Margaret Nazareth Alva was born Margaret de Nazareth to a Mangalorean Christian family in Mangalore, Karnataka.
She obtained a BA degree from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore, and a law degree from Government Law College in the same city. She was a keen and appreciated debater during her time at college and had some involvement in students’ movements.
Alva combined her work as an advocate with involvement in welfare organizations, eventually becoming president of the Young Women’s Christian Association. One of her early involvements was with the Karuna non-governmental organization, which she founded and which was focused on issues relating to women and children.
On 24 May 1964, she married Niranjan Thomas Alva, whom she had met while they were both students at Government Law College.
Alva served as the 17th Governor of Goa, 23rd Governor of Gujarat, 20th Governor of Rajasthan, and 4th Governor of Uttarakhand the until the end of her tenure in August 2014. She has formerly served as the Cabinet Minister. She took over in Rajasthan from the Punjab governor, Shivraj Patil, who had been holding an additional charge of that state. Before being appointed governor, she was a senior figure in the Indian National Congress and was Joint Secretary of the All India Congress Committee. Her mother-in-law, Violet Alva, was the Second Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha in the 1960s.
On 17 July 2022, the United Progressive Alliance along with some other non-UPA opposition parties nominated her for the post of Vice President of India in the 2022 election. But she was defeated by her opponent Jagdeep Dhankhar by a margin of 346 votes on 6 August 2022.
Alva’s decision to enter politics in 1969 was influenced by her husband’s parents, Joachim Alva and Violet Alva, both of whom had served as Members of Parliament representing the Indian National Congress. She has acknowledged this encouragement, saying that “I never had to face any family constraints on my political activities” and she has also said that the death of Violet in 1969 provided the impetus. She aligned herself with the Congress (Indira) faction led by Indira Gandhi and worked for its state unit in Karnataka. She served as Joint Secretary of the All India Congress Committee between 1975 and 1977 and as General Secretary of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee between 1978 and 1980
On 6 August 2009, Alva became the first female Governor of Uttarakhand. Although she said then that she was enthusiastic about the challenges facing the nascent state, she found herself sidelined outside national politics and frustrated by the Bharatiya Janata Party state government. She remained in the post until May 2012, at which time she was appointed Governor of Rajasthan, which was a more important region in political terms. Of her time in Uttarakhand, Alva said that “The quietude allowed me to recharge my batteries and even spare some time for working on my biography”. The autobiography is not expected to appear until after her retirement.
