In light of the celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8 every year, we focus on women and celebrate the indomitable spirit of womanhood.
- Purnima Devi Barman
Assam-based environmentalist and wildlife biologist Dr Purnima Devi Barman is one of the emerging women leaders in contemporary times who has risen to prominence after she was honoured with the United Nations Environmental Programme‘s (UNEP) ‘Champions of the Earth’ for the year 2022 in the entrepreneurial vision category.
It is considered the highest environmental award that the UNEP confers on individuals and organisations annually whose actions have a “transformative impact” on the environment. Devi has been bestowed with the award for her trail-blazing work in protecting the greater adjutant stork, called ‘hargila’ in Assamese.
There are only 1,200-odd greater adjutant storks remaining in the world, as per a 2016 IUCN Red List update which lists the bird as ‘endangered.’
Barman with her women’s community known as ‘Hargila Army’ has been working relentlessly to safeguard the greater adjutant stork and restore their habitat by planting 45,000 saplings near stork nesting trees and wetland areas in the hope they will support future stork populations.
According to Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, “Purnima Devi Barman’s pioneering conservation work has empowered thousands of women, creating entrepreneurs and improving livelihoods while bringing the greater adjutant stork back from the brink of extinction.”
In the present day, ‘Hargila Army’ consists of over 10,000 women who work to protect nesting sites, rehabilitate injured storks which have fallen from their nests and arrange “baby showers” to celebrate the arrival of newborn chicks.
Purnima Devi Barman is popularly known as ‘Hargila Baideu’ in Assam, or ‘Stork Sister’.
2. Gitika Talukdar
Gitika Talukdar from Assam rose to prominence when she went on to cover the most anticipated and thrilling FIFA World Cup 2023 in Doha, Qatar.
With this, Gitika became the only female photojournalist to represent Northeast India who documented the international football tournament where Argentina lifted the world cup after 36 years.
She has been officially selected and accredited by the International Association of Football Federation (FIFA)
Talukdar has also been in charge of covering some of the world’s most exciting sporting events including the Tokyo Olympics 2021.
Geetika’s success as one of India’s leading female photojournalists has made her nation proud.
3. Hekani Jakhalu
Award-winning lawyer-turned-social entrepreneur, Hekani Jakhalu Kense, founder and chair of YouthNet, has been working on youth empowerment, employment and livelihood for the past 15 years. Through YouthNet, over 1 lakh young people from Nagaland have been impacted through various interventions.
As a professional, she stays focused on her mission to empower and positively impact the youth. Jakhalu today proudly runs 110 strong teams working on a common vision for our youth.
Besides, Hekani Jakhalu also became the first women MLA of Nagaland, after 60 years since it attained statehood, from Dimapur-III constituency in the state assembly election polls which recently held on February 28.
She is also a recipient of the Nari Shakti award.
4. Easterine Kire
Easterine Kire, an award-winning author and poet, is a pioneer of modern Naga literature. She is also the first Naga novelist to publish in English, with her book A Naga Village Remembered (Ura Academy 2003).
Kire’s storytelling has undoubtedly produced Naga literature, from personal experiences to writings about Naga society, history, and culture.
Kire’s works have been translated into many languages, including German, Croatian, Uzbek, Norwegian, and Nepali, and she is regarded as one of the best Naga writers of all time. Her works as a children’s book author are also taught in schools.
Through her writing, the author has been a pioneer in introducing the rest of the world to the fascinating and vibrant traditional Naga culture. With the aim of preserving and enhancing her mother tongue, Tenyidie, she has collected 200 oral poems in the language in addition to producing a translation into English.
5. Janice Pariat
Another renowned author who emerged from the hill state of Meghalaya is Janice Pariat who is known for her novels, The Nine-Chambered Heart and Seahorse.
Pariat, who is also a poet, won the Sahitya Akademi Young Writer Award for the English language in 2013 for her book, Boats on Land: A Collection of Short Stories. She also became the first writer from Meghalaya to win the Sahitya Akademi.
Pariat is considered one of the emerging woman writers from India who rose to prominence for her outstanding literary pieces.
Janice Pariat is currently working as an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and History of Art at Ashoka University.
Professor Pariat’s poems are published in literary journals including Internazionale (in Italian translation), The Yellow Nib issue on Modern English Poetry by Indians, Prairie Schooner, Eclectica, Nth Position, Qarrtsiluni, Barnwood International Poetry Mag, and Kavikala.
6. Anshu Jamsenpa
Arunachal-based mountaineer Dr Anshu Jamsenpa became a global icon when she scaled Mount Everest twice in the same season within 5 days. Jamsenpa was the first woman in the world to achieve this feat in 2017. She also created history by becoming the first Indian woman to climb Mt. Everest the most number of times.
Anshu got featured in Limca Book of World Records in 31st January 2012 and became the first person of Arunachal Pradesh to achieve this feat. In the year 2017 she was awarded with the prestigious Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award for her steadfast sportsman spirit.
7. Joy L K Pachuau
Educationist Professor Joy L K Pachuau has helped Mizoram reach the global domain with her book Being Mizo: Identity and Belonging in Northeast India which speaks of mainland India’s views about the Northeast and argues that the notion of ‘difference’ is deeply embedded in the politics of domination and hegemonisation.
Pachuau is a professor at the Centre for Historical Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. Prof Pachuau was also conferred with the prestigious Mizo Award in 2017 for her distinctive achievement in the field of academics. Besides, she has also received many prestigious international and national awards for her academic excellence.
8. Pooja Elangbam
Pooja Elangbam is an IAS Officer from Manipur who cleared UPSC CSE 2017 securing All India Rank 81 has been grabbing eyeballs with her latest initiatives like the Imphal Book Club, which focuses on building and improving book-reading habits of the youths today.
The book club that the Imphal-based IAS officer has built has 300 active members working currently.
Pooja is the third woman IAS officer from Manipur.
9. Eksha Hangma Subba
Sikkim’s Eksha Hanga Subba is known for breaking the generic notion of gender stereotypes when the police officer opted to try her hands at modelling and the fashion industry.
Eksha, who is also a national boxing champion, emerged as an inspiration to women when she went on to pursue her modelling career managing her job as a police officer simultaneously.
Eksha joined as a participant in the reality show MTV Supermodel of the Year, where she was crowned as the first runner-up.
Be it boxing, serving in the police, or winning hearts as a supermodel, she is doing it all.
10. Dipa Karmakar
The woman who not only brought laurels to her country but to the state of Tripura with her somersaults and most importantly the deadly Produnova vault featured at the Rio Olympics 2016 happens to be Dipa Karmakar.
Born with a flat foot, a postural deformity considered to be a big detriment for any gymnast, Dipa did not let this challenge stop her from dreaming and achieving the big. In Rio 2016, Dipa became the first woman gymnast to represent the country at an Olympic Games. However, she missed the podium by a whisker, finishing fourth.
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Dipa’s Olympic achievements earned her the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award.
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