As we walk into the dawn of the year 2020, we look back at some major changes and developments which took place in this decade. Be it demonetization, the rise and fall of GDP, the change in government, introduction of new technology in all sectors of the economy, or the developments in sports and entertainment. All these changes could take place because of huge human resource that has ensured the smooth transition of our country and its people into the future. This huge human resource includes a lot of women leaders who have contributed immensely to our growth and development through all these years.

We fail to realize their efforts and involvement in giving a concrete shape to the development structure of the country through different sectors in the economy.  Today we took an initiative to do some research on the female leaders and do a blog about them. We thought we’d put some light on them so that you recognize these faces and feel proud about the fact that they represent us and our growth in the world’s development index. These women have led some the biggest contributions in the country and have been instrumental in making India proud with their achievements.

ARUNDHATI BHATTACHARYA

Considered to be the first ever woman CEO of India, Arundhati Bhattacharya is the former chairman of the State Bank of India. She is also the first woman to be chairman of State Bank of India. Born to a Bengali family in Kolkata, she completed her education from Lady Brabourne College and Jadavpur University respectively. She joined SBI in 1977 and became the first woman to lead an India-based Fortune India 500 company. She has held various positions during her 36 – year old career and has also served at the bank’s New York office. In the year 2016, she was named the 25th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. She was also ranked 4th most powerful woman in Asia pacific by Fortune. In 2018 she was named Business Leader of the year at the Asian awards.

HIMA DAS

Nicknamed as the ‘Dhing express’, is the Indian national sprinter who has been a recent favorite on every sports page in the past few months. She holds the current Indian national record in 400 meters with a time of 50.79 seconds that she clocked in Jakarta at the 2018 Asian games. She is the first ever athlete to win a gold medal in a track event at the IAAF world U20 championships. In 2019 alone she bagged gold in Poland once and twice in Czech Republic in the 200m category across multiple events. She has been conferred with Arjuna award by the president of India. She has been appointed the first ever youth ambassador of UNICEF- India and is also the brand ambassador of sports in Assam appointed by the government of Assam.

SEEMA RAO

Nicknamed as India’s wonder woman, Seema Rao is India’s first woman commando trainer. She has trained Special Forces in India for 18 years without compensation. An expert in close quarter battle – the art of fighting in tight proximity, has been involved in training various Indian forces. She has received presidential rank honor from the president of India for introducing close quarter battle training for Indian army. She is a certified as a doctor in conventional medicine and has an MBA in crisis management. She with her husband, major Deepak Rao, she contributed to training 15,000 soldiers in modern close quarter battle. She was awarded India’s highest civilian award for women; Nari Shakti Puraskar on International women’s day, 8th March 2019.

SUSHMA SWARAJ

Called India’s “best loved politician” by the US daily Wall Street Journal, Sushma swaraj has been a pioneer when it comes to women leaders of modern India. An Indian politician and a Supreme Court lawyer, Swaraj has served as the external affairs minister of India during the 2014 -2019 government. She has been elected seven times as a member of parliament and three times as a member of the legislative assembly. She was the second woman to hold the office, after Indira Gandhi. At the age of 25, she became the youngest cabinet minister of Haryana and has also served as a chief minister of Delhi for a short duration in 1998. She was instrumental in implementing the foreign policy of Narendra Modi government.

People sit down for a costly cup of coffee at a famous café and discuss women empowerment. People talk about uplifting the women in the country and how the male chauvinistic society has suppressed one particular sex since the beginning of time but do we actually sit down and talk about these women who have overcome all kinds of discrimination and financial hindrances to become what they are today?

 Women of an already uplifted society go on and on about empowering women in the same country where some one like a Hima das needs to be empowered because people like her are the ones who give meaning to the word – WOMEN EMPOWERMENT.