“We cannot all succeed if half of this are held back.”

                       “We cannot all succeed if half of  this are held back.”

—Malala Yousafzai

There is no denying the fact that women in India have made a considerable progress in almost seven decades of Independence, but they still have to struggle against many handicaps and social evils in the male-dominated society. Many evil and masculine forces still prevail in the modern Indian society that resists the forward march of its women folk. It is ironical that a country, which has recently acclaimed the status of the first Asian country to accomplish its Mars mission in the maiden attempt, is positioned at the 29th rank among 146 countries across the globe on the basis of Gender Inequality Index. There has been amelioration in the position of women, but their true empowerment is still awaited.

Swami Vivekananda, one of the greatest sons of India, quoted that, “There is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved, It is not possible for a bird to fly on only one wing. ” Therefore, the inclusion of “Women Empowerment’ as one of the prime goals in the eight Millennium Development Goals underscores the relevance of this fact. Thus, in order to achieve the status of a developed country, India needs to transform its colossal women force into an effective human resource and this is possible only through the empowerment of women.

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10 women social reformers who fought to bring change in India

Here are 10 Indian women who clearly deserve a standing ovation: Aruna Roy is bestknown for her efforts to fight corruption and .... Her story, among others, was told in a series on acid attack victims by Hindustan Times.

CRPF to appoint PV Sindhu as Commandant and brand ambassador

Country’s largest paramilitary force CRPF has decided to appoint Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu as it’s brand ambassador and bestow the honorary rank of Commandant on the ace badminton player.

Official sources said the force has moved a formal proposal in this regard to the Union Home Ministry and after getting required sanctions, Sindhu will be honoured and presented the rank badges and camouflage combat fatigues of the CRPF at a ceremonial event.

It is understood that Sindhu has been informed and her consent taken by the CRPF in this regard.

A Commandant rank in the CRPF is equivalent to the position of a Superintendent of Police (SP) and such an officer commands a battalion of about 1,000 personnel, when posted in field operations.

They said that about 3-lakh personnel strong force, mainstay for anti-Naxal operations and various internal security duty tasks in the country, chose Sindhu for the honour as her appointment will not only motivate the personnel to do better but will also send the message of women empowerment and that they are second to none.

Being the brand ambassador of the force, they said, Sindhu would be asked to hold motivational sessions with troops when she is not playing or practising and her messages would be sent to all the personnel deployed across the country.

The Central Reserve Police Force also has the credit of raising the first all-women battalion in a central paramilitary or a police force way back in 1987 and at present has four such contingents, with three in active duties.

Few years back, border guarding force BSF had appointed cricketer Virat Kohli as it’s brand ambassador.

The Lizzie Velasquez story

'My story is everyone's story': 26-year-old with rare genetic disorder who was once labeled the 'world's ugliest woman' insists she's better off thanks to cruel bullies 

• Lizzie Velasquez was born with a rare syndrome that gives her an aged appearance and makes it hard for the 63lb woman to gain weight
• When she was 17, someone posted a video of her online and strangers made awful comments, telling her to kill herself
• Since then, the Texas resident has made a career as a motivational speaker, giving a TED talk that earned over eight million views
• A new documentary about her life, A Brave Heart, premieres in September

A 26-year-old who was once labeled the ‘ugliest woman in the world’ insists that she is actually thankful for the online bullies who cruelly tormented her about her appearance, because they helped her get to the great place she's in today. 

Lizzie Velasquez was born with neonatal progeroid syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that gives her an aged appearance. It affects her face, muscle tone, brain, heart, eyes, and bones, and also prevents her from gaining weight - meaning that at 5'2", the Austin, Texas, resident is just 63lbs.

Lizzie didn't know she was different until her first day of kindergarten, when her classmates shrunk away from her. The other kids seemed afraid of her appearance and would often point and refuse to sit with her - even though she wasn't doing anything wrong.

'It was a big slap of reality for a five-year-old,' she said.

Her parents told her that she was just smaller than the other kids, but she was beautiful and could accomplish anything.

With a loving family to back her up, things started to improve a bit as she got older. She made an effort to remain positive, and even joined after-school activities to make friends. She was on the school paper and the cheerleading team, and as she put herself out there, her life got better.

Until one day, when everything changed. Lizzie was still in high school, looking for music on YouTube when she stumbled across a video of herself. In the comments section, anonymous strangers said terrible things, labeling her the ‘ugliest woman in the world’ and slinging hurtful insults. They called her a monster, said someone should 'kill it' - meaning her - 'with fire', and asked why her parents didn't abort her.

And though she knew that the kinds of people who would write such awful things are the lowest of the low, that didn’t stop their comments from hurting Lizzie - especially because each and every one of them was negative. 

'I read every single comment thinking there would be one person to stand up for me. Not one person said, "She's a child, leave her alone," or "You don't know her story, why she looks like that,"' Lizzie recalled. 'I felt like someone was putting a fist through the computer screen and physically punching me. I bawled my eyes out.'

ut while most people would have trouble recovering from such a heart-wrenching experience, Lizzie is not most people. In fact, she now says that she would like to thank the person who first labeled her the 'ugliest woman in the world, because he or she changed Lizzie's life.

Perhaps because she had already overcome so much adversity, the young woman was able to turn that cruelness into something good. Since then, she went on to college, wrote a book, and became a motivational speaker and anti-bullying activist - which was most famously seen in her widely-watched in Austin that has been watched over eight million times to date. 

'Even though things are hard, I can't let that define me,' she said on the TED stage. 'My life was put into my hands just like your life was put into yours. You were put in the front seat of the car. You are the one who decides if your car goes down a bad path or a good path. You are the one that decided what defines you.'

Those encouraging words clearly struck a chord with many people. Lizzie explained to Today: 'I'm not sure what it was about the TED talk and what I said in it, but it changed everything.' 

Rio silver medallist P V Sindhu snubs minister's offer, says Gopichand is 'the best coach'

Ace Indian shuttler P V Sindhu, who captured the imagination of the entire nation by winning a silver medal at the Rio Olympics, has ignored Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali's offer for a 'better coach', saying that her current guru Pullela Gopichand is the 'best coach' for her.

"I feel Gopi sir is the best coach. I have been training under him since I was 10. I don't have to say anything about it (minister's comment)," Sindhu told ANI.

Her comments came after Ali triggered an outrage on social media with his statement that the 21-year-old lanky shuttler may be provided a 'better coach' so that so could fetch gold in the next Olympics at Tokyo.

Sindhu received a rousing welcome on her arrival in her home town and was felicitated by the Telangana government for her stellar performance at the Rio Games.

Considered as one of the country's finest shuttlers, Gopichand has produced an array of top-class shuttlers, including 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth, a quarterfinalist in Rio de Janeiro.

Despite producing a spirited performance in the opening game, Sindhu lost the pulsating women's singles badminton final against Spain's Carolina Marin 21-19, 12-21, 15-21 to settle for the silver medal.

With the feat, Sindhu has also become the fifth Indian woman to clinch a medal in Olympics history after Karnam Malleswari, Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal and Sakshi Malik.