I've just realised this is a 3 year old thread.... how do these things get bumped up?

Old threads get bumped up quite often actually! Sometimes it's nice to see old threads and continue the conversations, such as the Dr vs Mrs.

I refuse to use Mrs even though I'm married. I did not take my partner's last name and don't see the issue of Dr and Mr, and neither does he. But I also don't see any issue with women who might choose to use Dr in a professional setting and Mrs an in a non-professional one.

As women we work hard for our PhDs and shouldn't feel like we have to follow old conventions, or that we cannot follow old conventions if we prefer them.

I have had people ask why I don't use the married name in a non-professional context, and my response is that if men don't have to be Mr in a non-professional context (i.e. if they still can retain their same title) why should I have to?

I'm really attached to my last name and couldn't bear the thought of changing it. It of course, will probably cause issues later down the track if we have kids...Though my partner's friend at work is from India, and his children don't take his last name but rather, the convention is to take his first name as a last name (someone correct me if I'm wrong on this).

Can I prefix Dr. in my name after completing Ph.D degree/course in distance learning mode from a UGC recognized university?

What's UGC? If you have a PhD or another doctorate then yes, but it's very unusual to have a PhD by distance learning.