Background
Shobhana Ranade was born in 1924, Pune, in the Indian state of Maharashtra.
Shobhana Ranade was born in 1924, Pune, in the Indian state of Maharashtra.
The turning point in her life came in 1942, when she was 18, when she met Mahatma Gandhi at the Aga Khan Palace, in Pune, which resulted in the young Shobhana taking up gandhian ideals for the rest of her life. Her social career took a turn, in 1955, when she went to North Lakhimpur, in Assam, joining a padyatra (walkathon) with Vinobha Bhave and helped setting up the Maitreyee Ashram and a Shishu Niketan, the first child welfare centre in the region. She also started the campaign, Adim Jaati Seva Sangh, a program for imparting training to Naga women on charkha weaving.
In 1979, she returned to Pune and helped founding the Gandhi National Memorial Society and an institute for women for training, based at Aga Khan Palace.
In 1998, Ranade, under the aegis of the Gandhi National Memorial Society, established the Kasturba Mahila Khadi Gramodyog Vidyalaya, an institute for destitute women, for training them in 20 village trades and skills. She has also started an SOS children"s village in Maharashtra, under the name, Balgram Maharashtra which has now grown to provide a home to 1600 orphans.
The Hermann Gmeiner Social Centre, founded by Ranade and situated at Shivajinagar, Pune, is a children"s home dedicated to the rehabilitation and education of street children, caring for 112 boys and 138 girls. Another child welfare project of Ranade was the Balgriha and Balsadan, established by Ranade at Saswad, in Pune.
These centres now provide home to 60 destitute girls.
She was also involved with the Save Ganga Movement, drive to save River Ganges from pollution, through Gandhi National Memorial Society Shobhana Ranade lives in Pune, taking care of her activities centred on Aga Khan Palace. Trustee – Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust (KGNMT) Trustee – Gandhi Smarak Nidhi Trustee – Balgram Maharashtra Secretary – Gandhi National Memorial Society Chairperson – All India Committee of Eradication of Illiteracy among Women (AICEIW) Board member – SOS Children"s Villages – Delhi President – All India Women"s Conference Chairperson – Bhoodan Gram Dan Board of Maharashtra.
Padma Bhushan – 2010 Jamnalal Bajaj Award – 2011 Reliance Foundation – Cable News Network IBN Real Heroes 2012 Life Time Achievement Award Rabindranath Tagore Prize Rajeev Gandhi Manav Seva Award – 2007 Pride of Pune Award – Pune University National Award for Child Welfare Work – 1983 Mahatma Gandhi Award.
