International Women’s Day celebrated by NEDFi in Guwahati city

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: NEDFi observed International Women’s Day with the theme ‘Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress’. The first part of the programme was organized by Villgro and NEDFi, partnered under the UNDP-assisted Women Entrepreneur Mentoring Programme. Under this initiative, NEDFi and Villgro have signed up to launch a United National Development Programme (UNDP)-assisted women entrepreneurs mentoring programme titled “Empower Her Journey.”. 

Villgro is India’s foremost and one of the world’s largest social enterprise incubators. Since 2001, Villgro has supported 388 social enterprises and impacted over 20.8 million lives. The programme was formally launched in the North East by PVSLN Murty, CMD, by signing an MoU with Vilgro in the presence of John Borgoyary, Regional Head, UNDP North East India. Devansh Peshin, Govt. and Public Sector Partnership, Villgro, was also present at the event and gave a short presentation about the program. Under the “Empower Her Journey” programme, Villgro and NEDFi aim to mentor 800 women entrepreneurs across 8 North East States in 8 cohorts. This virtual mentoring programme will focus on the growth and digital transformation pathways of women-led business ventures in the region.

The second part of the programme was to felicitate women achievers who have made outstanding contributions in their field and received the fourth highest civilian awards from the Government of India in the states of Assam and Mizoram in the years 2023 and 2024. They were, namely, Hemoprova Chutia, a handloom weaver and artist based in Dibrugarh, Assam, who has crafted a variety of creations using diverse fabrics such as cotton, silk, wool, and intricately cut bamboo. She has received various awards and honours for her contribution to art, including the Assam Gourav Award. She was awarded the Padma in New Delhi by the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, in the field of art in 2023. Hemoprova Chutia created four books using her handloom, which included “Gunamala” by Srimanta Sankardeva, “Naam Ghosa” by Madhabdeva, and Bhagavad Gita in Assamese, Sanskrit, and English, using a technique called “Barnab Astra” in Assamese. Then NEDFi felicitated KC Runremsangi, who is the only female member to have won the Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 2017 and the Padma Shree in 2023 in the folk music category. She recorded over 50 Mizo songs of different genres. In 1992, she joined Mizoram’s Art and Culture Department, thus travelling across India to perform, teach, and promote her state’s folk songs and dance forms. The third felicitation was for Parbati Barua, who is an animal conservation activist and a mahout, She was awarded the Padma Shri in the field of social work in 2024. At the age of 14, Barua caught her first wild elephant, on which her father congratulated her. Since then, she has mastered the art of rounding up elephants and capturing them to be domesticated. Over the years, she has been called multiple times in the jungles, tea plantations, and rural areas of West Bengal, Odisha, and her native Assam to capture or care for wild elephants.

In addition to this, NEDFi women officers also visited one of the destitute homes, SENEH, and offered financial assistance for the benefit of the NGO. The event was attended by weavers, artisans, students, incubators, and lady representatives from various corporations, banks, and financial institutions.

 Also Read: Assam: International Women’s Day celebrated across state

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