Neela Satyanarayanan

Neela Satyanarayanan (née Mandake) (pronounced ; 5 February 1948 – 16 July 2020) was an Indian author and civil servant. She was the first female State Election Commissioner in Maharashtra.

Biography Satyanarayanan was born on 5 February 1948 in Mumbai to Sushila and Vasudev Mandake. Her father was a police officer. She studied in Mumbai, Pune and Nashik, graduating from the Delhi School Board with a focus on Sanskrit. She entered the Indian Administrative Service after completing undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Satyanarayanan has two children, one of whom was diagnosed with Down Syndrome, and has written about her experience of motherhood in a memoir titled, One Full, One Half. She served as the Principal Secretary for the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition government led by Chief Minister Manohar Joshi from 1995 to 1999. She also served as the Director-General of Information and Public Relations for the Maharashtra government. The 2012 local elections in Maharashtra were conducted during her tenure.

Following her retirement from civil service, Satyanarayanan lectured at the MIT Civil Services Training Institute in Pune on public administration.

Writing and Publications Satyanarayanan wrote extensively in Marathi, with seven novels and ten volumes of poetry published at the time of her death. She also wrote two memoirs.

Non-Fiction In 2005 Satyanarayanan published a memoir titled एक पूर्ण अपूर्ण (One Full, One Half) focusing on her experience of raising a child with Down Syndrome while managing her career as a civil servant. It was translated into English and Hindi. A second memoir, जाळरेषा (Network) focused on her experiences in four decades of civil service, and Satyanarayanan donated the proceeds from the sale of this book to a non-profit organisation, founded by actor Nana Patekar, to support farmers in Maharashtra.

In addition to these, Satyanarayanan has published a number of works of non-fiction, including पुनर्भेट (Reunion) (essays and criticism) and सत्यकथा (True Legends), a religious text. She was a recipient of several awards in the fields of literature and culture. The 2016 Marathi film, Babanchi Shala (Parents' School), starring Sayaji Shinde, was based on Satyanarayanan's life, and she directed the music for that film.

In 2017, Satyanarayanan composed a song in honor of the Mumbai Fire Brigade, at the request of the Chief Fire Officer. The song, 'Let's Go, Let's Go' was adopted by the Mumbai Fire Brigade at a special ceremony held at the Gateway of India.