Saba Rajkotia
8th March 2020
Every year on the 8th of March, the world celebrates International Women’s Day. This year in India, Prime Minister Modi decided to honour women achievers across the country by giving them the opportunity to tell their stories through his personal social media accounts.
Through the PM’s Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook accounts, seven women shared their life journeys and interacted with netizens. These women were chosen from various economic and social strata in the country, and hailed from different regions across India.
On the morning of the 8th, the PM tweeted from his personal @narendramodi twitter account:
“Greetings on International Women’s Day! We salute the spirit and accomplishments of our Nari Shakti. As I’d said a few days ago, I’m signing off. Through the day, seven women achievers will share their life journeys and perhaps interact with you through my social media accounts,”
He continues: “India has outstanding women achievers in all parts of the nation. These women have done great work in a wide range of sectors. Their struggles and aspirations motivate millions. Let us keep celebrating the achievements of such women and learning from them”, closing the tweet with the hashtag “She Inspires Us”.
The first of the women to post from PM Modi’s account was Sneha Mohandoss, a philanthropist based in Chennai who founded Foodbank India. Then Malvika Iyer who, after losing both her hands to a bomb blast at the age of thirteen, is working to dispel discriminatory attitudes towards disabled people through education. Malvika is followed by Arifa Jan, founder of Numdha Handicrafts, a 33-year-old woman helping to revive the traditional crafts of Kashmir and empower local women.
Kalpana Ramesh, an architect and water conservationist based in Hyderabad also shared with the twitterverse the story of how she helped an entire community conserve water through rainwater harvesting. She was followed by Vijaya Pawar from Maharashtra, who works to preserve and popularise Gormati arts and crafts of the Banjara community, and in doing so, generates employment for local women.
We then hear from Kalavati Devi, a mason who has helped build over 4000 toilets in Kanpur, and has worked hard to raise awareness about the ills of open defecation through door-to-door campaigning. The last of the women to post from PM Modi’s account was Bina Devi of Munger, Bihar. Sometimes referred to as the ‘mushroom mahila’, Bina has popularised mushroom cultivation in 105 villages thereby generating employment for 1500 women. In addition, Bina has helped to spread digital literacy by training up to 700 women in the use of mobile phones.
PM Modi’s #SheInspiresUs campaign inspired hundreds of other women across India to share their own stories of the struggles they have overcome and the successes they have achieved. A number of these stories come from the experiences of women working in male-dominated environments. Sangeeta Kumari, an autorickshaw driver from Patna, shared her experience with the Hindustan Times. “I am driving an auto for the last four years and I am a mother to three children. Now other women are getting inspired to enter the profession they want to learn driving auto”, she said.
In a similar vein, Archana, a female bus driver from Karnal discusses how she struggled in a profession that society doesn’t see as appropriate for a woman. However, she is happy with Modi’s initiative and believes it is encouraging. “The initiative will motivate women to achieve something in their lives. Modi ji has done a lot for the welfare of women,” she said, speaking to India Today.
