On Monday, the biggest ben of Ahmedabad Elaben Bhatt, founder of Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), was honoured the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development 2011 by President Pranab Mukherjee for her lifetime achievements in empowering women through grassroots entrepreneurship prize for 2011 at Rashtrapati Bhawan in presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The prize which carries an authority and a cash award of Rs 25 lakh.

Bhatt expressed that she feels overwhelmed to be recognized by her own country, her own people  and that it's not only a honour for her but also for her Sewa sisters.

She added on through her powerful saying, that certainly, absence of war is not peace. Peace is what keeps war away but it is more than that; peace disarms and renders war useless and that Peace is a condition enjoyed by a fair and fertile society. Peace is about restoring the balance in society; only then it is lasting peace. She also stresses on the fact that if food, shelter, clothing, primary education, primary healthcare and primary banking are locally produced and consumed, then we will have the growth of a new holistic economy, that the world will sit up and take notice.

She is so powerful source for inspiring and outshining the nations prosperity!

(AW:Samrat Biswas)