1st woman elephant mahout among Padma Shri awardees

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New Delhi, January 25

As many as 34 artisans, farmers, social workers, dancers and folk artistes have been selected for the Padma Shri awards. Among the winners is India’s first woman elephant mahout Parbati Baruah. Hailing from Assam, Baruah overcame stereotypes to create a space for herself in a traditionally male-dominated field. She stood out for her commitment towards mitigating the human-elephant conflict with the help of application of scientific practices. She assisted three state governments to tackle and capture wild elephants. Baruah, 67, inherited the skill from her father and despite coming from a well-off background.

Another awardee is Gurvinder Singh from Sirsa, a 53-year-old physically-challenged social worker. Singh works for betterment of homeless, destitute, women, orphans and physically-challenged persons. He nurtured 300 children’s dreams by setting up a child-care institute named Bal Gopal Dham. He has provided free ambulance services to over 6,000 accident victims and pregnant women.

Sathyanarayana Beleri, 50, is a rice farmer from Kasaragod, Kerala. He has evolved into a “guardian of paddy crop” by preserving over 650 traditional rice varieties. He successfully introduced ‘Rajakayame’ rice, boosting production and conservation across Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Through 15 years of hard work, he innovated the ‘Polybag Method’, conserving not only indigenous rice varieties, but also traditional seeds of arecanut, nutmeg and black pepper.

Sangthankima, 63, who was also selected for the Padma Shri, has been running Mizoram’s largest orphanage ‘Thutak Nunpuitu Team’. He has addressed issues related to children’s welfare, addiction, HIV-AIDS awareness, education and other civic issues.

Hemchand Manjhi is traditional medicinal practitioner from Narayanpur, Chhattisgarh. He provides affordable healthcare to villagers. He is known for his special knowledge of herbs in remote forests of Abujhmarh. Despite repeated threats by Naxals, he continues to serve people with sincerity and zeal. Balakrishnan Sadanam Puthiya Veethil from Kerala is distinguished Kalluvazhi Kathakali dancer with a career spanning over 60 years.