Rangu Souriya is an Indian activist and social worker for women and children. She is the founder of Kanchanjunga Uddhar Kendra, a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

based in

Siliguri Siliguri (, ; ), also known as Shiliguri, is a major Tier ii cities in india, tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms the twin cities, Twin Cities with the neighbouring city of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeel ...

, dedicated to helping victims of

sex trafficking Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Perpetrators of the crime are called sex traffickers or pimps—people who manipulate victims to engage in various forms of commercial sex with paying customers. Se ...

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a city in the northernmost region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the Koshi Pr ...

North East India Northeast India, officially the North Eastern Region (NER), is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political administrative division of the country. It comprises eight states—Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, M ...

and Nepal. She was awarded the

Godfrey Phillips National Bravery Awards The Godfrey Phillips National Bravery Awards (formerly: Red and White Bravery Awards) is a surrogate tobacco brand promotional activity of Godfrey Phillips India, instituted in 1990, as a PR campaign to promote its cigarette brand "Red and Wh ...

in 2011.

Work

In 2004, Souriya went to Kathmandu to seek guidance from

Anuradha Koirala Anuradha Koirala (born Anuradha Gurung on 14 April 1949) is a social activist and the founder of Maiti Nepal, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping victims of slavery, sex trafficking. She was appointed as 1st Governor of Bagmati Provi ...

and team

Maiti Nepal Maiti Nepal () is a non-profit organization in Nepal dedicated to helping the victims of human trafficking. Currently, it operates a rehabilitation home in Kathmandu, transit homes at the Indo-Nepal border towns, preventive homes in the countrysi ...

. After interacting and learning from them, she came back to Darjeeling and started Kanchanjunga Uddhar Kendra. Since then she and others at the NGO have rescued more than 1100 girls from cities like Patna, Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata.

Recognition

Souriya received the Godfrey Phillips National Bravery Award in 2011 and was recognised with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry's Women Achievers' Award in 2009. In addition, she has been honoured by more than 20 regional organisations for her services. In January 2016, she was listed as part of the 100 Women Initiative of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (India) that aims to recognise and acknowledge 100 women who are making a difference in their communities across the country,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Souriya, Rangu Living people Activists from West Bengal Human trafficking in India People from Darjeeling district Social workers from West Bengal Women educators from West Bengal Educators from West Bengal 20th-century Indian educational theorists 20th-century Indian women scientists Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Indian women educators 20th-century Indian educators

Work

Recognition

See also

References