Nagpur, (Samaj Weekly)- Meenakshi Mukesh Walke of Chandrapur, who has brought economic empowerment to women in extreme poverty and adverse conditions through bamboo art, has been declared the “IIW She Inspires Award” by Inspiring Indian Women of London this year. This is the second international award for Meenakshi, popularly known as “The Bamboo Lady of Maharashtra”. Earlier, she was virtually awarded the “Woman Hero” award of the Indo-Canadian Arts and Cultural Initiative of Canada. Rashmi Mishra informed that the award distribution ceremony will be held on March 15 in the area of the House of Commons in England and the film of Meenakshi Walke’s motivational work will also be shown in this ceremony. The jury of these awards included a Member of Parliament of England and some Indian luminaries of world fame. In 2018, Meenakshi started a social housing enterprise “Abhisar Innovative” from a ten by thirteen rented house and taught bamboo art to nearly 1000 women while taking care of her 6-year-old son. In terms of industry, she also proved by exporting to 5 European countries. Meenakshi, despite having little education and rigorous training, made various successful experiments in bamboo design. Bamboo QR Code Scanner, Friendship Band, Crown, Mangal Toran were popular among her experiments. She has huge popularity globally for “Bambu Rakhi”.
