On International Women’s Day, President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Nari Shakti Puraskars on 29 outstanding women for 2020 and 2021. Twenty-eight awards were given to the women in recognition of their exceptional work towards women empowerment, vulnerable and marginalised.
The Nari Shakti Puraskar is a Women and Child Development Ministry initiative to acknowledge exceptional contributions made by individuals and institutions, and to celebrate women as game-changers and as a positive change in a society.
Its recipients are from entrepreneurship, agriculture, innovation, social work, education and literature, linguistics, arts and crafts, science, technology, engineering and mathematics, disability rights, merchant navy and wildlife conservation.
The latest awardees include social entrepreneur Anita Gupta, organic farmer and tribal activist Ushaben Dineshbhai Vasava, innovator Nasira Akhter, Intel-India head Nivruti Rai, down syndrome affected Kathak Dancer Saylee Nandkishor Agavane, first woman snake rescuer Vanita Jagdeo Borade and mathematician Neena Gupta.
On the International Women’s Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with these renowned awardees and said that the success of government efforts, like vocal for local, is dependent on the contribution of women and that it is important to ensure all women become part of decision-making at a family level which will follow as a result of their economic empowerment.
