post news network
Bhubaneswar, June 23: Eight women from the city received the Mother Award Thursday. The award instituted by the city-based organisation Mother, honoured the women at a function held in Soochana Bhawan. The awards are given in recognition for services in various walks of life.
The recipients of the award this year are: Lion Ameeta Jena (Best Mother), Subhashree Das (Best Social Activist), Rina Routray (Best Scientist-cum-social activist), Rashmi Mohapatra (Best Woman Leader), Lion Suchismita Prusty (Best Social Activist) Iman Kalyan Nayak (Best Resource Person) Dipty Mohanty (Best Woman Entrepreneur) and Subhashree Tripathy (Best Singer).
Rina, who is also an environmentalist, expressed joy at receiving the award. “I tried my best to bring justice to women labourers and to make them aware of state government projects. In some cases, the state government has failed to reach grass-roots level people and are unable to provide better facility to women,” she said.
Suchismita, who worked for blind children in city, also said the government needs to implement proper schemes for the poor. She has been running the ‘Minati Behera Cancer Foundation Trust’ since 2013.
When asked about formation of the foundation, she said: “My mother had died ofcancer. She had told me while undergoing treatment to support another patient who was next to her. Till that day, I had been dedicating myself to support orphans and blind children. I added cancer-affected people to that from then on.”
Another awardee Dipty is the director of Udyan Fresh project and an active pursuant of the aim of promoting farmers and supply of vegetables at reasonable prices.
Her organisation has been working for health and education, particularly providing healthcare to underprivileged children and women in Orissa.
According to the organisers of the function, the idea of the award was originally to honour the women on International Mothers’ Day. “We had to postpone the event after a key member passed away,” Pramod Kumar Das of Mother said.
“We have a committee comprising 11 members who observe activities of prominent women throughout the year and select them for the award. The committee also considers public opinion, media statements and personal observations before selecting awardees,” Pramod added.
MLA Priyadarshi Mishra, writer Ajay Swain, social activist Sarat Chandra Bhadra, Income tax commissioner Sarat Dash and musician Shyamamani Devi were present at the function.
