Nari Shakti Puraskar-2015’ conferred on 22 Institutions/Individuals by the President

‘Nari Shakti Puraskar-2015’ conferred on 22 Institutions/Individuals by the President 

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee conferred the ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar-2015’on the occasion of International Women’s Day today.  The awards are given every year by the Ministry of Women & Child Development to institutions and individuals who have made exceptional contribution towards empowerment of women.

            Speaking on the occasion, the President Shri Pranab Mukherjee said that it is intolerable that in this day and age, women are still being exposed to barbaric brutality and violence because they are women. He said that the government, civil society and public at large should pledge to work together for developing relevant legal, administrative and other measures to ensure the safety and security of our mothers and sisters. The President said the best practices for the development of women - that have worked well at the grassroots in States and Union Territories should be adopted and up-scaled in Government of India schemes. The president explained that the key - and urgent - priority is to develop a comprehensive approach to the holistic empowerment of women.

            In her introductory speech, the Minister for Women & Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said that the Nari Shakti Award is the highest and most prestigious Indian National award conferred by the President of India upon exceptional women in recognition of their achievement in promoting positive change and being examples among women. 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, the Minister added.

Outlining the priorities of her Ministry, Smt Maneka Gandhi said that the Government is fully committed to promote women’s rights and gender equality in all policies and planning. The ‘BetiBachao, BetiPadhao’ (BBBP) launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister last year to save the Girl Child, Educate the Girl Child, has shown paradigm shift in attitudes towards the girl child.

Lauding the efforts made by the state of Haryana, the WCD Minister said that a year after the launch of BBBP many states have shown improvement and particularly Haryana has shown exemplary improvement in sex ratio at birth which  improved to 903 in December, 2015, the first time in a decade that it had crossed 900. Initially, BBBP Scheme was implemented in 100 selected Districts and keeping in mind the criticality of the issue and the success of the scheme, the BBBP Scheme has been now expanded to additional 61 districts covering 11 States/UTs, the Minister announced.

            Smt Maneka Gandhi highlighted the major steps taken by the Ministry of Women and Child Development  for safety and security of women as well as their welfare including One Stop Centres to provide integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence, Scheme for Universalization of Women Helpline intended to provide 24 hours immediate and emergency response to women affected by violence, the SABLA scheme for out-of-school adolescent girls which is being expanded to cover all districts of the country, the Special Mahila Police Volunteers scheme and the Gender Champion programme among others.

The government  of India confers “Nari Shakti  Puraskars” on eminent  women and institutions rendering distinguished service  to the cause of women  especially  belonging   to the vulnerable  and marginalized  sections  of the  society . The recipients draw from institutions and individuals.

Nari Shakti Puraskar include Institutional awards in 6 categories instituted in the name of illustrious daughters of India i.e. Rani  Rudramma  Devi, Mata Jijabai, Kannagi Devi, Rani Gaidinliu Zeliang, Devi Ahilyabai Holkar and Rani  Lakshmibai. Besides, there are Individual awards in two categories for courage & bravery and for making outstanding contributions to women’s endeavour / community work/ making a difference / women empowerment.  

Nari Shakti Puraskar carries a cash   award of Rs. 2 Lakh and a certificate for institutions and Rs.1 Lakh and a certificate for individuals.

This year, 7 awards have been given in the Institutional Category and 15 in the Individual Category. The List of Nari Shakti Puraskar Awardees can be accessed at the link given below:

List of Nari Shakti Puraskar Awardees

Sl. No. Nominee State Area of Work

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1 Angadipuram Gramma Panchayat, Mallapuram (Panchyat) Kerala

AngadipuramGrama Panchayat has done a lot of work towards the women empowerment. Through activities of Kudumbasree panchayat helped women to hold leadership roles and promoted women in decision making.

2 State of Haryana (State) Haryana 

Haryana has demonstrated improvement with work in progress on improving Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) during the last year.

3 GuriaSwayamSeviSansthan (CSO) Uttar Pradesh

It is working to free women and children from sexual exploitation, forced prostitution and trafficking and restoration of the rights of their children at Varanasi & Mau (U.P.).

4 Jagori (CSO) Delhi

Jagori is working from last 25 years with a vision of “spreading feminist consciousness for the creation of a just society”. It has started “Safe Delhi” campaign to fight the problem of sexual harassment.

5 Kanaklata Women Urban Cooperative bank (Institution) Assam

KWUCB is the first Women’s Bank in the Assam and has a working capital of over Rs 7 crores and reaching out to over 28,000 customers through various branches. The Bank’s lending facility is exclusively for women though men are allowed to deposit as per the instructions of RBI.

6 Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (Institution) Delhi

TIFAC has been instrument in generating employment for women through Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing –KIRAN-IPR scheme. 405 women have been trained and operating from 4 Centres across the country at Delhi, Pune, Chennai and Kharagpur.

7 Breakthrough Trust (CSO) Delhi

Breakthrough Trust is working to make violence and discrimination against women and girls unacceptable. It has engaged in many cutting-edge multimedia campaigns, community mobilization and trained many women worldwide in leadership to challenge the status quo and take bold action for the dignity, equality, and justice of all. 

8 Sr. Lucky Kurien (Individual) Maharashtra

Sister Lucky Kurienhas been working for Women and Children from the past 18 years. She founded the Maher NGO and helped 2691 women to get sheltered, rehabilitee 2339 and provides help to 59 women in marriage

9 Dr. (Smt) Saurabh Suman (Individual) Bihar

Dr (Smt.) Saurabh Suman is the Secretary of NGO Bihar SevaSansthan working for the welfare and empowerment of women in Bihar, with a focus on the District of Nawada. She has organized ISRO sponsored research programme for participation of women in agriculture development, and training on basic information technology and mobile training course.

10 Basanti Devi (Individual) Uttarakhand

Smt. Basanti Devi is an environmentalist; educated women woodcutters in Uttarakhand on the dangers of deforestation, and prevented the Kosi from drying up. She convinced the women in the valley to fight opposition from men and forest guards and form community based organizations for forest conservation.

11 SuparnaBaksiGanguly (Individual) Karnataka

SuparnaBaksiGanguly is committed environmentalist and Animal Activist. She is founder member of an animal welfare agency Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA). Her organisation has supported various animal welfare initiatives and running four centres in Bangalore for wildlife rescue and rehabilitation for monkeys, snakes and birds.

12 Meena Sharma (Individual) Rajasthan

Meena Sharma is coming from the rural background a renowned journalist took up fighting gender discrimination as her mission in life. She has highlighted the state of old parents neglected by their own children and illegal sex determination and sex selective abortions through various sting operations.

13 PreetiPatkar (Individual) Maharashtra

PritiPatkar is social worker and human rights activist and co-founder of the organization Prerana. She has done pioneering work in the red-light districts of Mumbai to protect children vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking for the past 28 years. 

14 Uttara Padwar (Individual) Madhya Pradesh

Uttara Padwar runs a grassroots organisation named Prayas Shiksha Samiti working for fighting extreme poverty, malnutrition and diseasesin tribal communities like Baigas, Gonds, Abhujhmarias.

15 Polumati Vijaya Nirmala (Individual) Andhra Pradesh

Smt. Vijaya Nirmala is working on Women and Child Right issues and conducted number of trainings, workshops, campaigns and awareness meetings on Gender Sensitization and Human Trafficking in West and East Godavari Districts. She has participated in 27rescue operation and provides counseling services. She has formed 27 community vigilance group, 35 Adolescents groups, 15 red light area level victim collectives for prevention OF Human Trafficking and abuse.

16 Vasu Primalni Delhi

Vasu Primlani is a triathlete, rock climber and is also well-known for her international stand-up comedy with shows done all over the world. Her comedy picks up on issues of contemporary relevance including environment, women’s safety, rape, and diversity issues.

17 Sujata Sahu (Individual) Haryana

Ms. Sujata Sahu, founder of 17000ft foundation is working to create an impact and improve the quality of school education in the remote villages of Ladakh. She started with distributing story books to the children in their native language in Ladakh and her organization made 600 visits in one year to schools in far flung areas of Ladakh to inculcate in children the habit of learning better through reading books.

18 JyotiMhapsekar (Individual) Maharashtra

JyotiMhapsekar is founding members of StreeMuktiSanghatana. She is a renowned playwright and has written numerous plays on women’s issues, children’s education, child labour, waste management and the environment. She has participated in several International Women Playwrights conferences and was Convener of VIII conference in 2009.

19 Sumita Ghosh (Individual) Delhi

Ms. SumitaGhose is the founder and managing director of Rangsutra, a social enterprise which seeks to bring about socio economic development and inclusive growth in rural India by engaging both: the community and the market. 

20 Anjali Sharma (Individual) Delhi

Ms. Anjali Sharma is practicing law as a senior associate in a New Delhi based Law Firm called "Integral Law Offices", which does extensive work in the commercial, corporate, contract and arbitration law fields. Anjali is also an animal rights activist, and is an Executive Committee Member of and Legal Advisor to the Animal Welfare Board of India, which a statutory body is functioning under the aegis of the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

21 Krishna Yadav (Individual) Delhi

Smt. Krishna Yadav is an Illiterate woman and working in the field of rural development and entrepreneurship. She is at present a successful food processing entrepreneur with annual turnover of more than Rs.3 crores.

22 ShakuntalaMajumdar Maharashtra

Mrs. ShakuntalaMajumdar is the founding member of Thane SPCA, is among the most influential people in the Country's Animal Welfare environment with 20+ years of rich experience in this space. She is an Honorary Animal Welfare officer appointed by the Government of India and by the Committee to Monitor Animal Welfare laws in India by the Bombay High Court