Women’s Day: Meet the ‘Nari Shaktis’ that inspire awe

President Ram Nath Kovind gave away the twelve Nari Shakti Puraskar, 2019 to the awardees in an event at President House, here in New Delhi on Sunday. Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam were among the dignitaries present to award the extraordinary achievements by women on the occasion of Women’s Day.

Here is a glimpse of all those who received awards:

A resident of Andhra Pradesh, Bhudevi is a role model for women farmers and rural women entrepreneurs. She has been working for the development of tribal women, widows, Podu lands through a community-based organization – CAVS (Chinnai Adhivasi Vikas Society) which was established by her father in 1996. She is also the Director of Manyam Grains Pvt Ltd and Manyadeepika Farmers Producer Company Ltd. She has been involved in spreading awareness on improving mother and child nutritional health, with assistance from the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA).

Bina Devi from Bihar’s Munger is fondly known as ‘Mushroom Mahila’ for popularizing mushroom cultivation. She trained farmers on mushroom farming, organic farming, vermin-compost production, organic insecticide preparation at home. She has generated self- employment among rural women and also engaged in dairy farming and goat farming.

Srinagar’s Arifa is the founder of Numdha Handicrafts and is responsible for reviving the lost art. She has trained more than 100 women in Kashmir. She has employed 25 Kashmiris and increased the wages of her employees from Rs 175 to Rs 450. Despite financial constraints and criticized for being a female entrepreneur, she has actively promoted new designs of Numdhas.

Forty-seven-year-old Chami has been a passionate environmentalist for the last 24 years. She is the Chief Functionary Officer – Sahyogi Mahila, Rajnagar, Jharkhand. She has been involved in planting more than 25 lakh trees with the Forest Department and mobilized more than 3000 women. She has got constructed watersheds, goat sheds, poultry sheds, and nutrition gardens.

Nilza is an entrepreneur, running Alchi Kitchen Restaurant. The restaurant is the first one to serve traditional Ladakhi cuisines including some exquisite and forgotten recipes. She has trained 20 women from remote areas of Ladakh who manage the restaurant. She has traveled and represented Ladakhi recipes in 5-star hotels in India. She has been involved in charitable works with People’s Action Group for Inclusion and Rights, a movement to create a prejudice-free society and sponsored girl’s education. Despite having lost her father before her birth and dropping out of college due to financial constraints.

She is an automotive and R&D professional for 36 years. Since 2014, she has been the Director of the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI). She has rich experience in the fields of automotive R&D, testing and homologation, Framing of test standards and regulations, etc. She developed electronic controls of hydraulic testing machines and contributed towards emission measurements under which the first-ever emission Laboratory was formed in India. She has undertaken the creation of the National Automotive Technology Museum.

Known as ‘Miracle from Chandigarh’, Mann Kaur started her athletic career at the age of 93. She won 4 Gold (Track and Field) at World Masters Athletic Championship, Poland. She has set a record by becoming the world’s fastest centenarian at the American Masters Game, 2016.

The 103-year-old lady has won more than 20 medals in World Masters Games and America Masters Game (Gold), 100 m World Masters Games in New Zealand in 2017 (100m and 200 m) at National Level, Gold (100 m and 200m) at Worlds Master Championship at the USA in 2013.

She is the lady mason, a driving force towards reducing open defecation in the district of Kanpur. She is responsible for building more than 4000 toilets in villages in and around Kanpur.

Tashi and Nungshi are mountaineers for more than 8 years. They are the first female twins to scale Mt Everest in 2013. They have scaled Mount Kilimanjaro of Africa in 2015 and Mt Vinson of Antarctica in 2014 as well. They founded NungshiTashi Foundation in 2015 to empower girls and develop mountaineering as a sport. They have been conferred with Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award in 2016 and Leif Erikson Young Explorers Award in 2016.

She is an Indian classical vocalist with more than 15 years of experience, and she is Khayal and Thumri exponent. She has performed internationally in more than 5 countries including the USA and the UK.

For Indian Air Force’s first women fighter pilots Mohana Singh, Bhawana Kanth & Avani Chaturvedi, the only sky is the limit. The trio was inducted into IAF fighter squadron after the Government of India decided to open a fighter stream in IAF for women on an experimental basis. They became the first Indian women pilots to take a solo flight in a MIG-21 in 2018.

Avani Chaturvedi, posted to No. 23 Squadron (Panthers), Suratgarh, Rajasthan. She has been promoted to the rank of Flight Lieutenant in 2018. She has earned an honorary Doctorate in 2018 conferred by Banasthai Vidyapeeth.

Bhageerathi Amma and Karthyayini Amma have passed the Class IV literacy equivalent examinations. Bhageerathi Amma was inspired to take the examinations conducted by the State Literacy Mission in Malayalam, Mathematics, and Environment in November 2019. At 105 years, she is the oldest literacy equivalent learner under the Kerala State Literacy Mission. She had to quit education to take care of her siblings. With her memory and eyesight intact, her 67-year-old daughter was present to help her during the examinations. (IANS)

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