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 7th , 8th
and 9th 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.
