The Winners Take It All
The India Today Woman Summit and Awards 2018 were a heady mix of realism, inspiration and courage
The legendary Oprah Winfrey, billionaire entrepreneur, had once remarked: ‘The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change their future by merely changing their attitude.’ On September 26, that sentiment echoed across the hallway and in the hearts of those who were present at the India Today Woman Summit & Awards in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
A state known for its abysmal sex ratio and deep-seated notions of patriarchy, a state where child marriages remain common and women have to wear a ‘ghoonghat’ (veil) to this day. Yet, india today dug out eight stories of courage, perseverance, strength and determination from Rajasthan and rewarded these exceptional women who have rewritten the script of their lives that society had formulated for them.
So there was Asha Jhajharia, 40, a staff nurse with the Rajasthan government-turned-mountaineer, who fought patriarchy at every step and
raised Rs 30 lakh to summit the Mount Everest. The 17 corpses she encountered on the way to the top did not deter her. “I knew that if I died,” she says, “there would be no one to take care of my daughter... I thought about her and realised that if I gave up, my daughter also might lose hope.”
There was also Rupa Yadav, who was married off at the age of eight and has now gone on to become a general physician. Aspiring to become a cardiologist one day, she says she feels no resentment towards her family. “At the time of getting married,” she says, “I didn’t know what was happening, but my in-laws never differentiated between me and my husband.”
Equally inspiring was the story of Manju Devi, in her late 40s, who did not let the tragedy of losing her husband unexpectedly overcome her. Instead, she took on the job her husband was doing to become the first woman coolie in Jaipur. It has enabled her to put her three children through an education; her daughter, in fact, now wants to
become a doctor when she grows up.
Nineteen-year-old Kiyara, who grew up in the small town of Sangaria near the Rajasthan border, had never dreamt she’d be walking the runway in Milan one day. That’s exactly what she has ended up doing. Saroj Choudhary, 31, a scientist at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, was a modern-day Eklavya, picking up lessons from outside the class where her brothers were studying as she waited to escort them back home. “One day, a student got stuck while counting and I continued while sitting outside. It was then that the teachers persuaded my parents to let me study. That’s the day my life changed,” she told the audience. Daughter of farm labourers, today she advises farmers on how to increase their yields. “The thought ‘oh my brothers go to school and I don’t’ never crossed my mind as I was brought up to believe that girls weren’t as important as boys. Now, I have adopted a girl, who is nine years.” She and her husband, who together earn Rs 1.5 lakh, also take care of the education of several other children.
The inspiring lives of each of these women left the audience awed. Officials from the state spoke about the efforts being made to empower women at the grassroots level. Rajasthan has designed a host of schemes for the education of the girl child.
Listing the state’s achievements, Kiran Maheshwari, cabinet minister for the higher, technical and Sanskrit education department in Rajasthan, said, “Today, Rajasthan has become a state where the gross enrolment ratio for girls in schools is 51 compared to boys. Our enrolment ratio has gone up 24 per cent in the past five years. CM Vasundhara Raje has ensured that all gram panchayats have schools till class 12, as well as colleges. Education plays a big role in changing your thinking, boosting your selfconfidence. I advise women to study and teach those who can’t afford to go to school. We have started giving cycles to girls in class 9 and above so that they go to school. We have given away 14 lakh cycles in the past five years.”
Chairperson of the state finance commission, Jyoti Kiran, also spoke about the clear shift in policy. “Now there are women-centric policies. There is a clear policy intervention, which is bringing about massive improvements,” she said.
Whether at the state level or national, all winners had persevered, fought stereotypes to chase their dreams. Among the national award winners were actors Yami Gautam and Ratna Pathak Shah; the 17-year-old Meghna Mishra, the voice behind Secret Superstar; writer Kanika Dhillon; Nadia Chauhan of Parle Agro; Soumya Kant of Clovia; Lt Cdr Vartika Joshi, team leader, and Lt Cdr Aishwarya Boddapati, team member, INS Tarini; Mamta Sharma, theme leader, Integrated Crop Management, ICRISAT; and Krishna Poonia, discus thrower and Padma Shri recipient.
Towards the end, Lt Cdr Boddapati of INS Tarini perhaps spoke for all the women when she said, “The most important lesson I learnt during the voyage was that I was capable of doing things I didn’t know I could do. Growing up, we tend to limit ourselves to a job or task—limitations set by parents, society and even peers. I realised I can go without sleep for hours when I have to stay awake with five other women, in order to make it through a storm safely. We were the chefs, plumbers, electricians, everything, when we were at sea.” No task is impossible for a woman, when she sets her mind to it.
“ For me, it’s been a challenge to be chief minister in a patriarchal society. I can understand what every woman here goes through to succeed Vasundhara Raje, Rajasthan Chief Minister