Indian Women Inspiring the Nation

It took long but the typical roles, responsibilities and habits of Indian women have been metamorphosed completely and creatively. They are walking hand in hand with men and in fact there is no such field where India women have not been able to make their mark. Today’s Indian woman is not only a daughter; she is also a social activist. She is not just a mother, but also a traveler. She isn't merely a homemaker but an entrepreneur too! She is not even scared of entering into the world's most challenging and creative fields. On the occasion of International Women’s Day, here is the list of my 5 favourite self-made Indian women who not only earned the name, fame, honors in their respective fields but also received the respect for their contribution for the welfare of the other Indian women.

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Laxmi-  Her life is an inspiration for many. India’s daughter, an acid attack survivor- Lakshmi is now a campaigner with Stop Acid Attacks and a TV host. Laxmi is the director of a NGO named Chhanv Foundation that is relentlessly working for the survivors of acid attacks in India. Recently Laxmi got International Women of Courage Honor by US First Lady Michelle Obama. She was also chosen as the NDTV Indian of the Year.

In 2005, Laxmi was attacked by a man with acid. Since then her life got changed completely, turned into a complete hell. But with her courage, will and perseverance, she crossed all the hurdles, fought the battles and came out as a true winner. 

Started working as a campaign coordinator, Lakshmi has now became a voice of the survivors of Acid Attacks across the world. Not only this brave girl has earned respect from all over the world but also the multiple awards for her work to control the sale of acid and to rehabilitate the survivors of acid attacks. Little she cares about her looks and now enjoys her stance as a strong woman.

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Rakhi Birla- Notoriously known as a dirty field, Indian politics has always been a tough profession for women. But still many came, survived and even ruled the game of power. After digging into the recent past of Indian politics, her inspiring candor and achievements made me to mention the new-age politician Rakhi Birla. Since beginning, this young politician minded her own business and with her hard-work, she has now made a strong stand for herself in politics.

The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) candidate from Mangolpuri, Delhi, Rakhi recently won the Vidhan Sabha elections by a good margin. In last time's Delhi polls, she also grabbed victory for her party. She is still a staunch member of party and working dedicatedly for the welfare of women and other important social issues.

Hailed from a family involved into social causes, Rakhi was the cabinet minister of Women & Child, Social Welfare and Languages in Delhi Government from Dec 28 2013 to Feb 14 2014. Before stepping into politics, the girl has also worked as a reporter. From her efforts, this young politician helped a lot to turn the negative response of Delhi voters into positive for her party. After facing toughest voter questions, she survived and managed to create a win-win situation for her party. Making her own stand and surviving so amazingly in politics is simply an achievement in itself.

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Shalu Sharma- Women of intellectual India have also stepped into blogging profession. Both in terms of acknowledgment as well as making money, they are doing well with this creative turf. Out of the lot, one is Shalu Shrama who named herself many achievements for her relentless tryst in travelling. 

Born and raised in Patna, Shalu is the founder of a popular travel blog called shalusharma.com -a guide to India, she writes about different travel destinations in India. With being a homemaker with children, she is also a writer, explorer, adventurer and a thinker. She is involved into a lot of outdoors activities, site seeing, travelling in and out of India. 

Shalu Sharma is also the creator of the social networking site of Bihar titled youbihar.com. Her love for Bihar has compelled to make her think. Analyze the state of Bihar!  And create her first website on Bihar. Today it is one of the biggest social networking sites of Bihar with over 12,000 members and still rising. Pursue your passion so passionately after marriage in India is really a Herculean task for a woman but with her unstoppable spirit, Shalu made her own way to success.

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Meenu Vadera- With the changing mindset of India, women are also trying their hands in different work areas for the welfare of their fellow Indian women. They have now new ideas, thoughts and business. A lady of substance, strength and brains, Meenu Vadera started Sakha, a cab service run by women for women, to offer safe cab and chauffeur services to women in Delhi by training women from marginalized communities as drivers.

A graduate from London School of Economics with an MSc in Social Policy & Planning, Meenu Vadera is working for women’s rights and development for a long time now. She has, over the years written and published articles on women’s rights in various magazines and books. Now her project Sakha is providing Delhi women an option of safe cab service and also enabling women to live a life of dignity and socio-economic freedom.

Sakha project is also helping women to come out from their home, abusive relationships and miserable conditions. It wants women to break their financial and emotional dependence on men. Showing women, especially those from unprivileged backgrounds, that there is another respectful and better way to live! Undoubtedly this by the women, of the women and for the women, Sakha organization of Meenu Vadera is incredible from all ways.  

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Kangana Ranaut-   2014 saw many women of Bollywood enjoying on cloud nine including Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, Priyanka Chopra, Rani Mukherjee, Ekta Kapoor but as correctly said by Kareena Kapoor, it was the year of actor Kangana Ranaut. 

Those who neither loved her nor did they ever pay attention to her hate page, have changed their mind finally after seeing her awe-struck performance in ‘Queen’. It has coerced them to put Kangana at a dais, so high, simply worth kudos! After bagging many accolades for ‘Queen’ including the best compliments from bigwigs like Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha, Deepika, Kangana has now in her kitty, an end number of offers from big production houses, banners and brands. 

Right from a 'small town girl' status, to a ‘loser in love’ jinx, to a regular fashion faux committer, to fading celeb allegations, such statements by paparazzi and critics trailed the actress almost at each step. But with her impudence and strong determination, the actress swam against a raging storm, survived all the odds and now, has left her contemporaries far behind. On the basis of her choices and power-packed acts in movies like ‘Gangster’, ‘Woh Lamhe’, ‘Tanu Weds Manu’, ‘Fashion’, ‘Queen', Kangana has entered into the list of top Bollywood heroines. 

Not just she has raised the bar so high for other actresses of her league; she has become the new Hero of the industry that too sans any godfather. With riding so high, reaching almost at the pinnacle, I still believe Kangana has a long way to go and she is here to stay, survive & shine like a star!