Ms. Sheela Balaji received the ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar 2017’, from the Ministry of Women & Child Development for her contribution to the field of education, community development and sustainable living that has touched more than 20 million lives pan-India. The award was presented by the honourable President of India at the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
The award is the highest civilian honour and is presented to empowered and iconic women in cognizance of their exceptional leadership skills and exemplary achievements. Ms. Balaji through 127 projects under the flagship of AIM for Seva (a pan-India NGO) and Swami Dayananda Educational Trust (an integrated community initiative) has set an example of outstanding work in rural India.
Providing free of cost, value-based education, to rural and tribal children, AIM for Seva has 95 Free Student Hostels across16 states in India. Alongside, she has preserved 90 varieties of artisanal organic heritage rice of India till no till now, thereby creating educated and informed farmers and inspiring the urban community to make organic heritage rice a conscious lifestyle choice.
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