India gets first woman speaker
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India's Parliament yesterday elected its first woman speaker, Meira Kumar, who is also a member of the low-caste "untouchable" Dalit community.
Kumar, 64, was elected unopposed by a voice vote in India's 543-seat lower house of parliament.
A five-term MP, Kumar was a career diplomat who entered politics
in 1985.
In the April-May national polls, she was elected to Parliament from the impoverished eastern state of Bihar.
Kumar had described her nomination as India's first woman speaker as a "historic moment" for the country and an "overwhelming moment" for herself.
