PM Modi interacts with Nari Shakti Award winners; lauds Women’s contributions to nation building
New Delhi, March 08 :
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the Nari Shakti Award winners have made a great contribution in building the society and inspiring the nation.
Interacting with Nari Shakti Puraskar winners in New Delhi this evening, Modi said, the country could not have achieved the open defecation free status without a significant contribution from women.
He said the malnutrition issue can also be resolved with greater women participation. Prime minister also touched upon the issue of water conservation and highlighted that the Jal Jeevan Mission needs greater participation of women.
15 Women achievers from various parts of the country including Leh, Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh shared their trials, struggles and how they achieved their goals with the Prime Minister. The achievers include 103-Year-old Mann Kaur, who started athletics at the age of 93 and went on to win four Gold Medals in Field and Track events at World Masters Athletic Championship, Poland.
Arifa Jan from Jammu and Kashmir who is the founder of Numdha Handicrafts is responsible for reviving the lost art of Numdha handicrafts. She shared her experience in training more than 100 women in Kashmir and reviving the dying handicraft. Chami Murmu from Jharkhand, an environmentalist who formed more than 2800 groups with over 30 thousand women shared her experience in planting over 25 lakh trees in barren land. Padala Bhudevi a tribal woman farmer and rural entrepreneur from Andhra Pradesh, Bina Devi from Munger, Bihar who is fondly known as ‘Mushroom Mahila’ for popularizing mushroom cultivation, also shared their experiences in farming and marketing.
Indian Air Force’s first women fighter pilots Mohana Singh, Bhawana Kanth and Avani Chaturvedi also shared their experiences. The trio was inducted into fighter squadron after the Government decided to open a fighter stream in IAF for women on an experimental basis. They became the first Indian women pilots to take a solo flight in a MIG- 21 in 2018.