In Sudha Murty's First Rajya Sabha Speech, A Mention Of Cancer, Tourism

Author and philanthropist Sudha Murty spoke in the Rajya Sabha for the first time yesterday after taking oath as the member of the Parliament.

In her maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha, Sudha Murty pressed for a government-sponsored vaccination programme to combat cervical cancer.

"There is a vaccination which is given to girls, between the age of nine to 14, known as a cervical vaccination. If the girls take that, it (cancer) can be avoided," Ms Murty said.

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, Ms Murty said.

Ms Murty also pitched for 57 domestic tourist sites to be considered as World Heritage Sites.

Listing the important ones, Ms Murty said, "there is a marvellous statue of Bahubali at Shravanabela Gola in Karnataka. There are group of monuments in Mandu in Madhya Pradesh who are very very beautiful. If you go to East, you have Tripura state and they have fantastic sculputure known as Unakoti, natural roots bridge in Mizoram and eastern part of India which is God's gift to us."

"There are beautiful Mughal gardens in Kashmir. We always go and see the film shootings, but we never realise that they are not in the World Heritage Sites. The package should be done very well so that people can come and see them," she said.

Sudha Murty was nominated by President Droupadi Murmu to the upper House earlier this year on International Women's Day.

The President of India nominates 12 members to the Upper House of the Parliament for their contributions towards arts, literature, sciences, and social services.

She received the Padma Bhushan - the third-highest civilian award in India - for social work last year and Padma Shri in 2006.