Taking the lead in paying tributes to women on the occasion of International Women’s Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over his social media accounts on Sunday to seven women achievers of different fields to share their success stories.
The women chosen to use Modi’s accounts included Sneha Mohandoss, who works to eradicate hunger; Malvika Iyer, who survived a gruesome bomb blast that blew off her hands and damaged her legs when she was 13 and is now a motivational speaker, disability activist and model; and Arifa Jaan from Kashmir who promotes traditional crafts of Kashmir.
Others were Kalpana Ramesh, a water conservator; Vijaya Pawar, who promotes handicrafts from the Banjara community of rural Maharashtra; Kalavati Devi of Kanpur, who collects money to build toilets; and Veena Devi, who is from Munger in Bihar and made her name by growing mushrooms under her bed due to lack of space. Social media was eagerly waiting to know who were all selected by the Prime Minister, as he had declared to hand over his Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube accounts to women achievers last week.
Before handing over his accounts, the Prime Minister on Sunday morning shared brief videos of the women on his Twitter and Instagram pages and their achievements on his Facebook page. The achievements were shared under #SheInspiresUs. Sneha Mohandoss, inspired by her mother, started an initiative called Foodbank India. She works with volunteers, many of whom are outside India, to eradicate hunger.
“We have over 20 chapters and have impacted several people with our work. We also initiated activities like mass cooking, cooking marathons, breastfeeding awareness drives,” she wrote on Modi’s Twitter account. Before operating PM’s Twitter account, she tweeted from her account that she is going to operate PM’s account on Sunday.
Malvika Iyer survived a gruesome bomb blast at the age of 13 that blew off her hands and severely damaged her legs. “Giving up is never an option. Forget your limitations and take on the world with confidence and hope,” she wrote on the Prime Minister’s handle.
Iyer is a motivational speaker, disability activist and a model. Arifa Jaan from Kashmir had always dreamt of reviving the traditional crafts of Kashmir as, according to her, this was a means to empower local women.
“I saw the condition of women artisans and so I began working to revise “namda” craft... When tradition meets modernity, wonders can happen. I experienced this in my work. It is designed to suit the modern day market,” she wrote. Introducing herself, Kalpana Ramesh, a water conservator, said, “be a warrior but of a different kind. Be a water warrior”.
“Small efforts can make a big impact... Contribute by using water responsibly, harvesting rainwater, saving lakes, recycling used water and creating awareness,” she wrote. Vijaya Pawar promotes handicrafts from the Banjara community of rural Maharashtra. “I have been working on this for the last two decades and have been assisted by a thousand more women,” she wrote.
Kalavati Devi of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh collected money to build toilets. She said if you want to achieve something, do not look back and ignore the bitter words of people. “The place where I used to live, had filth all around. But there was a strong belief that through cleanliness we can change this situation. I decided to convince people. Collected money to build toilets,” she said.
Veena Devi of Munger in Bihar proved where there is will, there is a way. She did not allow lack of space to create hurdles in her plan to cultivate mushrooms and grew the crop under her bed. “Everything can be achieved by will. My real recognition came from cultivating one kilo of mushrooms under the bed. This not only made me self-sufficient, but gave a new life by increasing my confidence,” she said.