BENGALURU: Environmentalist
Saalumarada Thimmakka
, the
green crusader
who has planted and tended to 400-odd
banyan trees
along a 4km stretch between Hulikar and Kudur, has made it to the
BBC's 100 Women 2016 list.
The list returned for its fourth season on November 22, unveiling the most influential and inspirational women from across the globe.
Now 105, Thimmakka earned the prefix Saalumarada, meaning a 'row of trees' in Kannada, and won a host of awards and honours for her green strides. The centenarian has said she and her husband began planting and taking care of the banyan saplings after relatives and neighbours ostracized her for being unable to bear a child. Th e o ther Indian women on the list include Gouri Chindarkar, Mallika Srinivasan and Neha Singh. Sunny Leone, Canadian actress of Indian origin, has also made it to the list.
Gouri, now 20, was one of the first few children from India to participate in the unique learning experience -- School in the Cloud, while Mallika, 57, is CEO of Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd. (TAFE). Also known as the tractor queen of India, Mallika has transformed her family company into the third-largest tractor manufacturer in the world.
Neha, 34, is an actor-writer who pioneered a movement aimed at encouraging women to walk the streets of Mumbai as a way of defying harassment. Some of this year's high-profile women who feature in the list include singer-songwriter Alicia Keys, US gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles, French politician Rachida Dati and chairman of Santander UK, Dame Shriti Vadera.
The BBC announcement marks the beginning of three weeks of thought-provoking broadcasts, special online reports, debates and programmes.
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