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Award presented to Sugathakumari

Staff Reporter

CONTRIBUTIONS RECOGNISED: The former Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court K.K. Usha presenting the Streesakti award to poet Sugathakumari at the Ernakulam Public Library on Friday.

KOCHI: The majority of women in the present generation lack the courage to take up social fights and stand up against atrocities, said poet Sugathakumari. She was speaking after accepting the Streesakti award, instituted by the Streesakti Trust in memory of freedom fighter K.A. Kunjila.

Social movements against vices like liquor and dowry have been repeatedly failing, amidst which there are isolated good news like demolitions at Munnar.

"We are finding it hard to educate young girls in our institutions. Funds come only on communal basis, secular movements are nobody's children," she said.

"Women are being treated as a commodity - the situation is the same across the world. I have been telling Adivasi women to arm themselves, as neither the police nor the court can help them against atrocities," Sugathakumari said. The former Chief Justice of Kerala High Court K.K. Usha presented the award. Senior journalist Leela Menon; social activist Beena Sebastian; Corporation councillor P.K. Krishnakumar; and Roby Kannanchira, director of Chavara Cultural Centre, spoke.

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