Women Achievers Award

FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO), North-east chapter, hosted its annual signature event, the “FLO Women Achievers Award – 2018-19’ on Sunday, March 10, 2019, at Hotel Radisson Blu.

The Awards were given away by Sri Sarbananda Sonowal, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam. The lighting of the lamp was followed by a traditional sattriya dance recital by accomplished dancer, Prerona Bhuyan Bora. Thereafter, the Chairperson of FLO northeast, Sarita Sikaria, extended the welcome address. She emphasized on how FLO has given a positive impetus to the lives of women.

Her claim was endorsed by two of FLO’s skilling trainees – the first Santona Das, being skilled by FLO in Cutting & Tailoring who shared how previously she had basic knowledge of tailoring and how after FLO’s training and mentoring, now mastered tailoring so much so as to earn a living to support her family; the second Bijuli Hira from Hathiana Village, Changsari, spoke of how FLO’s training in mechanised pottery has helped her village to increased production ten times and subsequently income too.

The first awardee was Ms. Eli Ahmed, from Guwahati Assam, who is a Padma Shri and Sahitya Akademi awardee, for her contribution to education and literature. She is a distinguished author, scriptwriter, director, lyricist, costume designer, actress and social activist. The second was Hemaprava Chutia, from Moran, Assam, an exponential weaver, who has woven the Vaishnavite scriptures Gunamala and Naam Gosha, and also the Bhagawat Gita on cloth in Sanskrit.

The third Awardee was Agnes Kharshing, from Shillong, Meghalaya, a social activist, who has been working actively against women and child trafficking, against illegal coal mining, creating awareness for PDS and MNREGA schemes, helping people get social justice, etc.

The fourth awardee was Temsutula Imsong, from Mokokchung in Nagaland. She took up the mammoth task of cleaning the banks of the Prabhu Ghat in Varanasi and succeeded. She conducts workshops in schools, to teach about waste- generation and recycling, and how to practice home composting. The fifth Awardee was Hemkanti Payeng, from Lakhimpur district of Assam. This progressive woman farmer mainly cultivates mustard and is an example for all the village women around her.