomology, Ecology & Environment Biology).

She was ushered into the world of politics after her marriage to the Late Ashok Shastri, the youngest son of former Prime Minister Late Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Family
Neera Shastri married Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri's youngest son Ashok Shastri on 19 May 1977. He died in 1987. She has three children Mahima Shastri, Mandira Shastri and Sameep Shastri. Sameep Shastri is also a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and is married to Malvika Shastri.

Political life
Neera Shastri has headed the Mahila Morcha wing of the Delhi BJP for three terms during which she organised a large number of activities for women upliftment. Nearly four to five thousand women participated in the programmes and became active members of the party.

She has served as the vice president of the Delhi BJP as well as the person in charge of the Shahdara District (East Delhi), actively participating in and organising a number of party programmes.

Her leadership skills were utilized successfully when she in her capacity as the convener organised the National Rally for Women's Reservation on 21 February 2008, bringing as many as 40,000 women from all over Delhi to participate in it. Also, as a member of The National Executive, she has actively been participating in and contributing to the various conferences and meeting. She had also successfully organised a conference of Muslim women in 1998 which was addressed by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at New Delhi and received wide coverage from the foreign media, including The New York Times.

Realizing the potential of the youth of the country, she has actively promoted the youth wing of various organisations and in 1997 had also mobilized a huge gathering of the youth wing from the eastern part of the country which was addressed by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Her humane face came to the fore when she tirelessly organised relief material and undertook collection work during the tsunami and earthquakes in Gujarat, Kashmir and other parts of the country. After the tsunami, she also visited and reviewed the rehabilitation of the affected people in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

She has also campaigned for all-important national leaders of the BJP like Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Shri Lal Krishna Advani, Shri Murli Manohar Joshi, Shri Narendra Modi and others in their respective constituencies in Lok Sabha/Vidhan Sabha elections.

Social life
Neera Shastri has been a member of the National Commission for Backward Classes, Government of India, and in that capacity has visited all the states and union territories as a Bench Member for the Public Hearing to identify the OBC castes/communities for the Central List. She has also attended the meetings of OBC Welfare Organisation in different states to discuss key problems and getting OBC certificate and implementation of reservation criteria in central and state government services. As a member of the Commission, she has drawn the attention of the central and state government for a special drive to providing enough opportunities of education and employment to the OBC women in order to bring them to the mainstream of the nation.

She took part in organising the National Conference of central and states OBC Commissions and Secretaries in-Charge of OBC Welfare Department. This was inaugurated by the then Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment, Dr. S.N. Jatia, and addressed by the then Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment, Dr. Sanjay Paswan. In July, 2005, she also presided over the National Conference of central and states OBC Commissions and Secretaries in-Charge of OBC Welfare Departments from all over the country which was inaugurated by Meira Kumar, Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment and addressed by S. Jagadeesan, Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment. In the same conference she presented a paper emphasizing the need of categorization of the central and state lists of OBCs, maintenance of uniformity in both the lists and increase in the creamy layer limit as a policy preparation, which was later considered by the ministry and the creamy layer limit was increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh per capita income. She also suggested that the artisans engaged in the hereditary occupation be kept out of the purview of creamy layer. The main focus of the presentation was also on the educational empowerment of the OBCs.

She has also been associated with the Lal Bahadhur Shastri Hospital from the day of its inception. Thereafter as a member of the Hospital Advisory Committee, she has helped in setting up and operationalising the hospital including its building and procurement of critical equipment. The hospital was inaugurated by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.