Nari Shakti Purushkar

The Government of India's Ministry of Women and Child Development gives the Nari Shakti Puraskar annually to individuals or organisations that support the cause of women's empowerment.  On March 8th, International Women's Day, the president of India bestows the highest civilian award on a woman at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. The Stree Shakti Puraskar award was established in 1999; and was renamed and reorganised in 2015 as Nari Shakti Puraskar. It is given in two individual categories and six institutional categories, with cash awards of 100,000 and 200,000 rupees, respectively. 

 

Each of the six institutional classifications bears the name of a notable lady from Indian history.

For the best private sector organisation or public sector effort in advancing the welfare and well-being of women, the Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Award is given, named after Ahilyabai Holkar, a monarch of the Malwa kingdom who lived in the 18th century.

 

For the state with the greatest improvement in the child sex ratio (CSR), named after Kannagi the protagonist of the Tamil epic Silapathikaram.

Recognises the top urban local organisation for supporting women's needs, named in honour of Mata Jijabai, Shivaji's mother, who established the Maratha Empire in the seventeenth century.

 

A civil society organisation (CSO) performing exceptional work for the welfare and well-being of women is presented the Rani Gaidinliu Zeliang Award. 

 

Which honours the top institution for research and development in the area of women's empowerment, is named after Rani Gaidinliu, a political and spiritual leader of the Naga people who lived in the 20th century, named after Lakshmibai, a Jhansi queen and one of the main leaders of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. 

for two District Panchayats and two Gram Panchayats, for their contribution in the area of women's welfare, particularly in relation to the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana, named after Rudrama Devi, a monarch of the Deccan Plateau in the 13th century.

 

*Award for bravery and strength

 

*Awards for extraordinary contributions to women's endeavour, community service, or other efforts that have a positive impact on women or that have empowered women.

 

The Stree Shakti Puraskar, which was established in 1999, was the forerunner of the Nari Shakti Puraskar.

 

It came with a citation and a cash prize of 100,000. The same six categories used for the Nari Shakti Award were used for the Stree Shakti Puraskar. 

 

On January 4, 2001, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee presented the first Stree Shakti Puraskar awards to five women at the Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi:

 

1.    K. V. Rabiya of Kerala's Malappuram district was given the Kannagi Stree Shakti Puraskar in recognition of her work to further the education of kids with physical and/or mental disabilities.

 

2.    Chinna Pillai of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, received the Mata Jijabai Stree Shakti Puraskar in recognition of her efforts to start and extend the microcredit movement and improve the lives of women living in poverty.

 

3.    Brahmacharini Kamala Bai of the Nagaur district in Rajasthan was given the Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Stree Shakti Puraskar for founding girls' schools. 

 

4.    Kinkri Devi of the Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh received the Jhansi Ki Rani Laxmibai Stree Shakti Puraskar for organising the people against unlawful mining. 

 

5.    Kumari Lalita Pradkar of the Madhya Pradesh district of Dhar received the Rani Gaidinliu Stree Shakti Puraskar. 

 

1.    Sathupati Prasanna Sree is an Indian Linguist known for psychodynamics of the women in the post Modern Litreture of the east and the west.

 

2.    Niranjanaben Mukulbhai Kalarthi is an Indian author and educator. She published books Ba ane Bapu about Gandhi and Gujaratna Shirchhatra Sardar about Vallabhbhai patel.

 

3.    Pooja Sharma is an Indian entrepreneur. She is the first woman in her village to work outside the home, and sets up self-help groups employing 150 women in a bakery.

 

4.    Anshul Malhotra from himachal Pradesh for preserving the native state’s handloom, she trained over 200 underpriviledged rural women and has created a collection of 2,200 handloom designs for weavers to preserve.

 

5.    Shobha Gasti based in belgaum, Karnataka founded Mahila Abhivrudhi Mattu Samrakshana Samasthe (MASS) IN 1997 helping former devadasi women to move forward in lives.

 

6.    Radhika Menon an Indian Female Merchant Naval Officer, also the first female captain of Indian Merchant Navy. She is known for her exemplary performance in a rescue operation (2015) saving seven fisherman trapped in a boat.

 

7.    Kamal Kumbhar an Indian social entrepreneur, serial entrepreneur, founder of kamal poultry and ekta Producer Company.

 

8.    Sruti Mohapatra is an Indian Disability Rights Activist.

 

9.    Batool Begam is a folk music singer from Jaipur, Rajasthan, and sings mand and bhajan songs.

 

10.    Neerja Madhav is an Indian author from UP, writes in Hindi.

 

11.    Neena Gupta- She is a professor at the Statistics and Mathematics Unit of Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata, fields include commutative algebra and affine algebraic geometry.

 

12.    Tage Rita Takhe-is an agriculture engineer from ziro valley. She is India’s first kiwi wine brewer.

 

13.    Thara Rangaswamy-psychiatrist and the co-founder of an NGO calle SCARF (Schizophrenia Research Foundation) based in Chennai.

 

14.    Madhulika Ramteke-indian social entrepreneur from chattisgarh and founder of a microfinance bank run by women and works with survivors of domestic abuse.