WCD Ministry, Facebook to Identify India's 100 Most Influential Women

The Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry has tied up with Facebook to identify one hundred women across the country who have actually made a difference to our communities.

These women would be nominated by Ministry's Facebook page. Those getting maximum recommendations will be short listed and then put up before a jury which will select the these 100 women. The initiative would be launched on July 15.

"The WCD minister Maneka Gandhi has written to actor Amitabh Bachchan, Anushka Sharma, Deepika Padukone, Madhuri Dixit, cricketer MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli urging them to support this initiative and help increase the outreach by nominating someone they know, who have made a difference in other people's lives.

"Apart from that she has also requested them if they could post personalised message or tweet on their own facebook account or twitter handle encouraging people to send in their nomination," said a senior WCD ministry official.

Gandhi has also written to Finance and Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister, Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh and Power, Coal and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal over the same.

Speaking about the initiative, Gandhi said, "We all have had women in our lives who've made a difference, who have changed the course of our own lives, who've left a mark on entire community and changed it for the better.

"We don't thank them enough. Here is your chance to honour the women who've made a difference to your community.

Log on to the Ministry's Facebook page and share a video with us on why the woman you choose should be honoured as India's 100 most impactful women."

These women will be hosted by President on January 22, the day when Prime Minister had launched the "'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' programme.

Ankhi Das, Director of Public Policy in South and Central Asia at Facebook said, "Millions of people come on to Facebook everyday to talk about things that matter most to them. This is a great opportunity for us to celebrate women who have made a difference in our communities."

To submit their nomination, people can visit the Ministry's Facebook page between July 15 and September 30 and fill up the nomination form.