The ‘International Women’s Day’ was held on the 8th March 2021 at ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru. The programme started with the Institute staff attending the ‘International Women’s Day’ from ICAR Headquarters, wherein Hon’ble Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Shri. Parshottam Rupala and Hon’ble Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Shri. Kailash Chaudhary addressed the gathering. Successful women entrepreneurs expressed their journey in becoming successful. The programme started with Dr. A.K. Singh, Deputy Director General (Agri. Extn.), ICAR welcoming the guests. After the Ministers’ speech, Dr T. Mohapatra, Secretary, DARE & DG, ICAR also addressed on the role of women in agriculture, their rights, drudgery reduction issues and challenges.
Virtual event of ICAR, New Delhi – Dignitaries :DDG (Extension) Dr. A. K. Singh, Shri P Rupala, Hon’ble Minister of state for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare , Shri Kailash Choudhary, Hon’ble Minister of state for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Dr. SP Kimothi, ADG, ICAR, New Delhi
After this virtual programme, the ICAR-IIHR conducted the Women’s Day by felicitating the following six women achievers:
- Smt. H.N. Aarathi, well known Poet and Senior Media person from DDK, Bengaluru.
- Mrs. Namrata Goenka, Entrepreneur who adopted our Mushroom production technologies.
- Mrs. Anjumala T. Nayak, Circle Inspector of Police, City Crime Branch, Bengaluru.
- Mrs. Dhanalakshmi, R., Incubatee of ICAR-IIHR on Jackolate technology.
- Mrs. Punyavathi, H.P., Journalist who reported many articles on development journalism.
- Mrs. Shubha Cheluvaraju, Woman Farmer from Seethakempanahalli village of Bengaluru North taluk who adopted our IIHR technologies.
The programme started with the brief introduction about the programme and welcome speech by Dr. B. Narayanaswamy, Principal Scientist & Chairman of the International Women’s Day Celebration Committee. The gathering was addressed by Nodal Officer, Women Cell Dr. (Mrs.) B. Varalakshmi, Chief Administrative Officer, Shri. G.G. Harakangi and by the Chief Guest of function Mrs. Aarathi, the well-known Poet & Senior Media person from Doordarshan, Bengaluru. She hinted at the equalit, rights and encouragement from society to the women folk and ways & means to uplift the women. Mr. G.G. Harakangi pointed out the rules & regulations laid out by the government for creating awareness among the women to represent their grievances. Mrs. Nusrat, Ph.D., Scholar gave talk on “Status of Women in Science”. The Director, ICAR-IIHR, Dr. M.R. Dinesh in his presidential remarks stressed the achievements of women in the Institute over the decades. He lauded the opportunities and responsibilities shared by our women staff of IIHR in achieving the progress of the institute. Vote of thanks was given by Smt. Shailaja R. Prasad, AAO (Admn.). The programme was compered by Dr. K.N. Poornima, Scientist, Division of Basic Sciences.
As a mark of celebration in the Institute, planting of tree species was also arranged in the premises by the guests. The lunch was arranged for all the women employees of the institute along with the guests.
In the afternoon, prize distribution for the women employees who participated in various competitions like essay writing, debate and slogan writing in three languages (Kannada, Hindi & English) in connection with International Women’s Day celebration was held. This was followed by cultural programme performed by the women employees and students of the Institute.
The competent authority of the Institute constituted the committee to celebrate the Intl. Women’s Day which included Dr. B Narayanaswamy, PS as Chairman, Smt. Shilaja R Prasad, AAO and Dr. K N Poornima, Scientist as committee members.
Dr. Debi Sharma, Dr. C K Narayana, Mr. G G Harakangi, Dr. Meera Pandey, Dr. Shameena Azeze, Dr. P C Tripati, Dr. T S Aghora, Dr. K S Shivashankar and Dr. M Shankaran acted as judges for various competitions.
