WG sarpanch to share women empowerment journey at UN event

Vijayawada: Kunuku Hemakumari, sarpanch from West Godavari district, has been nominated by the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR), to participate in the side event at the 57th Commission on Population and Development (CPD), United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNESCO) in New York, USA, on May 3.

The Permanent Mission of India and the MoPR are jointly hosting the side-event in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in the USA, under the theme ‘Localising the SDGs: Women in Local Governance in India, Lead the Way’. Hemakumari would be leaving for the US on May 1 to participate in the event.

Three States namely - Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tripura - have been selected to nominate one elected women representative from each State to represent India at the international level. Along with Hemakumari, Supriya Das Datta, Sabhadhipati (chairperson) of Sepahijala Zilla Parishad of Tripura and Neeru Yadav, sarpanch of Lambi Aheer of Jhunjhunu district, Rajasthan have been nominated.

Hemakumari, an M Tech from JNTU-Kakinada in 2022, was elected as sarpanch of Pekeru gram panchayat of Iragavaram mandal in 2021. She worked as an associate lecturer in Electronics and Communication Engineering for five years (2014-2019) at Sri Mullapudi Venkataraya Memorial Polytechnic (SMVMP) College, Tanuku.

She is also currently the president of the mandal sarpanch chamber and general secretary of zilla sarpanch chamber.