Gargi Gupta

Indian social worker

Gargi Gupta
Gargi Gupta Awardee of Nari Shakti Puraskar on 8 March 2018 at Rastrapati Bhavan
Born	Gargi (1961-07-19) 19 July 1961 (age 62) Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Social worker
Years active	1992–present
Known for	Founder of Voice Of World (NGO)^[1]
Parent(s)	Prabir Gupta (father)^[2] Pranati Gupta(mother)
Awards	Nari Shakti Puraskar^[3]

Gargi Gupta is the founder and secretary of Voice Of World (NGO), a multi-unit non-profit organization for visually impaired, disabled, and orphaned children^[1] in Eastern India, headquartered in Kolkata, India.

Life

Gupta was born in West Bengal. She finished her schooling at Kolkata and joined the Indian Railways. The city's street children were her first introduction to the conditions of the poor after the death of her parents.^{[citation needed]}

Gupta started her work with six children in her father's rented house in North Kolkata. In 2018 the number of inmates was 300.^[4] It is the only privately run facility of its kind.^[2] Voice of World started its South Kolkata Centre in 1998 in another house of Prabir Gupta. Residential Kindergarten School, Braille Press^[2] and the library is located there.

In recognition of her services, Indian President Ramnath Kovind awarded Gupta with the Nari Shakti (women empowerment) award on 8 March 2018.

The charity

Voice Of World's inmates are orphan or from under-privileged families. Along with their free education they experience various sports including mountaineering and trekking.^[5] In 2018 she introduced coastal trek for disabled inmates.^[1] After completion of education of inmates, she and her NGO take care of rehabilitation of inmates, especially visually disabled girls.^[6]^[7]

Major works

1992 She founded 'Voice of World' NGO which works for visually impaired and disabled orphaned children in Eastern India.^[8]
1997 Started residential facility for 300 residential and 3000 non residential beneficiaries.^[8]
2001 developed transliteration software to transfer Bengali word documents in to Braille.^[8]
Set up a home in Rishra for visually disabled women pursuing Higher Education^[8]
Her NGO runs a Teachers training college where disabled students get scholarship^[8]

Awards and honours

8 March 2018: Nari Shakti Puraskar (Women Power Award), highest civilian award for women in India.^[9]^[3]^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Mitra, Dipawali (23 February 2018). "Walk by the sea, laughing all the way". Retrieved 12 November 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c "ইচ্ছেডানায় হাজার আলো জ্বালাচ্ছেন গার্গী". 1 April 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Nari Shakti Puraskar". TOI. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
^ "নারীদিবসে বিরল সম্মান কলকাতার! আলো দেখালেন এই বাঙালি নারী". 12 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
^ "পর্বতারোহন করছেন পশ্চিমবঙ্গের দৃষ্টিহীন শিক্ষার্থীরা". 1 February 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
^ "Made in heaven: Two love stories deeper than what meets the eyes - Times of India". The Times of India. 12 March 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
^ "দৃষ্টিহীন দুই বন্ধুর বিয়ে দেখল কলকাতা". 12 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Ministry of Women and Child Development Nari Shakti Awardees 2017" (PDF). Retrieved 12 March 2018.
^ "Infographic: Nari Shakti Puraskar - Times of India". The Times of India. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
^ "Maharashtra's Sindhutai Sapkal, Urmila Apte to be honoured with Naari Shakti 2017 awards". 7 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.