Young Girl Moved By Suffering Caused By Cyclone Aila And Empowered Women From Tata Steel Meet President Of India

The President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil met a group of 10 women, led by Smt. Urmila Ekka from Tata Steel at Rashtrapati Bhavan today. This group calling itself as 'Tejaswini' is an initiative by Tata Steel Company for women's empowerment amongst women from socio-economically weaker sections of society. This is the first such group formed by the Company. Most of the members are aged above 50 years. It is aimed at bettering the professional as well as personal lives of women employees who work at the lowest level of the organization. The programme recognizes their talents and provides a platform to them to hone their skills in areas which thus far were mostly the domain of men. The group appraised the President about their work and their experiences in breaking into male dominated bastions. The members of the group include a Junior Technician, Ambulance Driver, Air Conditioning Machine Mechanic, Dumper/Bull Dozer Operator, Over Head Crane Operator, Pipe Line Fitter, Loco Operator, Senior Technician and Senior Manager, Human Resource and Industrial Relations.

Meeting the group the President congratulated them for their determination and said they have proved that through hardwork one can overcome any difficulty and achieve success.

Six year old Sarjana of Kolkata also met the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan today, to hand over a small sum in the form of a cheque which she received as a fee from All India Radio, Kolkata for a programme on songs and rhymes. Sarjana requested the President to send the amount to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.

The six year old child from Kolkata is a proactive citizen of the country at a very tender age. Moved by the suffering caused by Cyclone Aila in West Bengal recently, she collected money for relief work, by singing and dancing on railway platforms and in railway carriages.

Responding to her call travelers gave her donations which Sarjana handed over to the Member of Parliament from Basirhat.

Thereafter, on the occasion of Children's Day, Sarjana had the opportunity to participate in a programme on Doordarshan, Kolkata, for which she received a fee of Rs. 200. This amount was handed over by her to the Governor of West Bengal.

Meeting Sarjana, the President said she has done good work for a noble cause, which is worthy of emulation.

This release issued at 17:00 hrs.