Odisha’s Manasi Pradhan among five nominated for Wockhardt Peace Award 2017

Bhubaneswar: Internationally-acclaimed women activist and author from Odisha Mrs. Manasi Pradhan has been nominated for the prestigious Wockhardt Foundation Peace Award for the year 2017. The award Jury panel has nominated a total of five candidates from India for the 2017 Wockhardt Peace Award. Beside Mrs Manasi Pradhan, others nominated for the award this year includes Booker prize winner Arundhati Roy, Magsaysay award winner Aruna Roy, Puducherry Governor Dr. Kiran Bedi and renowned activist Medha Patkar.

To vote for Mrs. Manasi Pradhan, give a Miss Call to the number 7097198659. The voting line opens from August 30th 2017 and closes on September 19th 2017. The award will be declared on September 21, 2017.

Widely recognized as one of the most influential women’s rights activist across the globe, the Los Angeles based Welker Media recently named Mrs. Manasi Pradhan among 12 greatest feminists of all time along with Nobel prize winners like Shririn Ebadi, Rigoberta Menchu, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinam and Kate Millet. She is the only Indian ever to make to this global list.

In 2016, Mrs. Pradhan was also the only Indian to be named by New York-based Bustle magazine among World’s Top 20 Feminists Authors and Activists along with Naomi Klein, Malala, Angela Davis, Nikki Giovanni, Ann Jones and others.

Mrs. Manasi Pradhan is the founder of Honour for Women National Campaign, a nationwide movement to end violence against women in India. The movement has been instrumental in galvanizing the nation against atrocities on women. The ‘Four-Point Charter of Demand’ issued by the movement for implementation by all state governments and being canvassed by thousands of volunteers across the country has led several states to adopt corrective measures to reduce violence against women.

In 2013, Mrs. Pradhan was conferred with the prestigious Rani Lakshmibai Stree Shakti Puraskar in the Rashtrapati Bhawan by the President of India. She has received numerous international and national awards including the Outstanding Women Award in 2011. Manasi Pradhan is an acclaimed author and poet. Her fourth book Urmi-O-Uchchwas has been translated into eight major languages.

Born to a poor family in a remote village of Banapur block in Khurdha district of Odisha, Mrs. Pradhan travelled 15 km daily, amidst hilly terrain and swamp, to the only high school in the entire region to emerge as the first women law graduate. The inspiring life story of Mrs. Pradhan has been adopted as tele-series and documentaries in United States, Israel, United Kingdom, Turkey and India.

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