MUMBAI: Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury presented the ‘Woman of the Year’ award to Naseema Mohd Amin Hurzuk in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Hurzuk is the founder of Helpers of the Handicapped, Kolhapur, an NGO that educates differently-abled people and provides vocational training.
This annual award is presented by the IMC Ladies’ Wing to women who have empowered certain segments of society and contributed to their development.
Hurzuk said on the occasion, “Today most supporting divisions in various centres of our organisation are headed by women. There are 45 lakh handicapped people across Maharashtra alone.” She urged the government to grant tax exemption for goods produced and processed by handicapped workers.
Renuka Chowdhury felicitated Hurzuk and said she felt humbled by her speech. “It is one thing to ideate and quite another to implement a difficult task. Naseema has managed to do this. She spoke little about what she herself has done but dwelt at length about the work people from her centres have done.”
The outgoing president of the IMC Ladies Wing, Darshana Doshi, said, “The Woman of the Year award epitomizes the indomitable spirit of Naseema Hurzuk. It encourages all women to rise above their problems and strive for success. In this changing world women will have to adapt to changing conditions.” The jury members who chose the winner were Tarjani Vakil, Pradip Shah and Malavika Sangghvi.
