1996: Ms. Malladi Subbamma
Ms. Malladi
Subbamma devoted herself heart and soul in the struggle to secure a place of
dignity and honour for women. Realising
the need to develop strong organizations to carry on the Movement in a
sustained manner, she set up the Mahila Hrudaya Samstha which now serves as a
sphere head of women’s liberation.
Any assault on
women by anyone instantly draws Ms.Malladi Subbamma’s ire. Be it the belabouring of a woman in nearby
Nalgonda or an act of Sati in distant Rajasthan or the shunting off nuns in a
convent, she jumps in to the fray to battle the forces that stand in the way of
women’s freedom and dignity.
She played an
active role in the campaign against arrack launched by women of Andhra Pradesh
that led to the prohibition of arrack in the State. She has been promoting inter- caste
marriages; she herself often officiates at these secular wedding ceremonies.
Ms. Subbamma has
also been associated with a wide spectrum of human rights activities under the
auspices of the Citizen for Democracy and the People’s Union for Civil
Liberties.
A Reformer cast
in the renaissance mould, Ms. Subbamma has effectively articulated the concept
of women’s rights as human rights.
In recognisation of her significant
contribution to the protection and promotion of human rights in general and of
women’s rights in particular, the Vigil India Movement presented the M.A.Thomas
National Human Rights Award 1996 to Ms.Malladi Subbamma.