The New Indian Express believes that strong, independent women are the backbone of a nation. We have decided to act on our belief by organising a definitive event called Devi, which recognises and awards 12 exceptional women from Uttar Pradesh who display dynamism and innovation in their work.
Our 'Devis' have been chosen through a rating process conducted by the senior editorial team of The New Indian Express and an independent jury, using transparent methodology. They have been selected on the basis of their contribution to their chosen line of work, as well as society in general. The rating process runs true to our motto of 'Favour None, Fear None'.
Adventure involves making adversity a friend. When 24-year-old national level volley-ball player Arunima fell off a moving train while resisting a pack of thieves, she ended up with an amputated leg. "I resisted and they pushed me out of the train. I could not move. I remember seeing a train coming towards me. I tried getting up. By then, the train had run over my leg. I don't remember anything after that," reminisces Sinha. During her treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Sinha thought about how this adversity could be either befriended or resented till the end of her life. She had to live with it, so why not make it a friend. Inspired by Yuvraj Singh's successful battle against cancer, she enrolled in a basic mountaineering course at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi and set her sight on the peak of Everest. In 2012, she signed up for training under Bachendri Pal at the Uttarkashi camp of the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF). Sinha also climbed Island Peak (6,150 metres) the same year as preparation for her ascent of the Everest. Sinha is now dedicated towards social welfare. She wants to open a free sports academy for the poor and the differently-abled. She is donating all the financial aid through awards and seminars for the same cause. The academy would be named Pandit Chandrashekhar Vikalang Khel Academy. Her book Born Again on The Mountain, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2014. In 2015, she was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of India.
What does it take to smile? A carefree mind, the ability to look beyond pain and give humour a chance. It also takes a set of clean, white teeth. Dr Divya Mehrotra makes sure that at least the latter-most aspect is taken care of. In the heartlands of India, where paan spits are splattered everywhere, Dr Mehrotra has done her bit to fix the problem. She has worked extensively on epidemiology of oral precancer and chewing habits for tobacco and areca nut products and has recently concluded an ICMR task force, of a house to house survey on paan masala consumption in 4.5 lac population of Lucknow. Her expertise in the field of TMJ ankylosis and distraction osteogenesis has earned her international appreciation. She has been involved in bone regeneration, which was recently published in the British Journal of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery. Earlier this year, she received the Best teacher Award at King George Medical University, Lucknow, where she is a Professor. She is a recipient of the NAMS Dental Public Health Award, the ICRETT Fellowship, Glasgow UK, the AO Fellowship, Swansea, UK, and the TC White Visiting Scholarship, Glasgow UK. Dr Mehrotra has experience of working at a gamut of dental labs around the world, including the Craniofacial Tissue Engineering and Stem Cells Laboratory, Mc Gill University, Montreal, Canada; Regenerative Med Research Lab, Nebraska, USA; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, Staff University of New York; University Freiburg, Germany; Poole Hospital, UK; Southern General Hospital and, Glasgow Dental School, Glasgow and Morriston Hospital, Swansea, UK. Dr Mehrota's article on dermal fat graft in temporomandibular joint ankylosis was printed as the cover article in British Journal of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery in 2008. She serves as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Oral Biology and Craniofacial Research and is on the advisory board of national and international medical journals.
Growing up around the world, young Ira noticed the flux and fortunes in the lives of NRIs. A new home meant a new language and a new culture and that developed and nourished her perception. Today, Ira Trivedi, who has lived in four countries, nine cities and three continents is best known as the best-selling author of What Would You Do to Save the World? (2006), The Great Indian Love Story (2009) and There Is No Love on Wall Street (2011). Her latest book and first work of non-fiction is India in Love: Marriage and Sexuality in the 21st century, a landmark book on India's new social revolution in marriage and sexuality. Trivedi's books have been published by leading publishers like Penguin and Aleph and have been translated into several languages including Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam and Greek. She is regularly invited to speak to students and corporates. She speaks on findings and insights from her extensive research in gender, marriage and sexuality, how this effects sexual politics in the work place, and what we can do to cope with the change. For Trivedi, travel is tied to self-discovery. She graduated from Wellesley College, Massachusetts, USA with a BA in economics. She gained her MBA from Columbia Business School, where she won the prestigious Feldberg Fellowship. Her grandmother was a hindi writer and her family hails from Etawah.
Music brings people closer to the thoughts they aren't able to or allowed to define. And, sufi is just that kind of music. Kavita Seth feels her deep voice is an embodiment of godly love, something that's synonymous with the Sufi style of singing. This post-graduate in Hindustani and classical music is the voice behind popular songs like Iktara (from the movie Wake Up Sid) and Tum Hi Ho Bandhu (from the movie Cocktail). As an empanelled artist at ICCR for Sufi music, Seth has had more than 500 concerts in India and abroad. She has recently released Ek Din (Universal Music). Her other albums are OM (Sa Re Ga Ma), Sufiaana (Times Music), Kabirana Sufiana (EMI), Bulleshah (EMI), Jaam-e-Sufi (Hungama-digital), Khuda Wohi Hai (Times Music) and Trance with Khusrow (Sony Music). She has won a Filmfare Award, an IIFA Award, a Stardust Award and a Star Screen Award.
You have to be in the system to change the system. Once in the system, the struggle is harder and far more real. For Kinjal Singh, the fearless 33-year-old IAS officer who serves as the DM of Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, the system is in itself an opportunity and every minute of being in it should be fully lived. She planned the electoral awareness campaign in Barabanki in 2014. It involved planning and forming the longest human chain that stretched from one end of the district to the other. This campaign took her to Sitapur, where a multi-pronged approach was adopted to engage all sections of society. Sitapur was recognised as the best district in India for spreading electoral awareness. Her efforts in the area were awarded by Late Sh. Abdul Kalam at a function organised by the Election Commission, earlier this year. In the district of Bahraich, she organised special surgery camps for the orthopedically handicapped. Here, a school for blind girls was turned into a regular school and the sanitation needs of women and the weaker sections were addressed. Her most recent initiative in Lakhimpur involves the training of tribals in marketing science at IIM-Lucknow. She is also overseeing tie-ups with online portals to give their crafts optimum exposure.
Legends never die, they live on through the lives they touch. Kiran Dixit Thacker is one of the only few sculptors trained by the illustrious Ram Kinkar Baij. The a 68-year-old's work captures the essence of nature, people, relationships, and moods through her canvas of life-sized bronze sculptures like portraits, a typical Bengali adda, the stretching of cats, Santhal families on bicycles, a bus ferrying passengers for a marriage, and young boys playing in water. After her schooling, Dixit enrolled herself at Vishwa Bharati University, Santiniketan, for BA Hons in Philosophy and a diploma in fine arts, which she passed with distinction. She fondly remembers how Kinkar da made her participate in plays; in fact, she was the heroine of his last play. She also entered student politics and general secretary for Kalabhavan. She was deeply involved in sports too. The passions of a lifetime were born during her growing years, and they stayed dormant within her, even as she moved to London and tried to survive in an abusive marriage, away from the shelter of family and friends. Fifteen years ago, at her daughter's funeral, she realised that her only weapon against grief was her work, so she returned to Santiniketan and submerged herself in sclupting, painting and drawing. The passion inside her turned into her saviour. "For me, the higher state of learning is simplicity and abstraction. Kinkar da used to say we cannot set out to create masterpieces, they sometimes happen accidentally," says Dixit. Now showcasing her work more actively across the country, Dixit hopes to reach a zen state where her hands and her mind move in rhythm and turn her art into poetry. Her art is her only cure, her only concern, her only reason for existence.
The voiceless aren't really voiceless, there are human voices that speak up for them, the problem is, however, that these human voices are rare. Renu Singh's is one such voice. This post-graduate in Zoology from Hindu College, Delhi University was all-India fourth rank in the Indian Forest Service Examination. She belongs to 1997 batch of Indian Forest Service in the Uttar Pradesh Cadre. As Deputy Conservator of Forests, she made vital contributions in increasing the Ghariyal population in Chambal and Katerniyaghat areas. Singh was also instrumental in the breeding of other endangered reptiles like Sal Kachua (Batagur Turtle), Sundari Kachua, (Lissemus punctata) and other soft shelled turtles. Under the national wetland conservation programme, she made a pioneering effort in improving the ecology of four major wetlands, at Lakhbahosi, Samaspur, Nawabganj and Sandi Bird Sanctuaries. As the longest serving Director of Lucknow Zoo, Singh made zoo education a mandatory part of the zoo management and involved various schools, NGOs and the media in successful publicity of the zoo's programmes. Critical infrastructure such as a state level wild animal veterinary hospital was added to the zoo. She took an initiative for using solar energy for lighting up the zoo. This was a special venture to bring the zoo 'under the sun'. Battery operated vehicles were brought to the zoo. Special care was taken to make the zoo a 'Zero Plastic Zone' and a pollution free area. Even birthdays of animals are celebrated at her zoo.
There are times in life when we are exposed to realities that we cannot accept, we become sleepless, we want to change the way things are. That's exactly how Runa Banerjee felt in the early 80s. When Banerjee and her friend Sehba Hussain (who later became the State Representative of Unicef in Lucknow) came to Lucknow to work on a Unicef-aided project on child labor, they saw how young children were employed by contractors, and made to work ten to twelve hours and paid as little as five paise per piece. They were people living in abject poverty. Prostitution, alcoholism was common. Many children were suffering from malnutrition, even tuberculosis. The living conditions were miserable and we felt the women were the worst sufferers. The two started the Self Employed Women's Association (Sewa) in 1984 with the key objective of organising poor and marginalised women. It started with 31 women. At present, Sewa Lucknow is supporting more than 8,000 women artisans and has revived the famed traditional art of chikankari, which has now touched proud peaks in craft refinement as well as the living standards of its highly-skilled artisans. Today, women groups get an opportunity to sell their product through Sewa-Lucknow Exhibitions, 3,768 underprivileged women have been linked to nationalised banks by availing loans. In total, a loan of `4.64 crore has been repaid by women artisans. To start the organisation, she and her partner pulled out `8,000 from their own pockets and bought the cloth from a wholeseller in Chowk. As the artisans trickled into Sewa, paranoia gripped the established traders. They began to intimidate the karigars, even tried to physically stop them, but it had become impossible for them to cage hopes and dreams. Interestingly, the tailors and workers came to work in the nights on the sly. Baneerjee's efforts have been honoured with a Padma Shri in 2007. She was also the recipient of the prestigious State Award of Yash Bharti in 1994 with `1,00,000 and donated the same for the SEWA School. In 2005, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005 for her substantial contribution towards fighting for peace and justice for marginalised communities and especially the women left ignored in them.
Don't preach to a woman that she should be independent, make her practice independence instead. Sehba Hussain, the founding board member, head of the Beti Foundation and former chief of Unicef, Bhutan. She firmly believes in the merits of community-driven development. Hussain has worked with Unicef for nearly 17 years, both as an international and national professional. Hussain co-founded Sewa, Lucknow along with Runa Banerjee in 1984. It is an organisation that is actively involved in supporting women who have a flair for chikankari, and helping other women find and hone that flair. From 2005 to 2008, she was also a member of the National Advisory Council set up under the chairpersonship of Sonia Gandhi as an interface with Civil Society in regard to the implementation of the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) of the Government of India. Through the Innovation Foundation, which is situated in Lucknow, Hussain was awarded the Best Practises Award by UN-Habitat in the year 2006. She is a post-graduate from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where she was a Fulbright Scholar. She completed Masters in the field of Medical and Psychiatric Social Work from University of Delhi. As a Beti member, Hussain worked in regions like Sitapur, Lalitpur, Gonda, Shravasti, Kheri, Bahraich, Lucknow, Barabanki district and Balrampur. Besides, she was also member of the executive committee of the National Mission for the Sarva Shikshya Abhiyan, which aimed to introduce and refuel the cause of elementary education in the country. She is not working for women, she is working with women. In the struggle for substantive equality, the first pre-requisite is the belief that we are all equal in desiring a better world.
Let the differences of merit develop later in life, as long as everyone is equal in the beginning. Shachi Singh has made this the principle of her life. The general secretary and founder of Ehsaas, an organisation that works towards helping marginalised children so that they can lead respectable lives and fight various stigmas. In 1993, at the age of 16, Singh began teaching children of a nearby slum dwelling at home. By the time she graduated, she knew she had veered towards social work despite doubts raised by friends and family about the judiciousness of the plan. She started teaching working children on the platforms of the Charbagh railway station, heralding change with her work at the grassroot level. After acquiring a degree in Social Work in 2000, she set up a non-government organisation with like-minded people for street children by the name of Ehsaas in 2002. The organisation is working for the all round development of children in difficult circumstances in Lucknow and other parts of Uttar Pradesh.
One of Singh's biggest achievements has been the setting up of the Railway Child Surveillance and Protection at the Charbagh Railway Station, which has led to creation of Lucknow Charbagh Station as a one of its kind child-friendly station that aims at creating an environment free from abuse and exploitation for children. Through this unique initiative, every year, nearly 250 children who may be lost, runaway or trafficked are reunited with their parents. Nearly 400 children are provided shelter, food, vocational training, counselling and de-addiction facilities to become part of mainstream society. Till now, the mechanism has rescued over 2,000 children.
Who can ever forget the grace of Doordarshan's presenters, their subtle silk sarees, their sonorous voices. Shikha Diwedi didn't want to sit back in her living room and stare at the television in awe. So, she walked right into it. She has been working for 18 years and has anchored programmes for the president, the prime minister, and the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh among others. Since the outset, Diwedi had decided to stretch her job role beyond anchoring and create content that measures world , so she made several ad films and documentaries. On May 16 2014, she single-handedly anchored the results and debates during the parliament results for over 12 hours uninterrupted in Doordarshan Kendra Lucknow. This post graduate from Lucknow University has also worked as a social activist through the NGOs in the field of education. The desire to perform grew as she participated in plays, singing and acting competitions. Alongside, Diwedi also developed a taste for enacting and writing out stories. But, she laments that the absence of private TV and radio channels in those days failed her dreams. She couldn't find mediums to perform so she wanted to excel in whatever she got. Once she topped the Doordarshan and AIR audition, she knew she had found her medium and was all set to dedicate her life to it. Diwedi had no formal training in anchoring, but soon found herself hosting long-drawn live events. She says it is only and only confidence that took her from one medium to the other. From the school days to stage shows like the Jhansi Festival, and the Ganga Mahotsav in Varanasi, Diwedi looks back at her journey and feels she has come a long way, met interesting people and told their stories. She has been conferred with several awards by the organisers and is a constant source of inspiration for several other girls from small towns who are told to speak less, or in a soft voice, or to not speak at all. Diwedi has been a state level hockey player and has participated in various tournaments.She feels her success isn't limited to her physical presence on stage, it's her words and her thoughts that matter more.
Humanist by faith, sociologist by profession and feminist by conviction," this is how sociologist Zarina Bhatty likes to describe herself. As a burqa clad young woman, she had her school education in Lucknow. She broke many outdated socio-cultural norms prevailing during her time, such as going abroad for higher education, following a career and marrying outside her community. She graduated from London School of Economics (LSE) and did her master's from School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London. Bhatty taught sociology at Jesus & Mary College, New Delhi and researched on women's issues focussing on Muslim women. She worked with a number of international organisations as a Gender Specialist. She researched and prepared a case study of women in the beedi industry, which was sponsored and published by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). It led to the passing of the 'Beedi and Cigar Worker's Act' and eventually to the formation of the National Commission of Women in the unorganised sector. "Shram Shakti", the report of the Commission generated a great deal of awareness about the neglected role of women in this sector. She designed and wrote a 'Distant Education Course' for development workers, sponsored by the National Open School, India. Bhatty has lectured at a number of institutions in India and the US. She was the President of the Indian Association for Women's Studies, and of the YWCA Delhi. She has penned down her experiences in an autobiography, Purdah to Piccadilly, which is being published by SAGE, India.
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