ARADHANA SIKARWAR, LUCKNOW

CATEGORY: SOCIAL WORK

Aradhana is a social worker and the deputy secretary of an NGO called Ummeed. She works for the education of underprivileged children, women safety, anti-drugs campaign, homeless people, natural calamities and is determined to eradicate the practice of child marriage. Aradhana has been teaching 250 poor children in Ujarao, Gomti Nagar area of Lucknow and has a target to teach 2,000 children in 2018.

In a bid to reduce crime against women, she has initiated a community policing programme with the help of Lucknow Police. Safety meetings are being organized in various police stations besides appointing security officials in different localities. To check the menace of alcoholism and drugs on the open streets, Gandhigiri campaigns were launched and three illegal wine shops were forced to close down. Under her guidance, women from rural areas were trained in traffic management who later helped the police in making people aware of the traffic rules. These women also volunteered to help at the trauma centre of the King George Medical College, Lucknow. When natural calamities occurred in Nepal and Uttar Pradesh, Aradhana did her best to help the people. She collected food and other necessary items from the citizens of Lucknow and sent the relief material to Nepal which was devastated by an earthquake in 2015. Similar help was rendered to the people of Bahraich district, when the district was hit by a flood in 2017. The relief truck was flagged off by the governor of Uttar Pradesh. Dinesh Sharma and Keshav Prasad Maurya, deputy chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, felicitated Aradhana on May 27, 2017 for her commendable works. She was also honoured by Raj Shekhar, former DM, Lucknow and Ram Naik, governor of Uttar Pradesh, in 2017. NOMINATED BY BALBIR SINGH MAAN