Women’s empowerment dominates the theme of this years sansadratna awards as telengana governor dr tamilisai sounderrajan stresses importance of “Nari Shakti”.
TN ASHOK
New Delhi, Feb 17 : Telengana Governor Dr (Mrs) Tamilisai Sounderrajan today echoed Prime Ministers call of “ Nari Shakti” calling for a greater role for women’s empowerment in all spheres of India’s socio-economic-culturual mileu as they represent the future of the country.
Dr Sounderarajan said a good beginning had been made by the bjp government in passing the womens reservation bill in parliament reserving 33% of seats for women in parliament, More needs to be done so that women’s empowerment reaches greater heights, she said while giving away this years sansadratna awards to 15 MPs for their best performance in parliament of which five MPs were from Maharashtra alone.
This year , the sponsor of the awards, since the last 15 years, Chennai based NGO Primepoint Foundation and its umbrella organisations, Presense, a web based magazine and Sansadratna Awards Committee, instituted its highest honour for MPs the sansad utkrisht maha ratna awards, for those who had received the sansad maha rartna award in the previous 16th lok sabha and sustained good performance in the current first sitting of the current 17th lok sabha.
Mr Bhartruhari Mahtab, BJP MP from IOdisha, led the two others MPs for the award handed over by the Telengana governor Dr Tamilisai Sounderajan at a distinguished gathering at the maharashtra sadan here in the capital, Ms Supriya Sule, NCP MP from Maharashtra and Mr Shrirang Appa Barne, Shiv Sena MP also received the awards from the governor.
Dr Sounderrajan said many in the political firmament many wondered how she would be able to handle the post of a governor of a new born state Telengana as she was young as also as Lt Governor of Puducherry. She regaled the audience saying my answer was : “ I am experienced gynecologist who facilitates the birth of babies and a specialist in neo natal care, so it was not difficult for me to handle both telengana and puducherry”.
Others who spoke on the occasion included : the minister of state for home Ajay Mishra, the chairman of the national backward classes commission, Hansraj Ahir and retd justice of supreme court sanjay kishan kaul. K Srinivasan founder of the foundation and chairman emeritus of the sansadratna awards and ms priyadarshini Rahul, chairman recalled how the then president (late) dr apj abdul kalam inspired the foundation to institute the awards 15 years ago.
The following is the list of the awardees,
This year’s Sansad Maha Ratna Awards have been won by: Veteran RSP MP from Kerala Mr N K Premachandran, Mr Adhir Ranjan Choudhury MP, Congress from West Bengal, Mr Bidyut Baran Mahato BJP MP from Jharkhand. The Sansad Maha Ratna awards are conferred once in five years for consistent good performance in Parliament.
The foundation also gives awards to the best performing standing committees of parliament. This year it has been won by the Lok Sabhasansad Committee on Finance of which Mr Jayant Sinha, MP, is the chairman, the LS committee on Agriculture of which Gaddi Gowdar, MP is the Chairman and the Rajya Sabha Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture (present Chairman Vijaysai Reddy, MP and past Chairman Mr T G Venkatesh, Ex MP).
These awards are also presented once in five years by the awards committee.
The Sansad Ratna Awards (Presented every year, for the top performance, this year, from the first sitting of the 17th Lok Sabha till the end of Winter Session 2023) has gone to: Dr. Shakuntala Majumdar, (BJP, West Bengal), Mr. Kuldeep Rai Sharma, MP, (Congress, Andaman & Nicobar Islands), Mr. Sudhir Gupta, MP, (BJP, Madhya Pradesh), Dr. Amol Ramsingh Kolhe , MP (NCP, Maharashtra ) and Dr. Shrikantha Eknath Shinde, MP, (Shiv Sena, Maharashtra). sansad