The Hindu : New Delhi News : Courage, dedication key to challenges: President

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 12, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

New Delhi

New Delhi

Courage, dedication key to challenges: President

Staff Reporter

Pratibha Patil felicitates woman Sarpanch of Haryana

Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

President Pratibha Patil felicitates Roshani Devi for her drive against liquor at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Saturday. Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Mukul Wasnik (left) and Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment D. Napoleon are also seen.

NEW DELHI: President Pratibha Patil felicitated the Sarpanch of Kothal Khurd village in Haryana, Roshani Devi, at a ceremony organised in Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday.

Roshani Devi was honoured for her contribution towards ensuring that there is no public consumption of liquor in her village nor is illegal liquor allowed to be sold there. Two of her co-workers, Usha Devi and Tripati Devi, were also honoured.

The President in her speech said the village women’s campaign had shown that the most difficult of challenges can be overcome with courage, dedication and confidence.

“A number of social evils and superstitious practices have to be eradicated from society. These include dowry, child marriage, female foeticide and alcoholism,” said the President, recalling her own experiences while working as the Minister for Social Welfare in the Government of Maharashtra in the early 1970s.

The President said child marriage is a social evil deeply related to other evils and should be done away with. She urged the non-government organisations to reach out to the most under-privileged sections of society and to women, especially in villages, and work for them.

“Empowerment of the most deprived sections is necessary for building a more equitable society,” she added.

Speaking about the work done by the women of her village, Roshani Devi said: “Our effort has changed the mind-set of villagers to such an extent that even licence holders of liquor sub-vends had to close down due to public resistance. The recognition that this award has brought along has increased our confidence and we will start working on more issues including female foeticide and education for the girl child.”

Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Mukul Wasnik and Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment D. Napolean along with representatives of various NGOs were among those present at the function.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi