In most villages in India, men are tasked with prime responsibilities to run the family as they were considered as the sole breadwinners and you don’t often see many women going to offices as they are forced to sit at home and do household chores. On the contrary, men go to offices, stress a lot and work without seeing clock needles to earn wages either daily, weekly or on a monthly basis.
Women have very limited opportunities to study and were always inferior to men. They never really had the liberty to do what men were doing and hence they became homemakers. However, in the male-dominated society, women are braving against all odds to become successful in life. Some women are working beyond the call of duty to fight against enemies and are fearlessly making the country safe from crime and illegal activities.
Forest range officer puts an end to illegal activities in Forest
A woman forest range officer single-handedly faced a group of villagers who were going to encroach a ’63-acre swathe of reserve forest land’. She boldly stood in front of their tractor and refused to budge and had also dared them to cut her. Her courageous act won her praises from her department.
30-year-old Srilakshmi HS works as a forest range officer in Sidlaghatta, Chikkaballapura district of Karnataka. Even when land grabbers threatened to burn her team’s vehicle after pouring kerosene on them, she was not at all scared.
She is currently on a mission leading a large-scale afforestation drive by ‘planting saplings’ on the reserve forest land in Varadanayakanhalli.
“When I decided to take up the plantation drive, villagers protested saying they’d been cultivating the said land for many years. I checked the documents and satellite imagery and found that there was no cultivation.
When the matter went to the local tehsildar, he ordered for a joint survey early this year and said neither forest department staffers nor villagers should enter the land till the issue is resolved,” TOI quoted her as saying.
In late August, as many as 30 farmer families with tractors went to the land and started ploughing it.
“When I went to the spot, it was heartrending to see trees being cut and set on fire. Though I was on guard, there was little hope of evicting families. We were only five and there was little help from cops. I filed a police complaint the next morning.
But it further enraged the locals and some miscreants even tried to torch our vehicles by pouring kerosene on them. Efforts by the tehsildar to intervene yielded no results,” she reportedly said.
It was when the bold officer took the step of standing in front of the tractor. Her brave act made the encroachers leave the land and now she is leading a plantation drive on it.
Hats off to the woman for putting her life on the line for the environment.
Meet Lady Singham ‘Usha Kiran’- The First Woman COBRA Commando
When we come across the word ‘Commando’ or ‘officer’, it triggers our brain to think only about ‘males’ but we don’t necessarily bat an eye about ‘females’ as we think that only men are assigned to do a specific task. Do you agree with this?
For so long, ‘Police’ and ‘Defence Forces’ were only meant for men as they were highly-involved in tough tasks while women were kept at bay from doing heavy-duty jobs. However, officers like Usha Kiran is changing the way people think and is making us realise that even a woman can succeed in a male-dominated society.
Usha Kiran is the youngest female CRPF officer to become a Cobra commando. The brave officer is now serving the Naxal region of Bastar in Chhattisgarh. She has a wide range of experience in ‘guerrilla tactics’ and ‘jungle warfare’.
People who met Usha Kiran said that she is such a ‘kind person’. She is a former national athlete, who played for Delhi in the triple jump. She is one of only two women CRPF officers who work in Bastar. For her, duty and responsibility come ahead of anything else.
Hailing from a Gurugram-based family with some link to the CRPF, her grandfather and father were ex-personnel. Usha said that the villagers in the vicinity feel safe and comforted by her presence.
In a recent report published in the Hindustan Times, she says, “I talk to the women. They are scared of male cops and officers. But with me, they are more relaxed.”
She has been nicknamed ‘Lady Singham’. During her off-duty hours, she assists school-going girls with their studies in her camp at Chattisgarh’s forested areas.
She works beyond the call of duty to connect security forces and tribal people. Usha Kiran is also awarded the ‘Young Achiever of the Year’ award by the Vogue Women Of The Year 2018 for her fruitful contributions.
Sanjukta Parashar eliminated 16 terrorists, arrested 64
India is breaking its gender-biased limits as women in India are ready to leave their steps behind in every field for the coming generation. Be it in bureaucracy or politics or the prestigious police force, women are a mark almost equal to men in all these fields.
CHRI (Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative) has presented a report, in which they have shown that women are meeting 6.11% level of the total police force in the country which emulates the gender divergence in security forces even after many years of independence.
As the whole nation is taking necessary steps to battle corruption and terrorism nowadays, spectacular efforts of many dedicated female police officers have come to view. Known as the Iron Lady of Assam, Sanjukta Parashar is one such IPS officer who is making the nation proud for her incredible work and bravery.
Sanjukta has got 85th rank in all Indian civil services examination and was the 1st lady of Assam to become IPS officer of Batch 2006, She was first posted as Assistant Commandant of Makum in 2008 and known for taking down 16 militants, arresting over 64 militants and seized tons of arms and ammunition in just 15 months.
Sanjukta did her early education in Assam and went to Indraprastha University for a graduate degree in Political Science. After that, she did her PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University. Sanjukta has a liking for sports since she was a child and has won many accolades.
During her schooling days, she was upset about the increasing corruption and terror in Assam and so she decided to stay back in her state and work towards solving these issues despite getting a good rank.
She was first assigned duty at Makum, Assam, in 2008, as an Assistant Commandant. Then she was transferred to Udalguri in Assam to handle the communal violence between Bodo and illegal Bangladeshi militants. However, within 15 months of her operation, she killed nearly 16 militants and arrested 64 of them.
She is a mother of four-year-old but she still started operation with the AK47 rifle. In the past few years, she has dedicated herself to the Anti-Bodo Militant Operations.
Time and again, Sanjukta visits relief camps only to be with distressed people who lost their families or houses in militant attacks. Sadly, she is able to spend time with her husband and family only once in 2 months.
However, her grit, determination, dedication and courage showcased by Sanjukta to battle terrorism and corruption is exemplary and worth applauding. She is setting a great example for other women to follow suit.