President Kovind confers Nari shakti puraskar to Belagavi’s Shobha Gasti

Nari Shakti Puraskar 2020-2021 Winners List: The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, presented Nari Shakti Puraskar 2020 and 2021 at a function held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on March 8, 2022, on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

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The President honoured 29 outstanding women achievers for their exceptional work towards women empowerment, especially the marginalized and vulnerable women. Overall, 28 awards were conferred, 14 awards each for the year 2020 and 2021.

Shobha Gasti, who started Mahilla Abhivrudhi Mattu Samrakshana Samasthe (MASS) that works in 360 villages across three talukas in Belagavi, Karnataka, has been awarded for her exemplary contribution for the cause of empowerment of women and girls.

MASS was effective in mainstreaming 3600+ devadasis in the Belagavi district; putting an end to the practice of forced Devadasi. She has strategically desecrated symbols of ritual sanction to the practice of Devdasi system by publicly appealing to people and through campaigns that focus on ensuring the dignity and education of girl children by preventing child marriage, child trafficking, and child abuse.

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Nari Shakti Puraskar : The Nari Shakti Puraskar is the highest civilian honour specifically for women in India. It is an annual award that is conferred by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women and institutions in recognition of their relentless service towards the cause of women empowerment and social welfare.

The Nari Shakti Puraskar were instituted in 1999 under the name of Stree Shakti Puraskar. The awards were renamed and re-organised in 2015. The awards are conferred in six institutional and two individual categories. The Nari Shakti Puraskar awards ceremony could not be held last year due to COVID-19 pandemic situation in the country.