Kshetrimayum Indira Devi | |
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Born | |
Nationality | Indian |
Occupation | designer |
Kshetrimayum Indira Devi, known as Chirom Indira, is an Indian entrepreneur, designer, and social worker.
Devi was born in the Imphal West district of Manipur. She was the first born of six children. [1] She is a graduate in Political Science but she also studied weaving at the Indian Institute of Hardware Technology in Guwahati and her first job was nearby at GOENKA woollen mills ltd in 1994.
In 2003 she and her husband set up an export company for handloom created products. [2]
In 2015 the Ministry of Textiles recognised her work and she became the first Indian recipient of the National Award in Design Development of Handloom Products. [3]
On International Women's Day Devi was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar [4] for her work with handloom weaving. [3] The award was made by the President of India Ram Nath Kovind at the Presidential Palace (Rastrapati Bhavan) in New Delhi with the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi and the Minister for Women & Child Development, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi also attending. About 30 people and nine organisations were honoured that year, receiving the award and a prize each of $R 100,000. [5] [6] Another person honoured that day was Madhu Jain who was also excelling in textiles. [7] On the same day as that award the nominations were open for fifteen women to receive the Women Transforming India Award which she was nominated for and awarded later that year. [1]
By 2018 she had become a member of the "All India Handloom Board" [1] which had been formed in 1992, although the board was dissolved in 2020 as it was judged to be not effective enough. [8]
The Nari Shakti Puraskar is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. It is the highest civilian honour for women in India, and is presented by the president of India on International Women's Day at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. The award was instituted in 1999 under the title of Stree Shakti Puraskar, renamed and reorganised in 2015. It is awarded in six institutional and two individual categories, which carry a cash prize of 200,000 and 100,000 rupees, respectively.
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