AIWS president Kalyani Raj inaugurates new building of GMVC
By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 12 Apr: President of All India Women’s Conference Kalyani Raj inaugurated the new building of Gramin Mahila Vikas Committee (GMVC) at Selaqui, adjacent to Sara Industrial Estate here today. Speaking on the occasion, Chief Guest Kalyani Raj very generously praised the efforts being made by Rakesh Dhawan, President of Gramin Mahila Vikas Samiti in empowering rural women in Sahaspur and other rural areas of Dehradun. She also praised the support and contribution of Rakesh Dhawan’s husband and leading industrialist of Uttarakhand VK Dhawan in the achievements of Rakesh Dhawan’s philanthropic work.
Raj also recalled her collaborative work with Rakesh Dhawan in the field of women welfare while Dhawan was the President of All India Women’s Conference and she herself was the Secretary General of the organisation. She also reminded the gathering of the contribution made by AIWS in pushing the good work done by GMVC in form of grant of scholarships. She also highlighted the fact that empowering each rural girl or woman means welfare of not just one but two families, one being where the girl is born and the other being the family she is married in. She also recalled her work with AIWS for past 27 years and reminded the gathering that AIWS was formed by an Irish lady Margaret Cousins, in 1927 which was then primarily focussed on education of girls. Later it was realised that just ensuring the literacy or basic education was not enough for empowerment of women and then the organisation diversified its activities into skill development and employment generation besides also ensuring health care for the underprivileged women.
Delivering the welcome address, Rakesh Dhawan remembered the contribution of Lakshmi Raguramaiah, who was a prominent figure in the All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) and had served as its President from 1971 to 1979. Dhawan describered Raguramaiah as her inspiration for social work and shared that in her office room in the new building of GMVC, she had installed the portrait of Lakshmi Raguramaiah. She also thanked the staff and the volunteers of the GMVC for their role in the social service and also thanked her husband VK Dhawan for standing like a pillar of support in her activities. Dhawan also shared the activities of the Committee and asserted that the new building was just a beginning and many more milestones are in the pipeline for the Committee. Honorary Treasurer of AIWS, Dr Upasana Singh also liberally praised Dhawan for the hard work and commitment towards transformation of the underprivileged girls and women of rural areas in Dehradun and expressed confidence that despite many milestones achieved already, inauguration of the new building is just another beginning for many more milestones to come.
Dr Prashant Bhatnagar, Head Marketing of Dr KKBM Subharti Hospital of Dehradun, shared the work the hospital is doing in collaboration with the Gramin Mahila Vikas Committee (GMVC) for the rural people of Sahaspur Block and reiterated his commitment on behalf of the hospital to continue holding health camps, free diagnostic services and treatment at minimal price for the underprivileged and even free ambulance service for the rural people when needed. Akshara proposed the vote on thanks while Aqiba and Atika coordinated the programme.
Among the dignitaries present on the occasion included leading industrialist Rakesh Oberoi and realtor Rakesh Batta besides VK Dhawan himself who has played a crucial role in the construction of the new building.
