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Krishna Iyer award given to Sr. Alice

Special Correspondent

FOR EMPOWERING WOMEN: Former Delhi High Court Chief Justice Rajinder Sachar presenting the V.R. Krishna Iyer Human Rights Award to social worker Sr. Alice Lukose in the city on Friday. - Photo: Vipinchandran

KOCHI: Human rights campaigner and former Delhi High Court Chief Justice Rajinder Sachar presented the V.R. Krishna Iyer Human Rights Award to social worker Sr. Alice Lukose here on Friday.

The award was for Sr. Alice's work, over the past 16 years, for the empowerment of women fishworkers and their families in the Ernakulam-Alappuzha coastal belt. She is the founder director of Women's Initiative Network (WIN), which supports about 200 self-help groups of women fishworkers and their families.

Sr. Alice said she was accepting the award with trepidation as it would drastically raise people's expectation about WIN's work and also because, being a follower of the Christ, she was not expected to publicise her work.

Mr. Krishna Iyer recalled how Sr. Alice's organisation gave hope to the village women by inspiring them to join in collective action. Her work showed how Indian villagers could be freed from poverty and social handicaps. He recalled that a few years back, a model Bill on the rights of the girl child he and others had drafted had been presented to the then Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee. He had promised to put the Bill through Parliament and that was the last time anyone had heard of it.

Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Vijendra Jain said it was the work of persons like Sr. Alice that gave people hope about tomorrow. P.P. Rao and E.X. Joseph, senior lawyers, felicitated Sr. Alice.

The function was held at Krishna Iyer's home.

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