President Confers Stree Shakti Puruskar on International Women’s Day

Indian President, Pranab Mukherjee presenting 'Stree Shakti Puruskar', 2013 to Dr. Seema Sakhare, Maharashtra on the occasion of International Women’s Day at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on March 8, 2014. 

President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee was the chief guest at the celebrations to mark the  International Women’s Day where he conferred Stree Shakti Puruskar to six illustrious women in recognition of their achievements.
The awardees for the Stree Shakti Puruskar are nominated by state governments, MPs, VIPs and on suo-moto basis, and selected by a national level Screening Committee. There are six awards instituted in the name of women icons of India. Each award carries a cash prize of Rs. 3 lakh and citation. The following are the recipients of the six awards:

List of winners of the Stree Shakti Puruskar 2013

Award	Winner	Cause
Rani Lakshmibai Award for the year 2013	Manasi Pradhan from Odisha	Work in the field of women’s empowerment
Rani Rudramma Devi Award for the year 2013	Dr. M. Venkaiah from Andhra Pradesh	Contribution in the field of women’s health
Mata Jijabai Award for the year 2013	Bina Sheth Lashkari from Maharashtra	Achievement in the field of education and training
Kannagi Award for the year 2013	T. Radha K. Prashanti from Andhra Pradesh	Achievement in the field of providing support to orphans, visually impaired, handicapped and destitute women
Rani Gaidinliu Zeliang Award for the year 2013	Dr. Vartika Nanda from Delhi	Creating awareness on women’s issues through media
Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Award for the year 2013	Dr. Seema Sakhare form Maharashtra	Contribution in the field of women’s rights, gender issues, legal counseling and institutional support to women and girls

About the Women's Award:
Indian women have played important roles before and after Independence of the country and the Government of India to recognise the success stories of such women to make them a role model for the future generations of Indian women. The Government of India had instituted five national awards, which are called as Stree Shakti Puruskar named after women, who were famous for their personal courage and integrity, namely

•Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar
•Kanngi
•Mata Jijabai
•Rani Gaidenlou Zeliang
•Rani Lakshmi Bai

Note : 

These awards are awarded to the women who have done work in any of following : 

• Support and rehabilitation of women and children in especially
• Difficult circumstances like destitute women and children, widows, victims of atrocities and conflicts, disabled women and children, aged women etc.
• Education and training
• Promoting self help groups
• Support to women in agriculture and rural industry, including promotion of technology to reduce drudgery
• Environment protection
• Empowerment of women for community and political participation
• Health, including through propagation of indigenous systems of medicine
• Creating awareness and consciousness on women's issues through the arts, media (including electronic and mass media), community bases programmes and others

Selection Criteria for these awards :

• The nominee should be alive on the date of nomination and be above the age of 30 years of age
• The nominee should have been working in the relevant field for at last five years
• The achievement of the nominee in the relevant field should be clearly documented
• The achievement of the nominee should be verifiable and subject to objective appraisals
• Preference should be given to women who have come up in life after a great deal of struggle and adversity