She was a descendant of Brahmo reformer, Nibaran Chandra Mukherjee, and daughter of Satish Chandra Mukherjee, an International Correspondence Schools officer, and Charulata Mukherjee, a social worker and member of the All India Women's Conference.
London School of Economics.
She was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1988. She came in contact with Mahatma Gandhi at an early age of sixteen and was greatly influenced by him. She left college to answer Gandhiji"s call for boycotting the British Indian educational system.
Her maternal grandparents were the most distinguished couple of their times.
Maternal grandmother Sarala Roy was a well known social worker who worked for the emancipation of women. In 1932 she became President of All India Women's Conference.
She was also its President for the years 1953-1954. In 1943 she was nominated to Central Legislative Assembly as a representative of women of India.
She was appointed as Minister of Relief & Rehabilitation, West Bengal in the years 1952-1957.
She was also Lok Sabha member for the years 1957-1967 from Malda Lok Sabha constituency. In year 1959 she headed a committee on Social Welfare and Welfare of Backward Classes, which is popularly known as Renuka Ray Committee.
She was the founder of Gokhale Memorial School and College and the first Indian woman to be a member of the senate, Calcutta University. Sarala Roy was the daughter of renowned Brahmo reformer Durgamohan Das and sister of Lady Abala Bose and South R Das, the founder of prestigious Doon School and a cousin of Deshbandhu C R Das. On returning to India, she joined All India Women's Conference and worked hard to champion women"s rights and inheritance rights in parental property.
Maternal grandfather Professor P K Roy was the first Indian to receive a Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford University and a member of the Indian Education Service and the first Indian Principal of the prestigious Presidency College, Calcutta. She was also a member of Constituent Assembly of India in 1946-1947.
