102-Year-Old Social Worker Of Assam, Shakuntala Choudhury Receives National Honour

Notification from the Ministry of social justice and Empowerment of Government of India has informed that Shakuntala Choudhury will receive the award on 1st of October at the Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

Sources said that Shakuntala Choudhury is the one and only woman and senior citizen from Assam who crossed 100 years.

According to reports, she will receive Rs 2.5 lakh and other gifts.

Shakuntala Choudhury is a supervisor at the Kasturba Ashram in Ulubari of Guwahati and a renowned social worker of Assam.

Earlier, the 'State Democracy Award', instituted by State Election Commission (SEC), was conferred by Arunachal Pradesh Governor Brig (Retd) Dr B D Mishra at a function held here on the occasion of 'International Democracy Day' on Wednesday. Longding received the 'Best Performing District' award, while Nafra under West Kameng district was awarded the 'Best Performing Sub-Division', in recognition of their excellent performances.

The Governor, who released a commemorative compendium -- Two decades of SEC -- along with its software disk, said that the day aims to promote government's role in maintaining transparent democracy among member nations of the UN charter. "The elections, by universal suffrage, free, fair and secret voting are foundations of democracy as enshrined in Article 21 (3) of Universal Declaration of Human Rights," he said.

Promoting democratic values of justice, liberty, equality and dignity of individual is vital to make the democracy strong and stable, he said and added that abiding by fundamental duties mentioned in the Constitution of India is equally important. Referring to the Gandhian ideal of 'Gram Swaraj', Mishra said that the 'Atma Nirbhar' movement, including 'Start up' and 'Self dependence', initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a shape to 'Gram Swaraj'.

Also Read: Arunachal Governor BD Mishra confers honour, calls for transparent democracy