SPEECH OF HON'BLE GOVERNOR PUNJAB AND ADMINISTRATOR UT CHANDIGARH SHRI BANWARILAL PUROHIT ON THE OCCASION OF INAUGURATION OF AUDITORIUM IN RANI LAKSHMI BAI MAHILA BHAWAN AT SECTOR 38 CHANDIGARH ON NOVEMBER 8, 2021

I am happy to be here this evening to inaugurate the Auditorium equipped with latest technologies in the Rani Lakshmi Bai Mahila Bhawan created by the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh.

Whenever I speak on women, the word ?Women Empowerment? comes to my mind automatically. Women empowerment itself implies that women are not powerful enough - they need to be empowered; where as in my opinion, no woman can be empowered until she is financially independent and self reliant. Gone are the days when women had to be dependent on their fathers or husbands to get things that they wanted. From the 20th century onwards women got more opportunities to join the workforce.

Women empowerment cannot be successful if women from each section of the society are empowered. After the onset of the 21st century, women belonging to the grassroots level have found many vocational works that were only reserved for men. Today there are many female masons, bus drivers, petrol pump attendants, farmers etc. And all these women are doing their job extremely well. Undoubtedly women are making their presence felt on the earth as well as on the space. Sky is the limit for them now.

Women shouldered critical responsibilities even in India's struggle for freedom. The history of Indian Freedom Struggle would be incomplete without mentioning the contributions of women. The sacrifice made by the women of India will occupy the foremost place. They fought with true spirit and undaunted courage and faced various tortures, exploitations and hardships to earn us freedom.

The role played by women in the War of Independence (the Great Revolt) of 1857 was creditable and invited the admiration even leaders of the Revolt. Rani of Ramgarh, Rani Jindan Kaur, Rani Tace Bai, Baiza Bai, Chauhan Rani, Tapasvini Maharani daringly led their troops into the battle field.

Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi, whose heroism and superb leadership laid an outstanding example of real patriotism. Much later, when in 1915 when Gandhi Ji returned to India from South Africa and took up the demand for self-rule and non-cooperation movement against the British Rule. Sarla Devi, Muthulaxmi Reddy, Susheela Nair, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Sucheta Kripalani and Aruna Asaf Ali are some the women who actively participated in the non-violent movement.

I am so happy to see the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh itself headed by a woman is doing its bit towards this cause of women empowerment and getting the much needed Auditorium in Rani Lakshmi Bai Mahila Bhawan inaugurated.

I am told that the structure of the auditorium building spread over in 1.3 acres was constructed in the year of 2015 and now to make it functional, the furnishing work has been carried out with state of art facilities. The main objective of this Auditorium is to promote cultural and traditional activities particularly in Southern Sectors of the city. To make it more useful and viable the 2nd floor of this building has been given to various Academies of Chandigarh for performing Art and Incubation Centre namely Chandigarh Lalit Kala Academy, Chandigarh Sahitya Academy and Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Academy. In addition to these live stage performances, live display with Projector and Screen, State of Art Hi - Fi Sound and Lighting System will also be there.

I congratulate the MC for creating this highly innovative, thoughtful and modern auditorium which is going to be the hub of socio-cultural activities in future.

Thank You

Jai Hind.