Dr. Harshinder Kaur : Creating awareness & improving the child sex ratio

Dr Harshindar Kaur,Padam Shree nominee ,known as Dhee Punjab Di (Daughter of Punjab ) and honoured as  STEEL WOMAN OF INDIA by National Doordarshan is the daughter of late Sikh Scholar Prof Pritam Singh, and granddaughter of freedom fighter and great Sikh scholar, Prof. Sahib Singh and wife of Dr Gurpal Singh working as faculty paediatrician in Government Medical College Patiala,Ex deputy Medical Superintendent of Rajindra Hospital Patiala.  She is a member of National Academy of Medical Sciences .In the course of her medical profession her close contact with women and children, apprised of their problems and motivated her to do something unique for them. She felt pained to notice the alarming dimensions of disappearing daughters on account of female foeticide and infanticide in many states of India particularly her home state, Punjab.

 She started delivering  lectures on TV, Radio ,schools , colleges and through writings on this significant issue and drew the attention of the people to its serious consequences. Her talks on the subject given at Human Rights Conference, Geneva and Berkeley University , California, Federal Parliament of Australia ,Canberra, Parliament of Canada ,Ottawa and New South Wales parliament, Australia highly impressed the people and brought her honours and accolades including the ‘Key to the City ‘ of the city of Milpitas. She has been honoured with life time achievement award at Parliament of Canada, Parliament of Australia, Canberra and Parliament of NSW. She was invited to present talk at International Conference in Toronto on the occasion of International Women’s Day .

         She has written a book ‘Female Feticide-a curse ‘, for which she got a thunderous applause in India and abroad. The book was made the basis of national film, Tamanna in which the author also appeared. Another film, “Roaring Silence” is in the offing in Hollywood, the royalty of which, as per contract will be used for the welfare of poor Punjabi girls. Documentaries showcasing her work have been made and telecast by the National Television network, Netherlands and Canada.

                Not only on female feticide, there are many other books written by her ,35 in all, on issues like child psychology, diseases of children, balanced diet , importance of mother tongue and stories for children. One of her books regarding diseases of children has been published by the Ministry of Information and broadcasting, Government of India. The National Book Trust has published her story book on the life of a mosquito in Hindi. A number of articles and stories from her books have been included in school text books. One of her books on Child Psychology is the subject of PhD thesis in Delhi University. She has won many awards in the literary field including the best woman writer award in regional languages at the national level, Dr MS Randhawa award and Guru Harkrishan Award by the Punjab government. Her winning the Masud Khaddarposh award by literati of Pakistan for her book on importance of mother tongue, is not only a great honour but may also prove a milestone in building good relations amongst two countries.

     In  addition to her literary and professional activities she is a committed social activist, an ardent champion of women rights and rights of children especially the girl child. She runs a trust, Dr Harsh Charitable trust that pays for the education of more than 338 girls who belong to poor and deprived strata of Punjab. All of them study in private schools; the tuition fee of these girls is borne by the trust. She has analyzed correctly that dowry is one of the prime reasons that goad the parents to kill their daughters in the womb and also after birth. She is the torch bearer and has initiated a world wide NO DOWRY CAMPAIGN ,in which 13,500 youth of USA,Canada,Australia, Europe, England and Punjab have joined hands and pledged not to accept or give dowry.

     Dr Harshindar Kaur has won many awards and honours for her work. She has been awarded the State Award by the Government of Punjab two times, International Women Rights activist by the United Nations, honoured by the Premier of Manitoba  (Canada )as Human Rights hero and champion of women rights , Certificate of appreciation in House of Commons, Canada on behalf of the Prime Minister of Canada for advocacy on maternal ,newborn and child health in developing countries and strengthening relations with Canada, Conferred Mai Bhago Award and Gold medal on Baisakhi day Parade amongst 3 lac people in Canada,Pride of the Community Award (Faqr-e Quom ) by the SGPC, United Nations Laadli Media Award in recognition of literary work in the field of dissemination of various facets of Female Foeticide ,Paul Harris Fellow (Rotary International) ,Bharat Jyoti Award ,International Rotary vocational Award, honoured by the Governor of Punjab (thrice) and Haryana for excellence in work on female feticide prevention, Rani Jhansi Award ,Gaurav Punjab Da Award to name a few.

DR. HARSHINDAR KAUR

                                      M.D. (Paediatrics),MNAMS

               Assistant Professor (Paediatrics ) ,

                Rajindra Hospital and

               Govt.  Medical  College, Patiala, Punjab, India.

                 President      Dr Harsh Charitable Trust.

Ex President, Govt. Medical and Dental teachers Association, Punjab

                   Ex Deputy Medical Superintendent,Rajindra Hospital Patiala

Padam Shree Nominee (2016 )

          Honoured by the President of India on 22 January, 2016

          Honoured by Governor of Punjab thrice

          Two times State Awardee.    

Selected among Top 100 Women Achievers Of India  by Ministry of Women and Child Welfare , Government of India India on 22 January, 2016 .The only one selected on the issue of improving the child sex ratio.

Residence :           28, Preet Nagar, Lower Mall, Patiala-147001

                                      Ph. 0175-2216783/09814041345

                                      Email- drharshpatiala@ yahoo.com

          Wife of :               Dr Gurpal Singh Sachdeva

                                        MD (Medicine)

                                        Assistant Professor, Govt Medical College, Patiala.

         

          Daughter  of        Late Prof. Pritam Singh  D. Litt.

                             Prof. Emeritus, San Jose University, California, Eminent

writer and researcher.President Medal Holder.

Sister of               Prof. Dr. Jairup Singh, world renowned Genetic Scientist and former Vice Chancellors, Central University of  Punjab, Bathinda and GNDU,Amritsar.

Mother of            Sukhmani Kaur

Two kids               Nanakjot Singh

  

Continuing Activities and work done---

1.                            Creating awareness against female foeticide, Infanticide, and crimes against women and fighting for female rights by giving lectures at various fora in the country and International level for the last 20 years. 

2. Giving tuition fees of 338 poor girls of Punjab through Dr Harsh Charitable Trust, these girls are studying at various private schools of Punjab.

3. Started a worldwide No Dowry Campaign wherein around 12,500 students, both male and female and their parents have taken an oath and given written undertaking that they would shun dowry and neither give nor demand dowry at the time of their marriage. This movement has spread to Punjabis living in Canada, USA, Europe, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Students of various colleges of Punjab have also joined the movement.

4. Awarded Woman of the year 2012 by American Biographical Institute.

5.International Women Rights activist by UNITED NATIONS.

6.Honoured in Legislative Assembly of British Columbia ,Canada by the leader for efforts to prevent female feticide and betterment of women at International level in April 2015.

7. Honoured by Premier of Manitoba ( Canada ) as Human Rights Hero and Champion for Women Rights on 24 April,2015.

8. Certificate of appreciation in House of Commons, Canada on behalf of the Prime Minister of Canada for advocacy on maternal ,newborn and child health in developing countries and strengthening relations with Canada.(April,2015 )

9. Conferred Mai Bhago Award and Gold medal on Baisakhi day Parade amongst 3 lac people in Canada in April,2015 for working on the issue of female feticide and infanticide for the last 20 years.

10. Two times awarded by State Government with State Award

.

11. Honoured as STEEL WOMAN OF INDIA by National Doordarshan,Delhi.(Jan,2015 )

12. Pride of the Community Award (Faqr-e Quom ) by the SGPC.

13.Documentaries made on work done in the field of female Foeticide prevention in Canada and Netherlands.

14. Gaurav Punjab Da Award at Jalandhar,18 December 2010.

15. United Nations Laadli Media Award in recognition of literary work in the field of dissemination of various facets of Female Foeticide (2008). The award was presented by Governor of Punjab and Laxmi Kanta Chawla, Health Minister Punjab. Only   female  doctor to have been given this award

AWARDS

1. Honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award for service towards humanity      by Parliamentarians in the Canada Parliament (Ottawa)on 19 Oct,2010. 

2. Conferred the title of International Women Rights Activist when invited at the Human Rights Conference in Geneva (United Nations) in June 2008 for presenting study on crime against women in context of female foeticide. The Chairman of conference was highly impressed with the talk and commended me for the efforts which I am doing for the emancipation of Indian girls. Invited again  to present paper on Female Foeticide on 6 June, 2011.

3. Visited Canada in September, 2009 where in presented papers highlighting the issues of female foeticide and importance of mother tongue for psychological development of children. Many MLA’s of British Columbia and few MP’s also attended my meetings. I was able to motivate them and many NRI’s for this project.

4. Invited by Berkeley University, California in September, 2009 where in presented data to enlighten the students and faculty about female foeticide and motivated them to start a project in India.

5. Honoured in city of Milpitas for outstanding work in community service and particularly tireless advocacy against female foeticide and infanticide. Honored with  KEY TO THE CITY.

6. In November, 2009 gave a lecture at Federal Parliament Canberra and NSW Parliament in Australia and enlightened the law makers on the issue of female   foeticide, highly prevalent in Indians and Asians in general around the world.  Honored   in both  the Parliaments as Human Rights Activist.

7. Paul Harris Fellow (Rotary International)

8. Honoured with International Rotary vocational Award.

9. A feature film in Hollywood is being made on my book entitled ‘Female foeticide- A curse’. The royalty has been kept aside in the contract to be used for the welfare of poor Punjabi girls .The name of the film is Roaring Silence.

10. Bagged over all first Prize among competitors from all over the world for radio talks about female foeticide and women rights held by Radio Iran (International Radio Festival of Iran, May 2010). The talk was given in Punjabi language at All India Radio.

11. Honoured by State Govt. of Punjab(India) twice with Punjab State Award (2006) for excellence in Profession and Second State Award (2010) for social service and in recognition of  holding 298 free medical camps.

12. Honoured by SGPC, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, as Faqr-e-Quom (Pride of community) for creating awareness about female foeticide at grass  root level by extensive visits in rural and urban areas, their schools and colleges all over Punjab.

13. Author of thirty one books on issues like child psychology, importance of mother tongue, female foeticide, diseases of children, balanced diet, stories for children, biography and translations, 3 books published by National Book Trust and one by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. Of India.

14. Adjudged best female writer at national level in regional languages.

15.  Dr.   M.S.  Randhawa Award   for best book on literature given by Govt. of  Punjab.

16.  Starred in National Film ‘Tammanna’ on female foeticide (actual work included in the movie).

17.  Honoured by other states (Haryana) for social service (helping women in    distress)

18. Recipient of ‘Masud Khaddarposh Award’ by literati of Pakistan for my book on ‘Importance of mother tongue’ in building good relations amongst two countries.

19. Honoured by Governor of Punjab twice, in 2010 and 2016 for excellent work in the field of Female Foeticide prevention as one of the top women achievers.

20. Honoured as ‘Dhee Punjab Di’ (Daughter of Punjab) by deputy C.M. of Punjab (S. Sukhbir Singh Badal) & various NGO’s for giving monetary help to more than 338 poor girls for their education through my trust ‘Dr. Harsh Charitable Trust’.

21. Awarded Bharat Jyoti Award(on 7 January,2011)  in New Delhi

22. Honoured by Punjabi Sahit Academy and Lekhari Manch, Batala on         26, January 2015 for scientific writings in vernacular language for     creating awareness.

23,.  Delivered   Keynote lecture at the International Women Day Conference          organized by PCHS in Toronto on 18 March, 2011.

24. Delivered lecture on Female Feticide and the Disappearing daughters in Asian Countries at Center for South Asian Studies, Berkeley University, USA wherein received thunderous applause for work done in foeticide prevention and assured that the center would take definitive steps to tackle the problem.

25. Medical Research papers published and presented at national and international levels.

26. Chief guest at more than 310 functions at various schools, colleges and  social organisations of Punjab.

27. Articles included in School Text Books of 7^th , 8^th and 9^th standard and B.Ed courses in University.

28. Ph.D. research work in Delhi University on my book on child psychology.

29. WHO trainee for AIDS awareness campaign.

30. Judge at Miss World Punjaban contest by PTC channel.

31. Medical research papers relating to pediatric medicine presented and published at various National & International medical conferences & journals.

32. Held 298 free medical camps all over (mainly rural areas) of Punjab who have limited resources.