The Sarojini Naidu Prize

For Best Reporting of Women in Panchayati Raj

Sarojini Naidu (1879–1949) was a poet of repute and an orator and was popularly known as the "Nightingale of India". A close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, she was a prominent leader of the freedom movement and was president of the Indian National Congress in 1925. After independence, she became the first woman governor of an Indian state. Click here for highlights from each year's events!

The press plays a critical role in India. Throughout the twentieth century, India’s media have participated in the Freedom Movement, generated response to famine and disaster, and strengthened Indian democracy. India’s new constitutional commitment to women’s leadership in panchayati raj is the next unfolding of human freedom and development in India.

It is time for the press to make another important contribution. Only through accurate and increased coverage of the historic process of women’s participation in panchayati raj — including their battles to achieve hard-won successes — can the mind-set of cynicism be broken and the conspiracy to undermine panchayati raj be halted.

Given the critical role of the press in this historic process, The Hunger Project is committed to supporting and encouraging the press to energetically and prominently report the breakthroughs and success stories of women’s leadership in panchayati raj.

The Sarojini Naidu Prize will annually honour three journalists for outstanding reporting on women in panchayati raj. The awards will be presented in each of three categories:

Cash award: Each prize will include a Rs 2 lakhs cash award to enable the reporter to continue his or her work on this issue.

October 2: In recognition of the importance placed by Mahatma Gandhi on panchayati raj and the full participation of women in public life, the award will be presented on Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday each year in New Delhi, beginning on 2 October 2001.