From working in fields to legislating in the Parliament, women are everywhere and are playing a pivotal role in nation-building. With their ever-increasing say in the nation’s economy the fair gender is carving a niche for itself. Fighting for her righteous place in the society to struggling to have an equal footing in every field or domain, women’s are warriors in their own right. We must salute this spirit and International Women’s Day 2022 gives us an opportunity to do so. With theme ‘Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow’ it reminds us that the future of the world can only be secured if we make present free of biases, discrimination, inequality and injustice to women. Sustainable future without equal footing for women is just a hoax.
Indian women are making relentless efforts and they are second to none. Big or small, every efforts counts and contribution of women in the world of startup, entrepreneurship, basic & interdisciplinary sciences, arts, literature, bureaucracy, social work, politics, etc. cannot and should not be undermined or negated.
Whether, at the top echelon or at the bottom, the contribution of these women can vary but each one is important and is a step towards bringing a big difference.
Dr Susmita Mohanty is a spaceship designer and the only space entrepreneur in the world to have started companies on three different continents. She is the CEO of EARTH2ORBIT, India’s first private start-up that played a pivotal role in opening up the US launch market for India. Susmita launched India’s first space think tank Spaceport SARABHAI in autumn 2021. The mission of Spaceport SARABHAI is to give India an international voice; grow the body of knowledge that informs critical areas of space law and policy; build public perspective through writings, debates and discussions; transform India into a developed space economy by 2030.
Dr Anasuya Roy is the founder and chief executive officer of Nanosafe Solutions, a technological start-up in collaboration with IIT-Delhi, that develops cost effective nanotechnology-based innovations. Nanosafe Solutions is the one of the first companies in the global market to commercialise a polymeric nanocomposite material as a consumer product. During COVID-19 lockdown, they develop innovative COVID-19 products which are technologically advanced as well as cost-effective.
Ayushi Mishra is a Biomedical Engineer whose startup DronaMaps specialises in large scale mapping with drones and extraction of geospatial analytics from it. During the Covid-19 crisis, DronaMaps volunteered their platform to seven states across India acting as a command-and-control center.
Santosh Devi: From being a marginal farmer to a well-off one who earns around 25 lakhs a year, Santosh Devi who is from a small village in Rajasthan sets an example for other farmers who look down upon their traditional profession. Santosh is earning lakhs by cultivating Sindoori pomegranates on about 1.25 acres of land. Her journey to success started in 2008, when Santosh thought of cultivating pomegranate. She collected money by selling her buffalo and got tube well installed in the field. She then started irrigation by planting 220 vermillion pomegranate plants.
Pritpal Kaur: Is an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer at Noklak, Nagaland observed that the locals are very talented but are uneducated and unskilled and do not earn sufficient for their livelihood. Hence they suffer from various health and financial problems. They also didn't have enough information on the value of the local resources and how to utilise these for income generation. They also didn't have information on GI tags and patents. She arranged for the training programmes so that the locals can be trained in various livelihood generation activities by utilising the local resources found in forests. The community was able to manufacture products and sell them at local level and earned hefty profits. She was the one to suggest the brand name- “Taste of Noklak Society” with inspiration from “Amul- Taste of India”.
To know more about - Taste of Noklak Society
Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi interacted with the Nari Shakti Puraskar Awardees for the years 2020 and 2021 and said that the focus of the Government is on ‘sabka prayas’ and the success of the efforts of the government, like ‘vocal for local’, is dependent on the contribution of women. The Nari Shakti Puraskars is given to people for their exceptional work towards the empowerment of women, especially the vulnerable and marginalised ones. It also provides an opportunity to young to understand the contribution of women in building of the society and the nation.
Nari Shakti Puraskar Awardees for the years 2020 and 2021
Indian women are making significant strides in various fields and are creating new milestones each day. They are playing important role in the development of country and help nation keep pace with the rest of the world. The society is indebted to all the women, who in one way or the other are working for the progress of nation, and we must pay our gratitude to the ‘Nari Shakti’ by doing whatever we can in our individual and collective capacities to ensure safety, dignity and prosperity of women.