Shamshad Begum is an Indian social worker, known for her efforts towards the education of backward communities of Chhattisgarh such as the

Scheduled Caste The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

Scheduled Tribe The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

and other backward communities. She was honoured by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

, in 2012, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

Biography

Shamshad Begum comes from

Balod district Balod district of Chhattisgarh state has its headquarters at Balod. It has District & Sessions Court which was inaugurated on 2 October 2013 by Hon'ble Shri Justice Sunil Kumar Sinha: Judge, Chhattisgarh High Court. Shri Deepak Kumar Tiwari is j ...

(formerly a part of the undivided

Durg Durg is a city in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, east of the Shivnath River and is part of the Durg-Bhilai urban agglomeration. With an urban population of 1,064,077, Durg-Bhilai is the second largest urban area in Chhattisgarh after Raipur ...

) in the Indian state of

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prade ...

. As the president of a small village society operating in Gunderdehi block, Begum had an opportunity to get associated with the

National Literacy Mission Programme National Education Mission (Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan) was launched in 2018. It was allocated a budget of in 2019 Interim Union Budget of India. Samagra Shiksha is an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school ...

of the Government of India and this paved the way for her entry into social service. It is reported that within six months of the launching of the Mission activities in Gunderdehi in 1995, Begum and her colleagues were able to make 12,269 women literate, out of the total 18265 illiterate women. Begum carried on with her social work even after the campaign activities ended and took up other social causes such as fighting against illegal land encroachments and closing down of liquor shops. It is reported that Begum was successful in setting up 1041 self-help groups in Balod district. These groups, with their small savings, have accumulated a corpus from where needy members can avail loans for domestic emergencies. The total savings of these groups are reported to have exceeded 2 million. The groups have since established cottage industries such as soap making and making wheels for bullock carts. They have also set up a ''Mahila Bhavan''. Shamshad Begum is associated with ''Sahyogi Jankalyan Samiti'', a social welfare group, involved education and welfare activities of women and children. She has also been associated with

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is an apex regulatory body for overall regulation of regional rural banks and apex cooperative banks in India. It is under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Finance, Government of India ...

(NABARD) for training of women in leadership skills and creating awareness against sex discrimination, prevention of child marriages and molestation. Shamshad Begum was honored by the

in 2012 with the award of

References

External links

* * Received Bhagwan Mahaveer Award in Community & Social Service in 2016. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Begum, Shamshad Living people Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work People from Balod district Indian women's rights activists 20th-century Indian women educational theorists 20th-century Indian women scientists 20th-century Indian educational theorists Women scientists from Chhattisgarh Social workers from Chhattisgarh Adivasi activists Women educators from Chhattisgarh Educators from Chhattisgarh Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Indian women educators 20th-century Indian educators