Blind woman among 6 get 'Stree Shakti Puraskar'

Visually challenged Sandhya Pandey is among the six women who were honoured with the Stree Shakti Puraskar awards during the International Women's Day celebrations in New Delhi on Wednesday.

During December 1999, Sandhya suffered from fever which lead to her visual impairment. “We consulted many doctors in Rajgarh (Chattisgarh) but I lost my vision. I was shattered because I was preparing for my MSc final exams. I am the eldest daughter with four younger sisters. For six to seven months I was in a coma,” she said.

After a year, Sandhya decided to work and become independent despite her disability. “I used to listen to news more than anything else. After hearing so much about violence against women I decided that I will work towards spreading awareness among women in my village. Fortunately I got the job of a teacher,” she said with a big smile.

She draws from her own experience while teaching in schools and educates women about their rights and new ways of starting small businesses. Sandhya received the Rani Laxmi Bai award for boldly facing life despite losing her eyesight.

Five other women were awarded for their excellent contribution towards improving the lives of other women in  society. The awards were presented by President Pratibha Patil.

Padma Kamlakar from Andhra Pradesh, the first woman hypnotist in India was given the Devi Akhilyabai Holkar award. Kanwaljit Kaur from Chandigarh received the Kannagi award for providing hope, guidance and counselling to blind girls.

Jagmati Malik from Haryana was given the Mata Jijabai award for women empowerment by organising self help groups on various issues such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, female foeticide and Right to Information.

Draupadi Ghimiray from Sikkim was given the Rani Gaidinliu Zeliang award for working with specially abled children. And Rakhee Gupta Bhandari was given the Rani Rudramma Devi award for encouraging women to start working in mainstream and public sector offices.

These national awards were instituted in 1999 in the name of five illustrious Indian women. They are presented annually. The award comprises a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh and a citation for contribution towards upliftment of women in areas like rehabilitation, education, training, health and community-based programmes.

“Whenever women have been given a chance to come forward they have proved their capability and brought about significant changes,” said President Patil at the conference.

However, she lamented the low child sex ratio which is at 914 females for every 100 men.

“Even today a girl child is considered as a burden which is wrong. Schools should step in and teach that discrimination against girls and women is not acceptable and will not pave the way for a better tomorrow,” she added.

Krishna Tirath, Minister of State for women and child development echoed similar views and said India has a long way to go and empowering women is the need of the hour.

Jagmati Malik

Jagmati Malik from Hathwala, Haryana was honoured with the Mata Jijabai award by the Ministry of Women and Child Development on Wednesday.

She was also conferred with the National Youth award in 2005-06 and the award for the outstanding woman of Haryana for her work in areas such as women empowerment, organisation of self-help groups, training in different skills, naturopathy and self employment.

“I want to make a difference in every girl’s life in my community. We never work for an award. We encourage women to come to the forefront and become independent,” she said. She adds that such awards encourage people to do good for the society.

She has been working for development and empowerment of women for almost 11 years. “I come from a backward family and I respect my family and husband for supporting me,” she said.

Jagmati firmly believes that an educated woman can strengthen her family and the entire community.