President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Nari Shakti Puraskars to 29 exceptional women for 2020 and 2021 on the eve of International Women’s Day. Twenty-eight awards (14 each for 2020 and 2021) were presented to 29 women in recognition of their exceptional work towards the empowerment of women, especially the vulnerable and marginalised.
Nari Shakti Puraskars 2020 and 2021: Full Details Here
President Kovind presented Nari Shakti Puraskar to Anita Gupta for her contribution in empowering rural and underprivileged women. A social entrepreneur from Bhojpur, Bihar, she has trained over 50,000 underprivileged rural women in various skills.
A handloom weaver and a teacher Arti Rana from Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, has been awarded for imparting training in crafts to over 800 Tharu women and established 150 women’s SHGs thereby raising the income of tribal weaver women.
Founder of Hepatitis Foundation of Tripura Dr Ela Lodh (posthumous) for her contribution towards women’s health, particularly for the marginalised.
Jaya Muthu and Tejamma for their contribution in preserving and promoting the age-old intricate Toda Embroidery of Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu.
Jodhaiya Bai Baiga for promoting the Tribal Baiga Art at global level. Portraying tribal cultures on canvas, her work has been exhibited internationally in Italy and France.
Meera Thakur for promoting the unique Sikki Grass Art and empowering the underprivileged women in Punjab. She provides free training of Sikki Grass Art and has trained more than 400 underprivileged women.
Nasira Akhter for grassroot innovation in environmental conservation. Hailing from Kulgam, Jammu and Kashmir, she developed a herb that converts polythene to ashes, thereby making polythene biodegradable.
Nivruti Rai for excellence in technology. Country Head of Intel India, she developed semiconductor chips that consume less power and a new rural connectivity solution which provides cost-effective high-speed broadband connection.
Saylee Nandkishor Agavane for promoting Indian classical dance despite facing hardships due to Down syndrome. Saylee is a Kathak dancer and has received recognition in India and abroad.
Sandhya Dhar for her contribution and dedication towards divyangjan rights. Sandhya founded ‘Jammu Institute of General Education and Rehabilitation’ in 2015 that conducts classes for Divyangjan and underprivileged children.
Tiffany Brar for empowering visually impaired rural women. She founded the Jyothirgamaya Foundation and a mobile blind school in Kerala. She has provided training to over 200 blind persons in Braille, computers and other skills.
Ushaben Dineshbhai Vasava for her contribution in organic farming. As a tribal activist in Gujarat, she has ensured land entitlements to 500 women. She provides training on fertiliser use & tech-based farming to women farmers.
Vanita Jagdeo Borade for wildlife conservation particularly rescuing snakes. Having rescued over 50,000 snakes to their natural habitat, Vanita from Buldhana, Maharashtra is known as ‘Snake Friend’ and First Woman Snake Rescuer’.
Batool Begam for promoting Indian folk music internationally. A Maand and Bhajan Folk Singer from Jaipur, she specialises in Rajasthani folk tunes and performed Indian folk music programmes internationally.
Anshul Malhotra for skilling underprivileged rural women in handloom weaving and promoting Himachal Handloom. She has provided free handloom weaving training to 200 underprivileged rural women.
Kamal Kumbhar for promoting women’s entrepreneurship in animal husbandry. An enterprenuer from Osmanabad, she has helped 5,000 women in starting micro-businesses and was instrumental in lighting up 3,000 houses with solar power.
Madhulika Ramteke for her efforts to economically empower women. A social worker from Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, she started ‘Maa Bamleshwari Bank’ which is entirely managed and controlled by women, and now has 5,372 branches.
Neena Gupta for her excellence in Mathematics. A professor at Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, she has solved 70 years old Zariski Cancellation Problem. She is also the winner of ‘Ramanujan Prize’ for Young Mathematicians.
Neerja Madhav in recognition of her work for marginalised people through Hindi Sahitya. A Hindi author from Uttar Pradesh, she has promoted world peace, rights & reservation for Eunuchs & Tibetan refugees.
Niranjanaben Mukulbhai Kalarthi for promoting Gujarati language and education of tribal girls. She founded Mukul Trust, Bardoli, Sardar Kanya Vidyalaya, and Swaraj Ashram, helping tribal underprivileged girls in getting education.
Pooja Sharma for contribution in skill development and empowerment of women and entrepreneurship. Hailing from Gurugram, she has established 9 SHGs, trained about 1,000 women & employing 150 women in her food manufacturing units.
Radhika Menon for excellence in Indian Merchant Navy and exemplary courage. She is the first Indian Woman Captain of the Merchant Navy and led a rescue operation in June, 2015 saving the lives of seven fishermen.
Sathupati Prasanna Sree for preserving minority tribal languages. A Professor of Andhra University, she is the first woman in the world to devise scripts for 19 tribal languages.
Shobha Gasti for remarkable efforts in empowerment of women and girls. She started an NGO that helped in mainstreaming over 3600 devadasis in Belgaum, Karnataka.
Sruti Mohapatra for the empowerment of Divyangjan. Known as the ‘Crusader in a Wheelchair’, she founded NGOs working for upliftment of divyangjan in Odisha.
Tage Rita Takhe for excellence in promoting women entrepreneurship and local products internationally. Resident of Subansiri, Arunachal Pradesh, she has produced ‘Naara Aaba’, India’s first organic kiwi wine.
Thara Rangaswamy for creating awareness about mental disorders. She started a free mobile tele-psychiatry service in Tamil Nadu. ‘Indian Disability Evaluation & Assessment Scale’ devised by her is used to assess mental disorders.
Padma Yangchan for preserving and reviving the lost cuisine and hand-weaving techniques of Ladakh and promoting it internationally.