This Monday was a very special day, when our Club conferred Rotary Hamari Beti Awards on eight women achievers for their grit, courage, confidence, and exceptional spirit of moving ahead with aplomb. And no less than a sitting judge of the Panjab and Haryana High Court, Ms Justice Ritu Bahri, was there to present these awards.
The awardees included IRS officer Monica Bhatia the first Indian woman to head the global forum on transparency of the international body OECD. Though she had to leave early in the morning on her way to Paris having stopped over for a short while to connect with everyone at home, the Award was received by her proud mother Dr. Nirmal Bhatia.
Babbi Harbhajan Singh, the mother of over 442 heart patients who has been so fondly and affectionately been nursed by her before and after the heart surgery under our club's Rotary Heartline programme.
No less had been the contribution of Amarjit Kaur, who having served in a bank for 20 years, has devoted her life to cremate with full honor and dignity the unclaimed bodies. She has cremated over 300 such bodies so far, and drives the ambulance herself to carry them to the cremation ground.
Archana Sardana, who has entered into the Limca Book of Records several time, is a dare devil who has conquered all her fear and is first Indian woman mountaineer, sky diver, base jumper, deep-sea diver, etc., besides undertaking all such events to raise awareness about eye donation.
Supreet Dhiman, a successful business woman leading the Chandigarh Adventure Treks and Sports (CATS) had not only been inspiring young and old for exploring the wilds and trekking to unexplored heights, but also engaging the city in voluntary blood donation every three months without fail with over 100 donors walking in at each camp on an average.
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President Vivek Gupta presents the 'Hamari Beti' Award to
Ms Justice Ritu Bahri of Panjab and Haryana High Court. |
Hats off to Dr. Archana Singh, chairperson of School of Communication Studies at Panjab University, who adopted the 'Hamari Beti' project of the Club and initiated a weekly programme on campus radio Jyotirgamaya, to spread the message of female foeticide, and other women related issues in the community.
The Club also honoured two young girls from Sacred Heart School, Tarini (12) and Arunima Goyal (14), who have done their family, this city, and the country proud by winning numerous national and international chess championships.
Congratulating the award recipients, Ms Justice Ritu Bahri said that there was a greater need to spread the message across and curb the immoral practices in the society whether it is eve teasing or wife beating, or female foeticide. The social organisations like Rotary must continue to awaken the masses through its programmes and empower the women to be capable of knowing their rights, and fighting the social evils that are destoying our society.
The programme began with a moving street play '
Parchhaiyaan' presented by the staff of Mohali-based Gilard Electronics that highlighted the various facets of woman’s life and how her emotions and aspirations get stifled in the society. The company's directors Ms Guneet Singh and Mr Sanjiv Singh with over a dozen of their employees presented a highly moving mime show that was beautifully punctuated with expressive graphics and background music.
Ms. Justice Ritu Bahri also presented a Commendation Certificate to the team of Gilard Electronics for their theatrical rendition.
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Seven children from Rwanda arrived here today under the Rotary Club of Chandigarh’s Heartline programme for heart surgeries. 
