More women should join forces: Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena 

Celebrating the International Women’s Week 2021 Amity Women Help Desk, under the aegis of Amity University Uttar Pradesh held a colloquium on ‘Achieving Milestones: Grace, Glory and Generosity’ with many eminent guest speakers.  
Welcoming the gathering, Prof. Nirupama Prakash Chairperson, Amity Women Help Desk urged participants to make the International Women’s week as their own week and do everything to make a positive difference for women. Every year it is celebrated to highlight women-related issues and to mark the political, economic, and social achievements of women.

Chief Guest on the occasion, Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena, IAF congratulated Amity for celebrating International Women’s week. She said that Grace, Glory, and Generosity are interlinked to each other and its root lie in knowledge & one’s good up- brining. She advised students to stay motivated, positive and believe in one self because self-belief is the quality that is very essential in life and gender-neutral. She called upon students not to quit whenever there are ups and downs in life, rather work hard and chase your dreams. For achieving, anything there should be a perfect combination of aptitude, ability, and right attitude. She encouraged more women to join forces wherein tough training make one realize her inner strength, mental strength which gets tested during training and helps one get over crisis and difficult situations.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. (Dr.) Balvinder Shukla, Vice-Chancellor, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh said that In India’s culture women have always been at the center stage. Women were always respected and regarded but nowadays with the scenario changing, we are talking about women empowerment wherein women need to support each other. She added, crimes can reduce substantially if there is gender sensitization amongst males and we groom our boys at home.  Education can change your destiny, future and future generations and is the best gift that a father can give to his daughter, said Dr. Shukla.
Ms. Janak Palta McGilligan, Padma Shri recipient in Social Work, 2015 averred that whatever she has achieved in her life is because of her family. She advised students should read Earth summit’s agenda 21. She also said that if people have followed Earth Summit’s Agenda 21, which talks about equality of women and how less inequality due to mental exploitation of women can be dealt with. She redefined sustainable development for women to be self-reliant and make sustainable choice by not discriminating between genders at home. She also called upon people to develop good relationship with neighbors, build confidence and affection towards each other, thereby leading to secured homes.

During the thematic session Dr. Shewli Kumar, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai briefed on the topic experiencing the joy of generosity: holding hands for a better society and said that caste system is still in our country and we all have to come together to fight against it.

The colloquium deliberated on topics Changing the Narrative: Women Entrepreneurship & Leadership, Choose to Challenge for Change; Action for Equality addressed by eminent personalities such as Dr. Bindu, President, All India Women Development and Training Society, Ms. Suneeta Sodhi Kanga, Trainer, Mentor, Coach, Resource and Facilitator.