Current Affairs - India & World: Famous Indian Women

Famous Indian Women : Rukmini Devi Arundale

Rukmini Devi (1904 -1986) was an Indian dancer and choreographer of the Indian classical dance form of Bharatnatyam.
She was born in an upper class Brahmin family in Madurai.
In 1920 she married Dr.George Arundale, a prominent British Theosophist who was closely associated with Annie Besant.
During the 1930s Rukmini met Bharatnatyam by E. Krishna Iyer, founder-secretary of the Madras Music Academy.They fought a successful battle to save Bharatnatyam which seemed likely to be buried along with the disfavoured devadasi system as it was considered a low and vulgar art in the early 1920s and known as sadhir.

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Famous Indian Women : Anitha Desai

Anitha Desai is a world famous Indian novelist and Professor of Humanities at the MIT.
She was born in 1935 to a German mother and a Bengali father.
She was shortlisted three times for Booker prize and received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1978 for her novel - Fire on the Mountain.
Booker Prize-winning novelist Kiran Desai is the daughter of Anitha Desai.
Her famous books are In Custody, Clear Light of Day and Fasting, Feasting etc.

Famous Indian Women : Sonal Mansingh

Sonal Mansingh (born : 1944,Mumbai) is a prominent Indian classical dancer and choreographer of Odissi dancing.
She is a known social activist, thinker, researcher, orator, choreographer and teacher.
She is also proficient in other Indian classical dancing styles including Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi, and Chhau.
Over the 40 years of her career, she travelled all around the world and brought many awards for her talence.
She is a recipient of Padma Bhushan (1992), Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987,and the Padma Vibhushan in 2003

Famous Indian Women : Ela Bhatt

Ela Bhutt (born:1933,Ahmedabad) is a well known philanthropist and social worker of modern India.
She is the founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association of India (SEWA) in 1972.
As a women's trade union SEWA has empowered more than 1.3 marginalized women of India.

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Famous Indian Women : Karnam Malleswari

Malleswari was born in 1975 at Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh.
She is the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal,a bronze medal for weightlifting (69kg) in the 2000 Summer Olympics at Sydney.
She is a recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award (1995-96), India's highest sporting honour and Padma Shri in 1999.