Basanti Devi
A Kumaon social worker, widowed at 12, who has organised women in 200 villages to protect the Kosi river and its forests, honoured with the Padma Shri in 2022.
Basanti Devi is a social worker known for her work on women’s empowerment and protecting the environment in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand. She was named for the Padma Shri in 2022 in the field of social work, from Uttarakhand [1].
A child bride
Basanti Devi was born on 30 November 1958 in Digra village, Kanalichhina tehsil, in Pithoragarh district [2]. She was married as a child and widowed at 12, an experience that later led her to campaign against child marriage [2]. After finishing her intermediate examination she left her village to join the Kasturba Mahila Utthan Mandal at the Lakshmi Ashram in Kausani [2].
Women for the Kosi
She formed women’s groups to tackle social evils and started a campaign to save the forests through them [2]. She brought together women from about 200 villages in the valley from Kausani to Lod to protect the Kosi river [2]. She has also campaigned against domestic violence and harassment of women, and in 2008 began a campaign for women to take part in village panchayats [2]. In 2014 alone, 150 women in 51 villages became able to support themselves with her help [2].
She has received the Nari Shakti Puraskar and the Femina Women Jury Award [2].
Sources
- [1] Padma Awards 2022: list of awardees — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 24 October 2026.
- [2] Padma Awards 2022: citation for Basanti Devi — Padma Awards, Government of India. Accessed 24 October 2026.
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