Union Minister of Textiles, Information, and Broadcasting Smriti Irani will present Women Transforming India Awards 2017 a prestigious award to 12 incredible women winners at an event in New Delhi on 29th of Aug 2017.
Key Points:
i.The award has been launched by NITI Aayog, in partnership with the UN in India and MyGov.
ii.It has been awarded to recognize the transformational impact of work undertaken by women across India.
iii.This year’s campaign “to promote equal opportunity of women” received around 3000 entries from across India.
TOP 6 CONTESTANTS
1 Laxmi Agarwal, Uttar Pradesh: Rising from the Ashes
In 2005 a 14-year-old Laxmi Agrawal was attacked by 32-year-old stalker and his friends. Laxmi rejected his advances and turned down his proposal and the man and his friends threw acid on her face. In 2014, she received the International Women of Courage Award by the then US First Lady Michelle Obama. She was also chosen as the NDTV Indian of the year.
2 Subasini Mistry, Hasnapukur, West Bengal:
Subasini lost her husband at a young age due to lack of medical care but Subasini sacrified for two decades to realize her dream of building a hospital for the needy. Today, the 45-bed hospital spreads over three acres and has the best of doctors and medical equipment. Major surgeries for the poor are done for less than Rs. 5000 and minor ailments are treated for under Rs. 10.
3 Safeena Husain, Mumbai, Maharashtra:
Safeena Husain is the founder and executive director of Educate Girls, a non- profit organization working for girls’ education in some of the most educationally backward districts of India. She has has been involved in development projects across South America, Africa and Asia for the past decade. Safeena won the 2016 NDTV-L’Oreal Paris Women of Worth Award in the Education Category.
4 Arunima Sinha, Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh: Mind Over Matter: Transcending Adversity to Make History
Arunima Sinha, 24-year-old national level volleyball and football player. She was on her way to take the examinations, when she was thrown off a train by a group of gangsters for refusing to part with her gold chain and lost her left leg. Arunima is the first female amputee to scale the highest mountain in the world. In 2015 she was awarded the fourth highest civilian award of India, the Padma Shri and was also honoured with the Tenzing Norgay Highest Mountaineering Award.
5 Kamal Kumbhar, Osmanabad, Maharashtra: The Social Entrepreneur with a Mission
Kamal an entrepreneur owns six different businesses and is a role model business leader. Kamal was also a winner of the CII Foundation Women Exemplar Award 2017 in the field of micro-enterprise. Kamal has actively mentored more than 5,000 women to set up micro-enterprises.
6 Jamuna Tudu, Maturkham, Jharkhand:
She has managed to conserve 50 hectares of forest land around her village in Jharkhand. The Van Suraksha Samiti has about 60 active women members, who patrol the jungle in shifts thrice a day, morning, noon and evening. The Forest Department has ‘adopted’ her village, which has led to Maturkham getting a water connection and a school. In 2013, Jamuna accepted the Godfrey Phillips Bravery Award in the ‘Acts of Social Courage’ category. Around 150 committees formed by Jamuna, comprising more than 6,000 members, have joined her movement to save the forests.
RUNNERS-UP
7 Rajlakshmi Borthakur, Bengaluru: Lifesaver Device Designed by a Mom
Determined to save her child’s life, Rajlakshmi Borthakur researched epilepsy for more than three years and developed a simple wearable device, a smart glove, that can predict epileptic seizures before they happen.
8 Kiran Kanoji, Faridabad: From Accident Survivor to India’s First Female Blade Runner
Survivor of a horrific accident, Kiran Kanojia, is a champion blade runner. In 2014, Kiran attempted the Hyderabad Airtel Marathon and won her first medal. Kiran is a champion blade runner and is invited to Delhi and Mumbai to run and flag off marathons.
9 Harshini Kanhekar, Nagpur, Maharashtra: Breaking the Ceiling: India’s First Woman Firefighter
Harshini Kanhekar rewrote the history of National Fire Service College, Nagpur and the country’s fire services to become India’s first woman firefighter.
10 Shima Modak, Meghalaya: A Beacon of Hope for the Underprivileged
Shima Modak has been working relentlessly towards the welfare of the deprived and distressed. . In 2010, Shima started small educational centres in community spaces to take education to the doorstep of those kids who cannot make it to school. Starting with 73 underprivileged children, the centres run by SPARK have as of date been able to cover more than 3,000.
11 Sunita Kamble, Mhasvad, Maharashtra: Mhasvad’s Doctor Madam
Sunita Kamble fought the odds to become the first woman goat veterinarian in her region, working with her team to protect her community’s livestock and create alternative and sustainable livelihood opportunities for women. Sunita and her team of seven barefoot veterinarians have performed artificial insemination on over 2,000 goats in the area.
12 Kanika Tekriwal, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh: Ruling the Skies
Kanika Tekriwal started her journey in the aviation industry at the tender age of 17. Kanika has won several awards chosen as one of the 100 most inspirational women in the world by BBC, recognised by Forbes Asia as one of the 30 under 30 leading entrepreneurs in Asia, CNN’s 20 under 40, and awarded the National Entrepreneurship award in E-commerce by Government of India.
Source:
- http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=170334
- http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=170314