Voices Pushpesh Pant Ajai Sahni Sunaina Anand Sheila Kumar Shampa Dhar-Kamath mata amritanandamayi MAGAZINE Buffet People Wellness Books Food Art & Culture Entertainment NEW DELHI march 10 2024 SUNDAY PAGES 12 special women’s day issue The Influenchers Powerful Women Shaping India M By Medha dutta yadav uch before all it took to be an influencer was a cellphone, a selfie-stick and an Insta account to post saffron-painted nails or a whoopee dance on a moving train, there was—and is—the real deal. Some are household names. Some make headlines and step back into the shadows. Some prefer to remain there and let their work speak for them. This International Women’s Day Issue pays homage to the women pathfinders who influence the times. There is neither a particular order of importance nor a category in this list because they are all equals, considering their chosen fields. Their achievements reflect the aspirations and tools of New India: technology art and crafts, disability health and , , wellness, the environment, scientific discoveries, and growing inherited companies exponentially to become business baronesses. Some of them or their companies have been around for years, if not decades, but the impact of their work remains perennial. Some of these achievers are to the manor born, like the legacy entrepreneur Nisaba Godrej who grew her company 17 times into a billion-dollar corporate mammoth, but rarely gives interviews or appears at business conclaves. Or Dalit politician Ramya Haridas, who crowdfunded her own campaign and sang her way to victory There are service innovators like Mehvish Mushtaq, the first Kashmiri . woman to develop an Android application called ‘Dial Kashmir’ that provides addresses, contact numbers, and email ids of different essential services and state government departments. AI-preneur Niti Agarwal created seamlessly communicating chatbots to grow existing businesses. Many she-influencers are from opposite sides of the educational and social spectrum; rural entrepreneur Pariben Rabari invented the new embroidery art form ‘Hari Jari’, and YouCode Intelligence promoter Suriya Prabha K conducts computer thinking camps in government schools in rural Tamil Nadu. These wonder women have raised collectives and export initiatives. They have brought challenge into the equation: Ladakh’s Thinlas Chorol’s Ladakhi Women’s Travel Company wholly owned and operated by women, encour, ages ladies to climb mountains, literally and metaphorically What unites this band . of sisters is the diversity of India’s possibilities and vast resources, which if properly used can empower its citizens, especially women, through direct involvement: for example, the seed fund of `10 lakh for Sumita Ghose’s chic, handcrafted products venture came from investments from 1,000 artists. Many of these indomitable females have broken the middleman chain: Sobita Tamuli of Assam makes and exports saffron to Japan directly Online awareness has brought about eco-literacy: . low-key Delhi businesswoman Tamanna Sharma operates a successful waste management service provider, especially in the plastic-plagued hills. Coimbatorebased Hemalatha Annamalai’s Ampere Electric has found a profitable niche in manufacturing electric vehicles for waste management. With struggles, strategies and successes, these ladies of the light inspire India’s women to dare to dream or build on dreams. What they all have in common is imagination and resolve. More power to them. taking on erring politicians even in her own party makes her one of Uttarakhand’s most powerful leaders nisaba godrej Chairperson, Godrej Consumer Products The Legacy Builder I t is the dream of every successful industrialist to see their products go global. Nisaba, the daughter of the legendary Adi Godrej, made sure of just that. Now nearly half of her company’s revenue comes from overseas: with market capitalisation up to over $15 billion as of this month. One of the first outlier coups by Nisaba, the Chairperson of Godrej Consumer Products Limited, was creating a niche hair product market exclusively for African women. The psychology graduate who took the customary inheritor route through UPenn and Harvard Business School was, as of 2023, worth around `1,200 crore. She is a businesswoman who runs a company for women—the Godrej board has five women, the highest number for any listed company in India. The atmosphere at her company has changed since her father’s time; Nisaba is the empowering emancipator for women in the workplace. At Godrej Industries, flexible hours and work from home is the norm. The company’s return programme which brings mid-management level women to come back to the company they quit is a resounding success that has added more quality control and expertise to the enterprise. Her mojo: a perfect work life balance makes billions. the Godrej board has five women, the highest number for any listed company in India Outspoken Speaker A lesson learned early by the child of a soldier is to not fear obstacles. Ritu Khanduri Bhushan, the first female Speaker of the Uttarakhand Assembly and the daughter of General BC Khanduri, former CM and Union Minister, stayed true to this principle when she cancelled 228 ad hoc ‘backdoor’ appointments to the Vidhan Sabha, all of relatives of former Speakers from both parties. The Uttarakhand High Court backed her decision. Her ability to take on powerful politicians even in her own party makes her one of Uttarakhand’s most powerful leaders, She is the first Speaker to establish a designated space for women legislators and Assembly employees to relax during the afternoon break; she had experienced first-hand the inconvenience of lacking such a quiet space to write a speech. The post graduate politician revived the defunct Assembly library and stocked its shelves with books ranging from politics, economics and social sciences. Her next project is to digitise the Assembly proceedings with about `30 crore allotted by the Centre. Her muchlauded innovation is ‘Yamkeshwar Express’, a school shaped and painted like a train which has attracted new students; kids in her constituency Yamkeshwar had never seen a train. She is for making women self-sufficient: for example Khanduri encouraged a local woman to export 1,000 locally designed sandals woven with indigenous tree fibres to France. Ritu Khanduri Bhushan First woman Speaker of the Uttarakhand Assembly Swati Lakra IPS officer, Telangana Street Shakti S tarted in October 2014, SHE (Safety for Her Ensured) Teams was one of the first policing initiatives in India that took a heads-on approach for women’s safety Headed by IPS officer Swati Lakra, it all . began with a single team in Hyderabad; now it is present in all districts of Telangana. Teams of five, both male and female police personnel patrolled public spaces, colleges, bus stops and crowded markets incognito to protect women from harassment. Using a dedicated hotline number and proactive approach on social media, Lakra and her team tries to change male attitudes and make tormentors aware of the consequences of their actions. Men caught in the act are counselled and cautioned against ill-treating women. In 2016, Lakra led another social gamechanging initiative by setting up Bharosa Centers (Bharosa in Telugu means faith) which helped victims of serious sexual assault. These centres comprise civilians (counsellors, legal advisors, support persons, doctors and nurses) along with a police representative. The conviction rate for sexual offences has gone up from four to 35 per cent today . The misogynists tried to hit back; in January cybercriminals created fake profiles of senior cops, , including Lakra, on social media and solicited money The 53-year-old Additional DGP Telangana State . , Special Police, Battalions, takes it in her stride, “I saw the opportunity to do something for women who face traumatic issues daily When I see the relief on their faces, I feel vindicated.” By challenging the . gender stereotype of the struggling woman cop, Swati Lakra combines passion with compassion to make streets safe for women. Mallik Thatipalli the conviction rate for sexual offenses in telengana has gone up from four to 35 per cent today