Nari Shakti Puraskar for AP woman Padala Bhudevi from Srikakulam
Padala Bhudevi has inspired so many rural and tribal women over the years with her work
Padala Bhudevi from Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh received the 'Nari shakti puraskar' from President Ram Nath Kovind on the International women's day, for helping women in tribal areas and help them develop entrepreneurship.
Bhudevi has been a role model for women farmers and rural women entrepreneurs.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweett;p lang="en" dir="ltr">President Kovind presented the Nari Shakti Puraskar to Padala Bhudevi from Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh. She has been working for the development of tribal women, widows and Podu lands through a community based organization Chinnai Adhivasi Vikas Society. <a href="https://t.co/NoYxfxyrJa">pic.twitter.com/NoYxfxyrJa</a></p>— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) <a href="https://twitter.com/rashtrapatibhvn/status/1236571289399078913?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">March 8, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" data-charset="utf-8"></script>
She is the Director of Manyam Grains Pvt Ltd and Manyadeepika Farmers Producer Company Ltd.
She has been working for the development of tribal women, widows, Podu lands through a community-based organization- CAVS (Chinnai adhivasi vikas society), established by her father, in 1996.
Her active involvement has also been towards spreading awareness on improving mother and child nutritional health, with assistance from the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA).
Despite being forcefully married at the age of 11 years and facing mental and physical torture from husband and in-laws, Bhudevi has come a long way, single-handedly raising three daughters and successfully motivating women to participate in agri-entrepreneurial activities.
The International women's day is celebrated globally every year on March 8 to mark the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It also marks a call to action for accelerating gender equality.