Kolkata: GRSE’s The Women in Public Sector (WIPS) wing has been conferred with the “Best Enterprise Award” in the “Miniratna” category for the year 2022 at the 33rd National Meet of Women in Public Sector (WIPS) in Kolkata on February 10. The award is in recognition of WIPS activities in the company. The GRSE management has been extending support for WIPS activities over the years. This is GRSE- WIPS wing’s fifth consecutive award. The award was presented by Atul Sobti, DG, SCOPE at the 33rd Annual Forum conclave of Women in Public Sector (WIPS) in association with SCOPE at Kolkata.
Addressing to the gathering at CMDs’ Session, Cmde PR Hari IN (Retd.), CMD, GRSE, said, “I am not sure whether all of you know or not, a warship is always called a lady, and whenever someone enters the warship or leaves the warship, a courtesy salute is given at the gangway as a mark of respect and whenever a woman visits our ships’, she is received and seen off again with a salute, a mark of respect.”
He also shared, “I have been informed that this is the 33rd National Meet of WIPS and I happen to see the theme of WIPS being very unique. Shakti 5S. As Head of a heavy engineering and manufacturing industry, 5S is very close to my heart. In our parlance, 5S means Set, Sort, Shine, Standardise and Sustain, towards improving the work environment to enhance productivity. Here, very interestingly, I happen to read, the 5S represented as Strong, Sincere, Smart, Synergetic & Sustainable. Ladies, these 5 typical characteristics of a woman make her strong and a “Shakti”. As a quote goes “A woman is like a full circle, she has the power to create, to nurture and to transform”.
So far we have had two Presidents including the current Supreme Commander, one Prime Minister, 16 Chief Ministers, 24 Governors, four Chief Justices of the High Court, 11 Supreme Court Judges, and today we have 41 smart ladies as industry leaders in various organisations in India. Keeping away the bureaucracies, the IAS, IPS officers, lady officers in the armed forces alone today are 2904 officers serving the nation. Is this not enough for us to be feeling proud? No! we want more. This is just the beginning; we are actually at the cusp of a transformation. A transformation that should lead to gender equality in the true sense, but thus ladies, the baton is in your hands. It’s for you to decide the pace at which you must move and cross the finishing line.
Do you want to touch the tape first or do you want to be just one of the contenders? The also ranks, absolutely no! You must strive to cross the line and cross the line first. We all keep talking about breaking the glass ceiling, yes, it’s a reality and unfortunately a stark reality that there is a ceiling that still exists. But then we must accept the fact that it is a ceiling that has been created together, we also must remember that a few decades back, not more than a couple of decades back, the glass was thicker and definitely opaque but today it is just wafer thin and translucent, not yet transparent. All it takes is a strong nudge to break free. Once you break free, forget the sky, Sky is not the limit,” he added.
He concluded his address by saying, “I have a wish, will there be a day when I will be attending a MIPs, Men in Public Sector event where dignitaries will give motivational lectures as to how men should match women or rather will there be a day when a simple conclave is there “Employees of Public Sector” meet together, I hope that day comes soon.”
The 33rd WIPS meet also witnessed the presence of MK Singh, IPS, DG & CG Home Guard, West Bengal, Dr. C Dharini Mouli, President WIPS, CMD’s, Directors, Senior Officials and over 600 women employees of Public Sector Undertakings across the country. The prestigious WIPS award was instituted by the Central APEX Forum of WIPS in 1992 and is presented annually to select PSUs in recognition of the finest efforts made to harness the growth and development of Women in PSUs.
