President to felicitate 112 ‘first ladies’

When Manju Yadav lost her husband who worked as a “coolie” (porter), she was left with three children and no source of income. Staring at a bleak future at her home in Sundarpura village in Jaipur district of Rajasthan, Manju resolved to shun the ‘ghoonghat’ and challenge the stereotype to follow her late husband’s footstep.

Her decision to become a ‘coolie’ came as a shock to her family and community for no one had even remotely heard of a woman in that role before. Five years on, the 35-year-old has not just made a mark for herself but also set a benchmark for women who are fighting poverty and patriarchy.

On Saturday, she will be one of the 112 women to be felicitated by President Ram Nath Kovind as “First Ladies” (for being the first in their respective fields). From the first woman Sarpanch with an MBA, a woman MLA who showed the way by setting up the first digital bank for sanitary napkins to the first women pilots in the Indian Air Force, women achievers from various walks of life will converge in the national capital as role models for empowerment under an initiative of the ministry of women and child development.


When TOI reached out to Manju Yadav on Wednesday evening, she was at Jaipur station reaching out to passengers. “On some days, one makes anywhere between Rs 200-300 and then there are days like today (Wednesday) when I am yet to earn anything,” she said. Her children – two daughters and a sonstudy in Jaipur and she also pays rent for the house.

When she started as a porter, it was tougher. “It is hard work and earlier people would wonder if I could carry their luggage. My answer used to be that if a woman can pick up a pot of water on her head, it is possible to carry luggage too,” she said.

All the 112 women are stories of change-makers.