To mark International Women's Day, President Ram Nath Kovind awarded 44 recipients with the Nari Shakti Puraskar 2018, the highest civilian honour for women. One of the awardees was Kathak exponent and Mumbaikar Seema Mehta, who became the first woman to receive this honour for her contributions to a performing art.
An ecstatic Mehta said it is still sinking in to be selected out of around 1,000 nominations received by the Women and Child Development Ministry. "What makes this much more amazing is that I was being conferred this honour with scientists A Seema and Ipsita Biswas, acid attack survivor Pragya Prasun, radio music composer Madhuri Barthwal, activist Manju Manikuttan, spiritual leader Sister Shivani, commando trainer Seema Rao and the only woman marine pilot in India, Reshma Nilofer Naha."
Maneka Gandhi's comments at the occasion applies to Mehta. The Union Women & Child Development Minister had said, "The awardees reflect a shift in the status of women, from women development to women-led development...No field has been left untouched, where women have not left their indelible mark, making women the leading force of our development trajectory."
Mehta was awarded for her contribution in empowering girls from underprivileged backgrounds to articulate and assert themselves through dance.
The 43-year-old graduated in painting from San Francisco's Academy of Art University, while training under Kathak legend Pt Chitresh Das from 2000 till the maestro's demise in 2015. She was both the Artistic Director and Treasurer at Chhandam Nritya Bharati's Mumbai chapter (The first government-recognised classical dance institute, first established in Kolkata in 1948 by the parents of Pt Chitresh Das). Mehta is also one of the few exponents of Kathak Yoga, an innovation of her late guru where the practitioner has to sing, play the harmonium, and perform complex footwork, concurrently.
Some of these girls, by their own admission, have been victims of abuse. "I dedicate this honour to them as well as my parents and Guruji." This award has encouraged Mehta to work towards her goal with renewed zeal. "It is a way to get women's agendas heard by decision makers. It also brings light to my vision of mandatorily implementing classical dance and music in school curricula."
