Urmi Basu is a gender rights activist who has a degree in social work. In 2000, Urmi founded the organization, New Light, a registered charity started in Kolkata that looks after sex workers and their children. She has been working for women’s rights and the rights of marginalized people for 25 years. Urmi sees herself as a warrior for compassion, peace, and love.
Urmi received the Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2018, an award from the Indian Ministry of Women and Child Development to women or institutions working to advance the empowerment of women. In this episode, Urmi discusses what inspired her to launch New Light as a young mother, using her own money and a contribution from a friend, to begin helping women working in the red-light district in Kolkata by caring for their children… expanding services over the years, providing safe shelter, nutritional support, recreational facilities, medical coverage and medical insurance for children… then, adding care for the women, offering HIV-care, nutritional support, family planning advice, medical care, legal aid, and community awareness programs… fighting gender -based violence… protecting young girls from being trafficked… community support for her work and for the work of New Light... the importance of patience… the honor of being awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar and the opportunity to visit the Rastropati Bhavan with 49 other Indian women chosen from all walks of life… the influence of her politically parents early in her life and their message to speak up in the face of injustice… why she describes herself as “a warrior for compassion, peace, and love”… the importance of listening to other women and taking lessons from their examples.
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