India honours His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s sister Jetsun Pema with the Nari Shakti Puruskar 2017 on the International Women’s day. The honour has been conferred upon 30 imminent women and 9 distinguished institutions in recognition of their exceptional contribution in the society at a ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
“Jetsun Pema dedicated her life for Tibetan refugee children since 1964. With the assistance of the Government of India and other philanthropic organisations, Pema established a total of 10 residential schools, 17 day schools, 3 vocational training institutes, 3 hotel for college students and 1 college, spread across India. So far, 52000 students have graduated from her institutions, of which 50% are Tibetan refugees. Apart from Tibetan children, her institutions also impart education to children from the Himalayan regions.” described the official poster published by Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India.
Popularly known as Ama (Mother) Jetsun Pema, besides being the younger sister of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, she is the spearhead of Tibetan Children’s Village Schools that is responsible for imparting a unique education of Traditional Tibetan knowledge along with modern education to Tibetan refugee children, enabling the preservation of Tibetan culture in exile.
Besides Ama Jetsun Pema, other awardees includes the likes of Delhi’s Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal, Gargi Gupta, Sindhutai Sapkal, Policewoman Rekha Mishra and so on among the 30 individuals, while the distinguished institutions included the State of Punjab, Beti Zindabad Bakery, AVANI organization and so on.
Minister for Women & Child Development, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi while speaking at the ceremony presided over by President Shri. Ram Nath Kovind, she lauded the achievements of the awardees highlighting that each one of the awardees touched the lives of innumerable people and has contributed to making our society and environment a better place to live in. This year the winners of the Narishakti puraskar are from fields as diverse as sports, social work, science, art, agriculture, education, conservation, security, handicrafts and defence.
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