KOCHI: V P Suhara, social worker and founder of Nisah, an organisation crusading for the rights of women, has won the 5th Social Service Award of Samakalika Malayalam Vaarika, a sister publication of The New Indian Express.The award, carrying a plaque, citation and a purse of `1 lakh, will be handed over to Suhara at a function to be held in Kozhikode in September.
This year’s winner was selected by a jury comprising writer Gracy, social critic and writer Hameed Chennamangaloor and media personality Pradeep Panangad.Samakalika Malayalam Vaarika had instituted the award in 2013 to honour persons who dedicate their lives to social service.
Suhara has been working among the women in the state, particularly for the cause of Muslim women for the past four decades, the jury said. “Suhara’s interventions have resulted in the uplift of the women’s status in society. She was constrained by several limitations, but fought to overcome them,” the jury said.
The previous winners of the award were Raziya Banu, a social worker from Palakkad; V C Raju of Murikkasseri, Idukki; Krishnan Pallam, of Pattambi, who runs the destitute home ‘Abhayam’; and Sajini Mathews, who founded Snehabhavan at Muttam, Melukavu.