Empowering women

The Rotary Club of Bombay presented the Anita Parikh Award for Women’s Empowerment to Women’s India Trust (WIT) at a luncheon meeting at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel in Bombay on March 15, 2011. Dolat Kotwal, chairman of WIT received the award from its donor Anita Parikh and Pradip Saxena, president of the Club. Kotwal was presented a silver salver and a framed citation, the latter being read out by Nelum Gidwani, chairman of the awards committee, as per a write-up received from WIT.

From left: Shyamla Nath, Anita Parikh, Dolat Kotwal, A. Mundhra and Nelum Gidwani

Kotwal spoke of WIT’s hands-on grassroots level involvement in women’s empowerment for the past 43 years, though the term has become a buzz word in recent times. The serious problem of widening income disparities has lent greater relevance to its work. Hundreds of women have benefited from educational, vocational and income generation programs. With an increase in the number of beneficiaries, upgrading of its website with a shopping portal and online donation facility to increase the sale of its products, WIT hopes to become more self-sustaining in the not too distant future, the press release notes.