K. R. Gowri Amma

K. R. Gouri (14 July 1919 – 11 May 2021 She was one of the most prominent leaders of the Left movement in India. She served as the Land Revenue or Social Welfare minister in the 1957, 1967 (Namboodiripad), 1980 and 1987 (Nayanar) Kerala ministries.

In Travancore politics K. R. Gouri started her public life with the Quit India Movement and later joined the agitation for the merger Travancore with the state of India.

She was elected to the Travancore-Cochin Legislative Assembly in 1952 and 1954 (she was in prison throughout the election period). The bill gave tenants the right to buy their land from the owner at a price set by regulations, placed ceilings on the amount of land a family could own, established procedures for determining a fair rent, made illegal any evictions after the formation of Kerala and set up Land Tribunals in every taluk. After the split of 1964, K. R. Gouri joined the newly formed Communist Party of India Marxist.

Later years Gouri published her autobiography titled Athmakatha, which won the Kerala Sahitya Academy Award for best Autobiography/Biography in 2011.

K. R. Gouri died on 11 May 2021.

Positions held Kerala State Secretariat Member, Communist Party of India Marxist. President, Kerala Mahila Sangam (from 1967–76) Chief Minister K. R. Gowthami (1994), written by Salim Cherthala and directed by Babu Raj (Babu Cherthala)