Dr. Saurabh Suman is an Indian Agri researcher who was awarded the

Nari Shakti Puraskar The Nari Shakti Puraskar () is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. It is presented by the presi ...

. She leads an NGO that empowers women in Bihar. Suiman has also been involved in organising celebrations of Mahishasur martyrdom day.

Life

Suman was born in a

Kushwaha Kushwaha (sometimes Kushvaha), is a community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain that has traditionally been involved in agriculture, including beekeeping. The term has been used to represent different sub-castes of the Kachhis, Kachhvahas, Koeris ...

(

Koeri The Koeri (spelt as Koiry or Koiri), also referred to as Kushwaha and more recently self-described as Maurya in several parts of northern India are an Indian non-elite caste, found largely in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, whose traditional oc ...

) family of Bihar, but was raised in a

Dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...

family. In 1980 her father, Kameshwar Singh Mahto, was arrested and sentenced to death for murder. This was later commuted. She studied at the

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Research university, research university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Kh ...

where she studied agricultural science, but later decided to become involved in social work. Suman became the secretary of the NGO, Bihar Seva Sansthan. The organisation focuses its work on the distract around the city of Nawada but is interested in

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

as well. With her leadership Bihar Seva Sansthan organised courses in information technology and mobile phones for women and she arranged for women to take part in agricultural research for the

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national List of government space agencies, space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), ...

(ISRO). She has been involved in organising celebrations of Mahishasur martyrdom day. This can be a controversial celebration. In 2016 Suman went to New Delhi where she was awarded the highest award for women in India, the

. The awards were made by President

Pranab Mukherjee Pranab Kumar Mukherjee ( ; born, 11 December 1935 – 31 August 2020) was an Indian statesman who served as the president of India from 2012 until 2017. He was the first person from West Bengal to hold the post of President of India. In a pol ...

at the presidential palace (

Rashtrapati Bhavan The Rashtrapati Bhavan (, ISO: ''Rāṣṭrapati Bhavana''; ; formerly Viceroy's House (1931–1947) and Government House (1947–1950)) is the official residence of the President of the Republic of India at the western end of Rajpath, Rai ...

). The ministry for Women and Child Development had organised the event and the WDC Minister

Maneka Gandhi Maneka Gandhi (also spelled Menaka; ''née'' Anand) (born 26 August 1956) is an Indian politician, animal rights activist, and environmentalist. She served as a member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, and is a member ...

was present as well as the Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

. In 2018 Suman was accused by men who had killed Locan RJD Leader Kailash Paswan as being the person who paid them to commit the murder. No evidence was cited. Suman surrendered herself to the court noting that she had been framed and that she had not paid these men with land and money to kill Paswan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suman, Saurabh Living people Indian agronomists People from Nawada district Year of birth missing (living people) Aligarh Muslim University alumni