This time Republic Day was in the name of women. For the first time, a women's contingent from the three services marched in the parade on the occasion of the 75th Republic Day. The themes of the tableaux of many states are focused on women's power. On the eve of Republic Day, Honorable President Draupadi Murmu announced the National Awards. 34 people were nominated for national awards. Women's power was also visible in the awards list. 8 women have been honored with the Padmashree award. Let us know about these eight women nominated for Padmashree 2024.

First female mahout Parbati Barua
Parbati Barua, popularly known as Hathi Ki Pari, left behind all the conservative ideas and became the first female mahout in the country. Parbati worked tirelessly towards reducing human-elephant conflict by adopting scientific methods. Parbati started learning the tricks of becoming a mahout from her father at the age of just 14. Parbati helped three state governments in dealing with and capturing wild elephants. 67-year-old Parbati Barua belongs to an affluent family but chose a simple life for herself.

Tribal environmentalist Chami Murmu
Seraikela's colleague Chami Murmu is a resident of Jharkhand. 52-year-old Chami has been awarded Padma for social work for environmental afforestation. Chami spearheaded the effort to plant more than 3,000 trees and planted saplings along with three thousand women. Empowered 30,000 women from more than 40 villages with the help of self-help groups. The initiative of Chami's NGO Sahayog Mahila created awareness of safe motherhood, anemia, malnutrition, and emphasis on the education of adolescent girls.

K Chelammal
South Andaman's K Chelammal, popularly known as Coconut Amma, has been selected for the Padma Shri. 69-year-old Chellammal has studied only till class 6. However, his experience in farming and organic production is very deep. She does farming on 10 acres of land. Through organic farming, she cultivates cloves, ginger, pineapple, and banana. He inspired more than 150 farmers for organic farming. He devised many methods by which coconut cultivation could be done easily. It also costs less and helps in protecting trees from damage. Coconut Amma produces more than 27000 coconuts every year. It also produces 460 common palm trees found in Andaman.

Herbal Medicine Yanang Jamoh Lego
Yanang Jamoh Lego, an herbal medicine expert from East Siang, revived the traditional healing system of the Adi tribe. Yanang provided medical care to more than 10000 patients and educated 1 lakh persons about medicinal herbs. Yanang planted five thousand medicinal plants and made efforts to establish herbal kitchen gardens in every household in the district. Putting aside financial and personal challenges, Yanang dedicated his life to reviving the lost traditional healing system.

Memory lane dodge
Smriti Rekha Chakma is a resident of Tripura and is a loneloom shawl booker. Chakma uses eco-friendly vegetable dyes to weave cotton threads into traditional designs. Chakma promoted the use of natural colors. She founded a social-cultural organization where rural women were trained in the art of weaving.

Prema Dhanraj Fire Guard
Prema Dhanraj, best known as the firekeeper, is a plastic surgeon and social activist who dedicated her life to the care and rehabilitation of burn victims. She is a burn victim, who became a burn surgeon and after recovering from the accident in her life, came forward to help other victims.

Prema founded Agni Raksha NGO where free surgeries were performed on more than 25000 burn victims. He published three books on plastic surgery. At the age of eight, Prema suffered more than 50 percent burns when a stove exploded on her face while she was playing in the kitchen. He underwent 14 surgeries in his childhood itself. Later she became a surgeon and HOD in the same hospital.

Shanti Devi Paswan
Shanti Devi Paswan of the Dusadh community along with her husband Shivan Paswan took tattoo painting to the global level. Exhibited tattoo artistry in countries like the USA, Japan, and Hong Kong and trained more than 20 thousand women.

Uma Maheshwari D
Uma Maheshwari D is the first female Harikatha exponent, who demonstrated her talent in Sanskrit recitation. Maheshwari narrates the story in many ragas, such as Savitri, Bhairavi, Subhapantuvarali, and Kedaram Kalyani.

(PC: Social media)