Noted environmentalist of Assam Purnima Devi Barman has announced the Rupees one lakh as part of the Nari Shakti Award conferred on her, will be spent in providing yarn to the weavers of Dadara-Pacharia twin villages.
It is the conservation site in Assam where she has been preserving highly endangered greater adjutant stork (GAS) species with active cooperation from village women.
She tweeted, I dedicate this award to all my women Hargila Army.I am going distribute yarns to these women with the one lakh Rs that I got in the Nari shakti Puraskar 2017 to weave Gamusa (Assamese scarf) with stork motif before Bihu@MinistryWCD.
She was conferred Nari Shakti Award, 2017 along with 29 other women of the country by the President Ram Nath Kovind on International Women’s Day.
I dedicate this award to all my women Hargila Army.I am going distribute yarns to these women with the one lakh Rs that I got in the Nari shakti Puraskar 2017 to weave Gamusa (Assamese scarf) with stork motif before Bihu@MinistryWCD @GreaterAdjutan1 https://t.co/CuaKQHMuY3
— Purnima Devi Barman (@DeviBarman) March 11, 2018
“The award is a recognition not only for my efforts but that of the community women of the two villagers who have been working tirelessly with me for years to preserve and protect the endangered birds against all odds. The women deserve the award more than me and I have decided to donate the award money of Rs one lakh to buy yarn for these women who will use the yarn to weave ‘gamocha’ (traditional Assamese bath towel) with GAS motifs on it on the occasion of forthcoming Rangali Bihu, the popular spring festival in Assam.”
“Today, the endangered GAS species has got embedded into the life of over 1,0000 villagers of Dadara and Pacharia who are grateful to the bird species that has brought so much global fame and focus for their villages,” Purnima said.
Union Minister Maneka Gandhi while appreciating Purnima’s outstanding efforts to conserve the bird species, has requested her to put up similar efforts to conserve few other endangered species too.