Saluting the spirit of the women of India, ITV Network’s ‘We Women Want: Shakti Awards’ 2022 held at Delhi’s Le Meridian Hotel on Wednesday, August 24th 2022.
The Shakti Awards were held by the iTV Foundation under the aegis of ‘We Women Want’, a new initiative to showcase the indomitable spirit of women through their stories of grit and resilience.
The conclave was graced by the august presence of the Governors of Kerala and Telangana- Shri Arif Mohammed Khan and Smt Tamilisai Soundararajan respectively and the former Governor of Puducherry Smt Kiran Bedi. Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Anurag Thakur also attended the event. The Hon’ble Governors and Minister felicitated Shakti Award winners which included CWG medal winners, paralympians, acid attack survivors, doctors, actors, designers and digital content creators.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohd Khan spoke about several issues like the significance of women’s rights and the way religions view the issue. ‘Greedy men have used religion to suppress women’, he said, further adding how he was attacked several times for raising the issue of women’s right within Islam.
Whereas Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundrarajan spoke about her own journey first as a doctor and then as a politician, and how she fought for the rights of women always. Smt Kiran Bedi spoke about her time in service and the significance of parenting to achieving gender equality. ‘Early discipline sessions while parenting boys of prime importance’, she said.
Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Shri Anurag Thakur felicitated women achievers and received ‘The Great India Run’ torch which was brought by runners including many women runners from Srinagar to Delhi. He spoke about ‘Naari Shakti’ and the fortitude of women, specifically those from rural India. ‘Injustice against women in the name of religion must be rejected’, Thakur said.
The event was also attended by several celebrities including actors Sharvari Wagh, Shefali Shah and Malaika Arora. ‘It’s been some of the women in my life who have helped me through this journey from an actor to entrepreneur and investor’, Arora said.
Smt. Shakti Sharma, Trustee, iTV Foundation and the Hon’ble Mayor of Ambala also felicitated the award winners. Smt. Sharma said, ‘This is an initiative to honour inspiring women who have been trailblazers for countless Indian women as well as men. It represents and honours their invaluable contributions.’
Aishwarya Pandit Sharma, Chairperson of the iTV Foundation spoke about the initiative and how it is a campaign to showcase inspirational journeys. ’We hope this community which we endeavour to build will grow leaps and bounds and we will be joined by several tenacious women with stories of courage’, Sharma said.
