A social worker who has helped destitute women for the last 15 years, a journalist whose stings helped expose the sinister racket of illegal sex selective abortions and a renowed playwright who highlights children's education, child labour through her work were some of the awardees for this year's Nari Shakti Puraskar 2016. The awards for women achievers were given by President Pranab Mukherjee in a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday.
The awards have been instituted by the women and child development ministry and are given to eminent women and institutions that have rendered distinguished service to the cause of women especially belonging to the vulnerable and marginalized sections of the society.
Speaking on the occasion WCD minister Maneka Gandhi said, ``Literally translating to 'women power', this award specifically recognizes unsung heroes who spearhead change and demonstrate tangible impact in their immediate communities. The women recognized by this award have a history of overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles through courage and foresight to bring about positive change they wish to see in the world. Each awardee is an inspiration, does India proud, and is a trailblazer in her innovation.''
Among the individual winners was Sister Lucy Kurien from Maharashtra who for the last 15 years has provided shelter and rehabilitation to destitute women through her NGO Maher. Playwright Jyoti Mhapsekhar, also from Maharashtra is a founding member of Stree Mukhti Sanghatana, who through her work has raised issues of children's education, labour and environemnt. Haryana's Sujata Sahu has been working on education in Ladakh while Delhi based Sumita Ghosh runs Rangsutra, a social enterprise that seeks to bring socio-economic development and inclusive growth in rural India.
There were 15 individual awardees including environmentalists Basanti Devi from Uttarakhand and Suparna Baksi Ganguly from Karnataka, agri-researcher Saurabh Suman, triathelte and comedian Vasu Primalani, Rajasthan based freelance journalist Meena Sharma among others.
Among the organisations who were felicitated included Angadipuram gram panchayat for its work on women empoerment, state of Haryana for improving tits child sex ratio, NGO Jagori for its work on tackling sexual harassment, NGO Breakthrough for spreading awareness on ending violenece against women.
