Malini Mehra Wiki, Age, Husband, Family, Biography & More

Malini Mehra is an Indian London-based businesswoman and civil society leader. She is the Chief Executive Officer and Non-Executive Board Member (India) of the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE). On 6 March 2023, a video of Malini Mehra went viral on the internet in which she was seen asking Rahul Gandhi a question about the current situation in India during the think-tank Chatham House interaction in London.

Wiki/Biography

Malini Mehra was born in Punjab, India. Malini grew up in the northern and eastern parts of India, majorly in Kolkata, West Bengal, where she did her schooling at Calcutta International School. She attended Smith College, USA, to pursue a BA in Government and Women’s Studies. Thereafter, she obtained an MA in Gender and Development from the Institute for Development Studies, University of Sussex (1991). ^[1]Malini Mehra – Facebook A political scientist and gender specialist by training, Malini has conducted post-graduate work in India on population policy and politics.

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 5″

Hair Colour: Brown

Eye Colour: Brown

Family

Malini’s family has its roots in the cities of Lahore, Amritsar, Delhi, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and the Himalayan region of Himachal Pradesh.

Parents & Siblings

Malini Mehra’s father, Dr. Madhav Mehra, was an IAS officer and entrepreneur who worked on Indian Railways. Later, he founded and led India’s Institute of Directors (IOD). According to Malini, her father was associated with RSS. However, there is no known connection of her father with the RSS.

Husband & Children

Malini Mehra is married to LSDC Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of E3G Nick Mabey. Together, they have three children.

Other Relatives

The mother side of Malini’s family actively participated in the struggle for independence of India. One of her maternal uncles’ grandfather Pyarelal Nayyar was a personal secretary and biographer of Mahatma Gandhi. Her maternal aunt, Pushpa Anand, the Reverend Ma, is the founder of the ecumenical religious centre, the Arpana Trust. The trust runs some of northern India’s largest social welfare programmes.

Career

In November 2014, Malini Mehra, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, joined the GLOBE International secretariat, a cross-party network of parliamentarians dedicated to improving governance for sustainable development, as chief executive. While working at GLOBE, Malini developed new initiatives like treaty coherence & convergence, citizenship education, youth engagement, legislative-judiciary dialogues on climate change, democracy & governance, gender equality, and citizenship education. A civil society leader, Malini has won various awards for bringing up matters to benefit society.

She has around 30 years of experience in sustainability, climate change, and human rights. Malini has led various international campaigns for Oxfam and Friends of the Earth International including the UN Beijing Women’s Conference (1995), the UNFCCC Kyoto Climate Conference (1997), and the OECD Multilateral Agreement on Investment. While serving as the Director of the People’s Decade for Human Rights Education, Malini headed a team at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). She has also worked at the infamous ‘Battle of Seattle’ (1999). In 2000, Malini Mehra founded the Indian NGO Centre for Social Markets (CSM), working on corporate responsibility and climate change; she is also the Chief Executive Officer of the organisation.

In the mid-2000s, Malini served in the UK government, leading projects on international sustainable development. While working in the UK government, Malini also established inter-governmental partnerships with India, China, Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa. Working with the United Nations for over 25 years, Malini served as the advisor to the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on UN-civil society reform. While she was associated with the United Nations, Malini campaigned at the Commission on Sustainable Development, co-authored the United Nation’s influential Human Development Reports, and advised UN bodies like UNICEF and UNCTAD.

She has served on the boards of several international non-profit organisations including China Dialogue, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and Rugmark International. Besides that, Mehra has also been a part of the advisory board of some of the leading companies in the world like Hewlett-Packard, Kimberly-Clark, Tetra Pak, and BHP Billiton. She served on Unilever’s top sustainability body for around 10 years.

In 2017, Malini was appointed as a Commissioner on Sustainable Development to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. A year later, Malini started the campaign ‘Teach A Girl to Swim’ to save lives, empower girls, and tackle climate change. She swam more than 500 km across the world (including India, Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, Philippines and the UK) and completed the Ironman triathlon to raise awareness of the hidden global epidemic of drowning.

Malini has worked with several NGOs in London. Previously, she served as the ambassador for Sweden’s Global Challenges Foundation. She is the Ambassador for London Climate Action Week. Malini is also the ambassador for the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Foundation UK. As of 2023, she chairs the board of trustees of the Institute of European Environmental Policy, UK.

Malini also serves on the Sir Heinz Koeppler Trust and advises EcoPeace Middle East. She has delivered various lectures at the UN’s Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Development. As of 2023, Malini serves as an adviser to the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). Mehra has published several articles on subjects like women’s reproductive rights, climate change, trade and human rights, and sustainable development for local authorities. Her pamphlet ‘Climate Change: Why India needs to take leadership’ published in 2007, argued a proactive leadership agenda for the country. Malini also released a film In Good Company (2009) at the World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen. The film highlighted the contribution of Indian companies and entrepreneurs to climate action.

Awards & Honours

• Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum

• Asian Woman of the Year
  

  Malini Mehra posing with an award

• Asia 21 Young Leader of the Asia Society

• CNN/TIME magazine Principal Voice

Rahul Gandhi’s Chatham House Session

On 6 March 2023, during Rahul Gandhi’s session at Chatham House in London, Malini Mehra questioned Rahul Gandhi about re-empowering the Indian democracy and said that she was pained to see the current situation in India. ^[2]Hindustan Times Identifying herself as an Indian citizen, she asked,

I am feeling wretched about the condition of my country. My father was an RSS man, proudly so; he would not recognise the country, bless his soul. How can we engage, re-empower our democracy?”

Further, when Malini said that she is one among the million Indians who do not recognise the country they were born and brought up, Rahul asked her,

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

Malini replied,

What do you think? Why am I here today? I am feeling wretched…”

Soon, the video clip from the session went viral on the internet. While some people praised her for the act, others criticised her for her remarks on India. After the video went viral, TV Mohandas Pai, former director of Infosys, severely condemned her on Twitter. Calling her an ‘economic refugee,’ Pai tweeted,

Rubbish! These economic refugees left India many years ago, we stayed, worked hard, paid taxes and built our country! Now they talk nonsense. We do not need them to abuse India. Kept away, we are better off without you and your ilk! Just stop these abuses.”

Facts/Trivia

• Malini Mehra is a polyglot and speaks six languages.

• Malini Mehra is passionate about history primarily political and women’s history.

• A keen runner and swimmer, Malini has completed several marathons, triathlons, and 10k swims for charity.She loves gardening and spending her time outdoors in her leisure time.

• Malini is a marathon swimmer.