STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: The Catholic Social Service Society (CSSS) celebrated triumph of woman power by conferring awards to woman achievers in a function held at Maitri Bhawan in Smailpur.
Shahnaz Akthar, Deputy Director, Rural Development was the Chief Guest while Rev. Fr. Jose Vadakkel, the Vice President of CSSS was the Guest of Honour. Other dignitaries and noted personalities from the administration and civil society who graced the event included Yashpal Singh Jamwal, SHO Bari Brahmana, Aijaz Qaisar, BDO Parmandal, Dr. Nancy Mengi, Central University; Dr. Ashwini Jojra of Sahyog India; Rena Sanyal of DAJI and Gurmeet Singh.
Fr. Shaiju Chacko, the Director threw light on the activities of the society which is working in more than 150 villages.
The prestigious Women of Excellence awards instituted by CSSS to recognise the women of Jammu for their exemplary contribution to society in their respective fields were conferred to Shakti Devi Sharma, SHO, City Police Station, Jammu; Dr. Renu Nanda, HoD Department of Education, University of Jammu and Prof Ruth Gill, Associate Professor at GGM College Jammu. CSSS also gave special recognition to best performing Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in all its units.
A debate competition on the topic of Gender Violence was also held which witnessed participation from multiple institutions across the State namely Govt. Degree College Kathua, Govt. Women’s College, Kathua, Department of Social Work, Central University of Jammu and St. Peter’s Higher Secondary School, Karan Bagh, Jammu.
Anita Rampal and Rajkumari Vats moderated and anchored the debate while Rakhee Kohli, Supervisor ICDS, R S Pura and Poonam Makhnotra, Accounts Officer at Agricultural University formed the evaluation panel. Baljinder Kour of Central University and Tanvi Mahajan of Govt. Degree College, Kathua were adjudged best speaker for and against the motion respectively, while Simran Kour of St. Peter’s Hr. Sec. School won the price for best overall speaker.
Fr Jose Vadakkel laid stress on the invaluable contribution of women in the society. Chief Guest, Shahnaz Akthar stressed the need for stronger SHGs to organise and strengthen women in villages. The vote of thanks was presented by Sr. Ruby Joseph.
