Centre honours seven women change makers
NEW DELHI: As part of the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ programme to celebrate 75 years of Independence, the ministry of information and broadcasting on Tuesday honoured seven women for their extraordinary achievements in fields including environment protection, health care and aviation.
Stories of these seven women have been documented in collaboration with over-the-top platform Netflix and will now be screened as short films, said information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur at a press conference.
“Women change makers Ms Basanti Devi, Padma-award winning environmentalist from Pithoragarh known for her contribution towards revitalizing the Kosi river; Ms Anshu Jamsenpa, a Padma Shri awardee for being the first woman in the world to summit Mount Everest twice in five days in 2017 and Ms Harshini Kanhekar, the first female firefighter in India, were also present at the launch,” the government said in a statement.
The four other women who were honoured at the event were: Poonam Nautiyal, a healthcare worker who launched a drive in Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand to increase Covid vaccination rates; Dr Tessy Thomas, the first woman scientist to head a missile project in India; Tanvi Jagadish, India’s first competitive woman stand-up paddleboarder; and Aarohi Pandit, the world’s youngest and first woman pilot to cross the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean solo in a light-sport aircraft.
The ministry added that stories of these women will be available on various social media channels of the ministry, Netflix as well as broadcast across the Doordarshan network. They will also be made available in other languages like Gujarati, Marathi and Bengali.