Bandipora March 08: District administration Bandipora on Monday celebrated the International Women’s Day by organizing a seminar at Mini Secretariat Bandipora and felicitated women achievers of the district.
Deputy Commissioner Bandipora Dr Owais Ahmad was the chief guest on the occasion while Additional Deputy Commissioner Zahoor Ahmad Mir, Joint Director Planning Imtiyaz Ahmad, Chief Education Officer Bandipora Javid Iqbal and other senior officers besides a mixed audience of men and women were present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion Dr Owais talked about the rights of women and highlighted the significance of International Women’s Day.
He said that it is not the day just to commemorate the achievements of women but to analyze and diagnose the reasons behind the helplessness of women in the society and asked for changing age old notions by bringing the social re-orientation in addition to bringing their economic and political upliftment.
He reiterated that to make women economically independent, self-reliant and self-sufficient it is of utmost importance to conduct gender sensitization of all the stakeholders in society and by motivating the girls and women to excel in non conventional fields like Engineering, Technology, Sports etc. He said the aim of inviting a mixed audience for the audience was to provide opportunity to both genders to speak to each other and listen to each other’s points of view.
ADC Bandipora Zahoor Ahmad Mir on the occasion highlighted the performance of the district administration in implementing the several women centric welfare schemes that are aimed at providing hand holding to the women to make them self-reliant and also assured the support of district administration in every endeavor that will promote women empowerment.
Speaking on the occasion Joint Director Planning Imtiyaz Ahmad said that the district administration has taken several measures to ensure safety and security of women besides their socio-economic empowerment. He said the district administration established One-Stop Centre- Sakhi at Nishat Park Bandipora that provides an array of services from medical, legal, Police to psychological assistance to violence affected women under one roof.
Chief Education Officer Bandipora Javid Iqbal on the occasion interpreted the recently declared results of Class 10th and Class 12th and said the female students have outshined the boys and have got the top positions. He said the female students are outshining their male counterparts in every field and this should give enough confidence to the girls to showcase their talent. He urged the female students to work with utmost dedication and create their own space in the society.
Coordinator MSK, Syeda Ayesha enumerated the achievements of the Mahila Shakti Kendra (MSK) that is functional in Mini- Secretariat Bandipora. She said MSK aims to empower rural women through community participation and to create an environment in which they realize their full potential. “It provides an interface for rural women to approach the government for availing their entitlements also empowering them through training and capacity building,” she said while urging the female audience to visit MSK to know about women centric schemes in place besides other relevant assistance by the centre.
Earlier Dr Asima Zehra spoke about Women in Kashmir Society while Mir Tariq deliberated on “Empowered Women: From Men’s perspective”. Tabasum Israr of ICDS talked about Empowerment of Women while Coordinator Beti Bachav Beti Padhav Altaf Ahmad Mir deliberated on “How I would like to raise my daughter”. Afshana Hassan deliberated on the topic, “Women of Strength” while Husaina Bano expressed her views about “My experience as a woman”.
Earlier Deputy Commissioner felicitated 11 girl student toppers and 10 tribal girl student toppers of Annual Class 10th Exams by providing a cash prize of Rs 9000 and an appreciation certificate. The Deputy Commissioner also felicitated five girls for meritorious performance in various sports activities by providing a cash prize of Rs 5000 and an appreciation certificate.
The five schools were also felicitated for meritorious performance in terms of pass percentage of girls students in Annual Class 10th by providing a School grant of Rs 10000 for educational needs of girl students and an appreciation certificate for the school. Five Girls for best painting on the theme, “My Idea of an Empowered Women” during online painting competition were also felicitated by providing a cash prize of Rs 2000 and an appreciation certificate.
Similar function was also organized at Govt Boys High School Bagh and at Div Sumbal that was presided over by Dr Bashir Ahmad Lone, SDM Sumbal along with officers of Education Department, ICDS, Social Welfare and others.(KNS)