Manoj Godara, Chandigarh,9th March ’10: Hon’ble President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil gave away Stree Shakti Puruskar for year 2008 and 2009 to eminent personalities drawn from diverse fields and launched the National Mission for Empowermewnt of Women. The President struck a personal note when she said that the launch of the Mission gave her the happiness of fulfilment of a dream. She thanked the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for his support for the Mission and acceding to her desire for the Prime Minister to Chair the Mission. Smt Patil said this is a gift to women on the occasion of Women’s Day.
The President said that all round development of women require that both economic and social empowerment is taken care of. She said that for meaningful participation of women in the economic process they should have access to credit at low rates.
Deputy Chairperson of Planning Commission Shri Montek Singh Pointed out that gender perspective is integral part of the 11th plan and launch of the mission will lead to better implementation of the gender specific programmes.
Minister of State (independent Charge) Smt Krishna Tirath thanked the president for envisioning the Mission and providing unflinching support for it. The Minister said that the winners of the Stree Shakti Puruskars are a source of inspiration for us and it is important that thir example should be made known more widely.
On the occasion of International Women’s Day on 8th of March, the Government of India presents national awards called the Stree Shakti Puraskars as a measure of recognition of achievements of individual women in the field of social development. The awardees have been nominated by state governments and selected by a national level Screening Committee.There are six awards instituted in the name of eminent women personalities of Indian history like Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar, Kanngi, Mata Jijabai, Rani Gaidenlou Zeliang, Rani Laxmibai and Rani Rudramma Devi. Each award carries a cash prize of Rs. 3 lakh and citation and is awarded to a woman who has excelled in providing support and rehabilitation to women and children, upliftment of women in tribal areas, empowering women to enable them to participate in political life, has worked with women in distress or has shown an exemplary courage in her life.
The list of the Awardees for Stree Shakti Puraskar 2008 and 2009 is enclosed.
The National Mission for Empowerment of Women which has a mandate to achieve inter-sectoral convergence of all pro-women / women centric programmes across Ministries. It is an attempt by the Government to put women’s concerns at the very heart of public policy and governance. The National Mission will strive to achieve social, economic and legal empowerment of women by identifying gaps in developmental goals and setting up of an appropriate institutional framework to overcome bottlenecks in the process of ensuring coordinated and effective service delivery to women at the grassroots level. The Mission will focus on:
1. economic empowerment of women.
2. progressive elimination of violence against women
3. Social empowerment of women with particular emphasis on health and education.
4. gender mainstreaming of programmes, policies, institutional arrangements and processes of participating Ministries, institutions and organizations.
5. awareness generation as well as advocacy activities to fuel the demand for benefits under various schemes and programmes at the grassroots level.
STREE SHAKTI PURASHKAR 2008
Rani Lakshmi Bai Award
Dr. Sunita Devi, Haryana
Kannagi Award
Smt. Maha Jabeen, Andhra Pradesh
Rani Gaidinliu Zeliang Award
Smt. Jhingubai Shrawan Bolake, Maharashtra
Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Award
Smt. Hina A. Shah, Gujarat
STREE SHAKTI PURASHKAR 2009
Rani Lakshmi Bai Award
Dr. M. Vijaya, Karnataka
Kannagi Award
Smt. Phoolbasan Bai Yadav, Chhattisgarh
Rani Gaidinliu Zeliang Award
Dr. Ved Kumari Ghai, J&K
Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Award
Smt. Rashmi Singh, Delhi
Rani Rudramma Devi
Smt. Sugatha Kumari, Kerala