It was truly a mind-blowing experience to be present in the evening of Friday, 12th July at the National Stock Exchange, Mumbai, where the platform called DESI DHAAKAD organized an event that celebrated women individuals and women-led organizations who are changing the landscape of sustainability in our country. This platform has been created just a couple of years ago by a smart, savvy and dedicated woman – Jyoti Rai from Ether Wire AI. She has led this virtually single handedly but with an enormous amount of help, assistance and cooperation from such outstanding women leaders as Anupama Vaidya, Sarita Bahl and Roma Balwani.
Last year they celebrated the Social Impact Assessment Awards which were largely successful, but I have to say that this year’s event at which they were kind enough to invite me as the Chief Guest, really pulled out all the stops. In its conceptualization and visualization, it was full of new ideas and innovative inputs done in masterly fashion. Even the event itself was conducted not just by one MC, but by different MCs coming in for different parts of the same event.
I was asked to participate in a fire-side chat with Mr. Sanjeev Rohilla who heads up the Climate Action and Sustainability function at NABARD. In conversation with him we were able to focus on 2 or 3 important items. The first is the tremendous amount of change that CSR has been able to bring about in the sphere of women’s empowerment. I quoted facts and figures to establish how much of CSR resources and spending has gone into this vertical. I also spoke about the enormous contributions that women are making – whether it be in agriculture, whether it be in waste recycling, whether it be water conservation, or any other aspect of sustainability. But most importantly, I also spoke of the strength of women’s movements which manage to transform our ecosphere.
I harked back to the 1970s when the CHIPKO Movement in India, although lead by male leaders like Sundarlal Bahuguna and Chandi Prasad Bhatt, actually had vast amounts of women’s participation. It was the ordinary peasant women who clung on to trees in the deep forests of the Uttarakhand Garhwal Himalayas, and it was the women’s movement that opposed the commercial cutting of trees. Women activists threw their bodies directly around marked tree trunks, presenting a human shield against axes and chainsaws. They tied rakhis around wounded and marked trees to symbolize kinship and they used culture as a weapon – reading loudly from the Bhagavad Gita and singing traditional folk songs. The celebrated scholar and activist Vandana Shiva called the movement ecofeminism.
The awards themselves had a very distinguished jury. As many as 93 applications were received of whom 17 were selected by a very thorough and a very transparent jury process. These award winners – both individuals and organizations – were felicitated with great ceremony and given a great deal of importance. Their stories were told, they were asked to speak about what they had done, and they were provided recognition in a very befitting manner.
I would say without hesitation that of the many functions that I attend, this one stands out in my memory as something extraordinary, something innovative, and something truly aesthetic and powerful.
I must congratulate Jyoti Ray, Sarita Bahl, Roma Balwani, Ranjana Maitra (representing CII Indian Women Network) and all the others who came together to make this platform a living reality and to make the event such a truly memorable and outstanding one. THANK YOU.
