NL Beno Zephine

#33/100 in #100extraordinarywomen

NL Beno Zephine is an Indian Diplomat, who is the first 100% visually challenged Indian Foreign Service Officer. Born on 17 April 1990 in Chennai, India to Luke Anthony Charles, an employee of Indian Railways and Mary Padmaja, a home maker, she did her schooling in Little Flower Convent Higher Secondary school for the blind in Chennai, obtained under graduation in English literature from Stella Maris College, Chennai, and further did her post graduation in Loyola College, Chennai.

At the age of 25 years, she created history by becoming the country’s first 100 percent visually challenged Indian Foreign Services (IFS) officer. She had cleared her exam in 2014 but she got her posting only on 12 June 2015. Ever since Zephine received the news from the government of securing the 343rd rank in the Civil Services Examination, she has been busy giving motivational speeches and addressing students across the state. Having gone through all the difficulties and finally emerging as a winner, Zephine advises other people with disabilities to never give up on their dreams and utilise the resources available to them. A post-graduate in English from Madras University, Beno worked as a probationary worker at State Bank of India. But one phone call from the Ministry of External Affairs, who called to confirm her selection in IFS, changed her life forever. A socially active person from childhood, Beno always gave a piece of her mind to those who would leave the taps on and waste water. Her friends and family would call her a “collector” because of her quality to stand for what she believed in.

Visually impaired since birth, Zephine never let her disability come in her way of achieving her dreams. Moreover, an extremely supportive family, friends and teachers made her reach the place where she is today. As there is not enough study material available in Braille, her family and friends read for long hours to help her prepare for her exams. While her father fulfilled her desire of getting any book she required, her mother helped her extensively in the reading process. She also used Job Access With Speech (JAWS), a software that allows the visually challenged to read from a computer screen. The software can be used on a smartphone too. An active student throughout, Zephine participated in various debate and extempore competitions in school and is looking forward to now speaking as a diplomat.

"It is vitally important to discard disability from the mind," she said. Kudos to the girl who has proved that nothing can beat strong determination and hard work. 

Source: Google search

Captain Radhika Menon

#32/100 in #100extraordinarywomen

Captain Radhika Menon will become the first woman in the world to receive the Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). Master of the oil products tanker Sampurna Swarajya, she rescued the lives of seven fishermen in the Bay of Bengal last June, and will receive the award at a ceremony at IMO Headquarters on November 21.

After engine failure and loss of anchor because of harsh sea weather, the fishing boat ‘Durgamma’ was caught in a storm. It had drifted from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh to Gopalpur in Odisha and the seven fishermen onboard were surviving on ice from the cold storage because their food supplies had been washed away. They had lost all hopes of rescue. Radhika Menon was at the helm of the oil tanker Sampurna Swarajya and spotted the vessel 2.5 km away. “Through wave heights of more than 25 feet, winds of more than 60 knots and heavy rain, on 22 June, the second officer on the Sampurna Swarajya spotted the boat 2.5 kilometres away, off the coast of Gopalpur, Odisha. Captain Menon immediately ordered a rescue operation, utilising the pilot ladder and with life jackets on standby,” the Shipping Ministry said in a statement. After three arduous attempts in the lashing wind and rain and heavy swells before all seven weak and starving fishermen, aged between 15 and 50 years, were brought to safety. The fishermen’s families had believed that they were lost at sea and were preparing for their last rites when they received a call about the rescue. They were reunited with their loved ones a few days later.

“It is a maritime obligation to save souls in distress at sea and, as a seafarer and master in command of my ship, I just did my duty,” she told the press. IMO is the United Nations specialised agency, which is responsible for the safety of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution by ships. This annual Award was established by IMO to provide international recognition for those who, at the risk of losing their own life, perform acts of exceptional bravery, displaying outstanding courage in attempting to save life at sea or in attempting to prevent or mitigate damage to the marine environment. Nominations are scrutinized by an Assessment Panel made up of members of non governmental organizations in consultative status with IMO, under the chairmanship of the Secretary-General. Subsequently, a Panel of Judges meets (under the chairmanship of the Chairman of the Council, with the participation of the Chairmen of the Maritime Safety Committee, the Marine Environment Protection Committee, the Legal Committee, the Technical Cooperation Committee and the Facilitation Committee) to consider the recommendations of the Assessment Panel and to select the recipient of the Award. There are three categories of honour: first, the Award itself, for the nominee judged to have performed the most outstanding act of bravery from among those described. Secondly, Certificates of Commendation are awarded to nominees who have committed acts of extraordinary bravery. And, thirdly, Letters of Commendation are sent to those nominees who are judged to deserve some special recognition for meritorious actions.

The recipient of the Award is invited to a special ceremony at IMO to receive a medal and a certificate citing the act of exceptional bravery performed. The Awards ceremony is expected to take place at IMO Headquarters, on 21 November, at the end of the first day of the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC). Captain Menon was nominated by the Government of India and the IMO Council, meeting for its 116th session in London, shared the decision that Captain Menon displayed great determination and courage in leading the difficult rescue operation.

A resident Kodungallur in Kerala, she became the first woman to captain a ship of the Indian Merchant Navy five years ago. She did a one-and-a-half year radio course at the All India Marine College in Kochi before she became a radio officer in Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), the first woman to do so in India.

Source: Various news stories published about the IMO award for Capt. Menon

Hilary Devey

#31/100 in #100extraordinarywomen

“Never one to give up, I have successfully overcome every hurdle obstructing my way and am living proof that if you really set your mind to do something, you can achieve amazing results.” These are the words of the award winning Entrepreneur Hilary Devey CBE who is the inspirational Founder, CEO and Chairman of The Pall-Ex Group. An outstanding role model for entrepreneurs, she has driven her company to an international market-leading position which boasts an annual turnover of more than £100million.

Those who know about her, know her more as a TV personality. But before she became a TV personality, she overcame many a personal battles to reach a position that deserves a mention. Nobody could accuse former BBC Dragon and multi-millionaire freight entrepreneur Hilary Devey of having success handed to her on a plate. The Bolton native left school at 16 before taking on a range of jobs, including a short stint in the Woman's RAF. While working as a clerk at a freight delivery firm, she overheard one of the drivers complain that he would have to wait until morning to fill his lorry with enough cargo to justify driving to his destination. This inspired her to found freight distributing company Pall-Ex in 1996, which got drivers to pool their freight, making distribution quicker and easier. 

Hilary, born on 10 March 1957, grew up in Bolton, Lancashire and, as a seven-year-old child, witnessed the results of the bankruptcy of her father, who had owned a central heating company, when bailiffs removed furniture and household goods from the family home. Her father then earned a living managing pubs and hotels. “My father inspired me the most, because he lost everything, rebuilt from scratch, and still managed to provide for his family,” she said. “He'd originally grown a very large central heating company, where he employed some 300 people at its peak. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse – I can remember the bailiffs coming to the house and taking our possessions. Despite this, he was able to get into another business and provide a good living for us all. His mantra was always, 'One door closes and another one opens'. He was a born optimist.”

When she had the idea for Pall-Ex, she knew she would need capital to get it up and running. She needed £112,000 to get going. However, she was turned down by the bank, despite going to them with a business plan so accurate it traded pound for pound and pallet for pallet. She says that the bank manager was a bit of a misogynist. He patted her on the head and said she had no chance. He told her one in every three businesses fail. So she should just go home and look after the child. After being refused funding, she sold her house and car to finance the business, which ultimately netted Hilary her first million at the age of 40. Launched in 1996, Pall-Ex was the third palletised goods distribution network to be launched in the UK. It was based on the well-established hub and spoke express parcels distribution model - this form of pallet network was pioneered by Palletline in 1992. Today, despite having started from nothing, she has grown the company into an international network with a combined turnover of over £100m. Pall-Ex makes daily deliveries to every UK postcode as well as operating a scheduled daily service to 38 European countries with further current expansion planned across Europe. Both Hilary and her company have achieved an impressive array of firsts within the logistics sector.

Thrice-divorced, Hilary has one son. In 2011, Hilary was involved in a struggle to help her 24-year-old son, Mevlit Brewster-Ahmet overcome a seven-year drug addiction. She commented: "The hardest work I've ever done is pulling my son back from the grip of heroin." On 28 October 2012, Hilary spoke on BBC Radio 4 about her family sorrow. Her mother found out, only years after getting together with her father, that he already had a wife and four children. Years later, history repeated itself when Hilary, herself discovered that her ex-partner was also already married with five children.

In 2009, she made history as the first woman to win the prestigious Sir Robert Lawrence award for her contribution to the logistics and transport profession. In 2013, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her services to the transportation industry and to charity. Hilary was awarded the Vitalise Woman of the Year Award in 2008, and an Honorary Doctorate of Law by the University of Leicester in 2010 for her services to industry. Other UK domestic awards have included the Personality of the Year in the International Freight Weekly Awards for 2010. In July 2012, Hilary was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Business Administration by the University of Bolton for services to business. On 16 April 2014, Hilary was also awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Business Administration from the University of Wolverhampton. Hilary is an ambassador of the British Citizen Awards, a ceremony held bi-annually to reward everyday individuals and their contribution to society.

She has also had a varied TV career, going undercover on the Secret Millionaire where she donated more than £70,000 to the Back Door Music Project and the Syke Community Centre in Rochdale. In March 2010, she was the presenter of The Business Inspector for Channel 5, a four-part documentary series which saw her use her business acumen and expertise to help transform struggling small businesses into successful profitable companies. She appeared on two series of Dragons' Den following the departure of James Caan. In September 2012, she presented her final programme for BBC Two, a mini-series called Hilary Devey's Women at the Top, a joint Open University and BBC Two production. More recently, she gave young people a chance to win their dream job on The Intern, and appeared on Running the Shop, where she supervised staff taking over a business while their boss was away.

Nowadays, Hilary campaigns tirelessly for various charities including The Carers Trust for whom she became Vice President in 2012. In addition, she is Patron for The Stroke Association and Fresh Start – New Beginnings. 

Source: Google search and Wikipedia.

Rani Rampal

#30/100 in #100extraordinarywomen

Rani Rampal is an Indian field hockey player. At the age of 15, she was the youngest player in the national team which participated in the 2010 World Cup.

Rani was born on 4 December 1994 in Shahabad, Markanda, a mofussil town of 45,000 inhabitants in the Kurukshetra district of Haryana, to a poor family. Shahabad is to women’s hockey what Sansarpur in Jalandhar once was to men’s hockey, or to the cricket-minded, what Mumbai has been to the Indian team. About 45 players have represented India at senior and junior levels, and Rani is one of them. Her father works as a cart-puller (actually he owns a horse cart). She took to field hockey in 2003 and trained at the Shahbad Hockey Academy under Baldev Singh, a recipient of Dronacharya Award. As she started to play professionally, GoSports Foundation, a sports non-governmental organization provided her with monetary and non-monetary support as her family found it hard to support her dreams financially.

Unlike the men of Sansarpur and Mumbai, Shahabad’s daughters including Rani, in this land of khap panchayats, have broken a seemingly impenetrable glass ceiling too. They have chosen to step out of the four walls, wear shorts and skirts, and take up a pursuit mostly reserved for men. Thanks to their determination and achievements, this way of life is now — willingly or grudgingly — accepted. There’s hope that soon it will probably be celebrated even. For, the women’s hockey team await the confirmation of their maiden qualification to the 2016 Olympics, due to come in October. And India stands on the cusp of history, courtesy the stick of the supremely gifted Rani Rampal. In the World Hockey League semifinals in Belgium earlier this month, she scored the equaliser and the final sudden-death goal in a must-win match against Italy, before scoring the winner against Japan in the last do-or-die encounter. Her decisive interventions meant India finished fifth, which was good enough to all but make the Rio Games.

Rani played in the Champion's Challenge Tournament held in Kazan, Russia in June 2009 and empowered India to a win by scoring 4 goals in the finals. She was adjudged “The Top Goal Scorer” and the “Young Player of the Tournament.” She was also instrumental in winning the silver medal for the Indian team in the Asia Cup held in November 2009. After playing with India's national team at 2010 Commonwealth Games and 2010 Asian Games, Rani Rampal was included in the FIH Women's All Star Team of 2010. She was also included the All Star team of the Asian Hockey Federation based on her performance in 2010 Asian Games at Guangzhou, where the Indian team finished fourth.

At the 2010 Women’s Hockey World Cup held in Rosario, Argentina, she scored a total of seven goals which placed India in the ninth position in World Women's hockey rankings. This was India's best performance since 1978. She is the only Indian to be nominated for the FIH Women's Young Player of the Year Award (2010). She was conferred the “Best Young Player of the Tournament” award at the Women's Hockey World Cup 2010, recognizing her stellar performance as the top field goal scorer in the tournament. She was also adjudged the 'Player of the Tournament' at the 2013 Junior World Cup which India finished with a bronze medal. She was also named for FICCI Comeback of the Year Award 2014.

Recalling the start of Rani’s journey, her father explained, “Mushkil to tha shuru-shuru mein.” Rampal then narrates the story of how he and his wife — one semi-literate, the other illiterate — decided that their six-year-old daughter should not only be sent to school but also enrolled in the town’s hockey academy. There was no precedent in the neighbourhood. Relatives opposed them. Some even questioned the couple’s sanity. Their efforts almost came unstuck on the first day. The academy, which was situated in Rani’s school, had a disciplinarian coach, Baldev Singh. “He saw Rani and he rejected her right away,” recalls Rampal. “He said she was too frail.” The couple didn’t give up and went back the next day. “Perhaps he was in a good mood, because he relented and told Rani to run a few laps around the field,” Rampal remembers. “She did, and he was impressed with her agility. He agreed to coach Rani.”

Baldev Singh, who would later get the Dronacharya award, the highest decoration for a coach in India, remembers the incident differently. It wasn’t down to his mood. “The first thing that struck me was their poverty. But it wasn’t because she was poor or frail that I had declined. It’s just that as a rule we didn’t take any girl under eight. She was barely six, and looked even smaller. But she was so gifted that I had to relax the rule for her. And I am glad I did,” Baldev says.

She was the youngest in the academy, and in the years to come she would be the youngest ever in the Indian team. In 2009, even before she played with the junior national team, Rani made her senior India debut aged 14. Fourteen! Our collective idea of a child prodigy, Sachin Tendulkar, had made his India debut when he was 16. It was an emphatic start; she hammered four goals in the final to give India the title. She finished as the top-scorer in the tournament. “That Champions Challenge tournament in Russia was also one of the stages of the London Olympics qualification process,” says Rani. “I had no idea then what the Olympics were, and why it was such a big fuss. I was playing for fun. For me, back then, the biggest deal was the Commonwealth Games,” she says, shyly.

It’s a statement that puts the Indian women’s hockey team’s latest achievement into perspective. The men in our hockey have grown up on the lore of eight Olympic gold medals. In fact, in all non-cricket sports nowadays, our performance in the Olympics is the main yardstick. The only time an Indian women’s hockey team has appeared in the Olympics was in Moscow 1980, and they were invited to make up the numbers after the West had boycotted. In the absence of Olympic glory or even participation, therefore, India women’s hockey team’s most storied achievement remains the gold medal in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Hence, Rani’s fascination with the CWG. To her, these three letters also mean hope and despair. She remembers the awards and the accolades that the Class of 2002 got. Some, like her mentor Suman Bala, were from Shahabad. Heck, their story inspired the Hindi film Chak De! India.

Rani remembers, too, the awards and accolades that the team of 2010, of which she was a part, didn’t get at CWG Delhi, having missed out on the medal round on goal difference. And the disappointment when the Haryana government opened its purse for all 2010 CWG medal winners from the state. Later that year, 15-year-old Rani was named in the International Hockey Federation’s World XI. But individual honours such as these don’t yield cash prizes. Her father had to keep spurring the horse to put food on the table. “It embarrasses me and pains me to see my father having to drive the cart around even now. But there are no other options. I don’t earn enough,” says Rani, who works as a junior clerk in the railways. “But it’s my source of strength too. You earlier asked me why I don’t get nervous. I will tell you why. We were trailing against Italy, and in the sudden death, I was thinking about my father. I couldn’t afford to be nervous,” Rani says. 

Rani is now part of the Indian Olympics contingent. Olympian Rani. Six years ago, she wouldn’t have given this adjective much of a thought. But today, it’s become a necessity, an obsession and a possible panacea even for her struggles. She feels that a shot at the Olympics will land her a job better than the one she has right now, and provide some sort of financial security to the family. She contrasts her position with Sandeep Singh, one of the two Olympians from Shahabad (the other being former hockey player Sanjeev Dang). Sandeep is a deputy superintendent of police with Haryana police. He lives in the posh HUDA society. In hockey as in life, Rani and Sandeep Singh have few similarities. Sandeep is a good defender and a very fine drag-flicker. She is a striker who often doubles as a mid-fielder. Whenever there is a comparison across the gender divide, Rani is deemed to be more like Sardar Singh. Her electric speed, superior stick work, ball sense and confidence remind you of the current India captain. “Sardar Singh is here,” Rani says, bringing her palm parallel to her eyes, indicating a certain stature. “And I am here,” she says, lowering it all the way to her knee. But she is flattered by the comparison. “Do you know we belong to the same community of potters?” Rani says. “And that he was also named in the FIH All Star in 2010? But he is a big, big name. And also a DSP,” she says. What remains unsaid is this: Sardar earns big bucks in the Hockey Indian League, too, while there is no such thing for a women’s hockey player.

While there is some envy and lament in Rani’s statement, there is also a bit of acceptance of a harsh reality. Rani and her ilk have overcome a rigid, feudal society. They have even become a source of pride in a town whose sex ratio (860) is significantly worse than the rest of the state (879) — which in turn is the worst in the country. But they are helpless against the inherent bias in Indian hockey, Indian sport and the Indian attitude in general. Encouraging its daughters to play isn’t a priority for India. Beti Khilao is not a slogan yet. 

Source: Google search and Wikipedia.