By Express News Service
AHMEDABAD: Renowned social activist and Gandhi Ela Bhatt who was the founding father of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) handed away on Wednesday. She was 89.
She was the recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1977, the Right Livelihood Award in 1984, and the Padma Bhushan in 1986 for her work in empowering impoverished girls in Gujarat. She was additionally chosen for the Niwano Peace Prize in 2010.
Ela Bhatt was additionally serving because the chairperson of the Sabarmati Ashram since 2016.
Until not too long ago, for seven years, she had served because the chancellor of the Gujarat Vidyapith. She stepped down from the submit on 19 October on account of failing well being.
The Vidyapith, which is over 100 years outdated, was based by Mahatma Gandhi and he himself had been its first chancellor.
Elaben Bhatt was born on 7 September 1933. Her father Sumantrai Bhatt was a profitable lawyer whereas her mom Vanalila Vyas was lively within the girls’s motion and was the secretary of the All India Women’s Conference based by Kamladevi Chattopadhyay,
Ela Bhatt, who studied regulation in faculty, joined the authorized division of the Textile Labour Association (TLA) in Ahmedabad in 1955.
Ela Bhatt based SEWA, an organisation of poor, self-employed girls staff, in 1972 and served as its basic secretary from 1972 to 1996.
She was concerned in lots of actions associated to worldwide labour, and ladies’s points.
Ela Bhatt was deeply influenced by Gandhian philosophy and considering. Her grandfather had joined Mahatma Gandhi on the Salt Satyagraha in 1930 to protest the British ban on Indians making salt.
In an interview with the Berkley Center, Ela Bhatt described what led her to start out SEWA. “I became more and more aware, as I worked with the unionized (textile) labour, of the much larger labour force that was outside the purview of the protective labour laws, of any form of social security, access to justice, access to financial services, anything. That tugged at my heart. And those people were unorganized and had no strength to act to seek remedies.”
She additionally served as a Rajya Sabha MP and an adviser to the World Bank. In 2007, she had joined the Elders, a gaggle of world leaders based by Nelson Mandela to advertise human rights and peace.
Ela Bhatt had married Ramesh Bhatt in 1956. Their two kids Amimayi (1958) and Mihir (1959) reside in Ahmedabad.
Expressing grief over the loss of life of Ela Bhatt, Gujarat BJP chief CR Patil mentioned, “The information of the loss of life of Padma Bhushan Elaben Bhatt was Painful. Elaben Bhatt remained a lifelong activist for the upliftment of ladies, and her providers to make girls self-reliant will at all times be an inspiration. I pray that God might grant peace to his departed soul.”
Extremely saddened by the passing away of famend Gandhian & founding father of SEWA, Ela Bhatt ji.
A Padma Bhushan recipient and a pioneer of ladies’s rights, she devoted her life in empowering them via grassroots entrepreneurship.
Her distinctive legacy shall at all times encourage. pic.twitter.com/OjtQoOeEgj
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) November 2, 2022
“Extremely saddened by the passing away of renowned Gandhian & founder of SEWA, Ela Bhatt ji. A Padma Bhushan recipient and a pioneer of women’s rights, she devoted her life in empowering them through grassroots entrepreneurship. Her exceptional legacy shall always inspire,” Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge wrote on Twitter.
(With inputs from on-line desk)
AHMEDABAD: Renowned social activist and Gandhi Ela Bhatt who was the founding father of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) handed away on Wednesday. She was 89.
She was the recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1977, the Right Livelihood Award in 1984, and the Padma Bhushan in 1986 for her work in empowering impoverished girls in Gujarat. She was additionally chosen for the Niwano Peace Prize in 2010.
Ela Bhatt was additionally serving because the chairperson of the Sabarmati Ashram since 2016.
Until not too long ago, for seven years, she had served because the chancellor of the Gujarat Vidyapith. She stepped down from the submit on 19 October on account of failing well being.
The Vidyapith, which is over 100 years outdated, was based by Mahatma Gandhi and he himself had been its first chancellor.
Elaben Bhatt was born on 7 September 1933. Her father Sumantrai Bhatt was a profitable lawyer whereas her mom Vanalila Vyas was lively within the girls’s motion and was the secretary of the All India Women’s Conference based by Kamladevi Chattopadhyay,
Ela Bhatt, who studied regulation in faculty, joined the authorized division of the Textile Labour Association (TLA) in Ahmedabad in 1955.
Ela Bhatt based SEWA, an organisation of poor, self-employed girls staff, in 1972 and served as its basic secretary from 1972 to 1996.
She was concerned in lots of actions associated to worldwide labour, and ladies’s points.
Ela Bhatt was deeply influenced by Gandhian philosophy and considering. Her grandfather had joined Mahatma Gandhi on the Salt Satyagraha in 1930 to protest the British ban on Indians making salt.
In an interview with the Berkley Center, Ela Bhatt described what led her to start out SEWA. “I became more and more aware, as I worked with the unionized (textile) labour, of the much larger labour force that was outside the purview of the protective labour laws, of any form of social security, access to justice, access to financial services, anything. That tugged at my heart. And those people were unorganized and had no strength to act to seek remedies.”
She additionally served as a Rajya Sabha MP and an adviser to the World Bank. In 2007, she had joined the Elders, a gaggle of world leaders based by Nelson Mandela to advertise human rights and peace.
Ela Bhatt had married Ramesh Bhatt in 1956. Their two kids Amimayi (1958) and Mihir (1959) reside in Ahmedabad.
Expressing grief over the loss of life of Ela Bhatt, Gujarat BJP chief CR Patil mentioned, “The information of the loss of life of Padma Bhushan Elaben Bhatt was Painful. Elaben Bhatt remained a lifelong activist for the upliftment of ladies, and her providers to make girls self-reliant will at all times be an inspiration. I pray that God might grant peace to his departed soul.”
Extremely saddened by the passing away of famend Gandhian & founding father of SEWA, Ela Bhatt ji.
A Padma Bhushan recipient and a pioneer of ladies’s rights, she devoted her life in empowering them via grassroots entrepreneurship.
Her distinctive legacy shall at all times encourage. pic.twitter.com/OjtQoOeEgj
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) November 2, 2022
“Extremely saddened by the passing away of renowned Gandhian & founder of SEWA, Ela Bhatt ji. A Padma Bhushan recipient and a pioneer of women’s rights, she devoted her life in empowering them through grassroots entrepreneurship. Her exceptional legacy shall always inspire,” Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge wrote on Twitter.
(With inputs from on-line desk)
