Sunanda Rajendra Pawar, popularly known as Sunandatai, is an Indian women's rights activist. She is a trustee of the Agricultural Development Trust in

Baramati Baramati ( aːɾamət̪iː is a city, a tehsil and a municipal council in Pune district in the state of Maharashtra, India. The city is about 100 KM (62 miles) southeast of the city of Pune and about 250 KM from Mumbai. Baramati is located ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

. She is the mother of Rohit Pawar, a

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly The Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha or the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the legislature of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is situated in the Nariman Point area of South Mumbai in the capital Mumbai. Presently, 288 memb ...

from Karjat-Jamkhed.

Early life and family

Pawar was born to Mohanrao Namdevrao Bhapkar and Savitribai Mohanrao Bhapkar in

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

on 31 May 1959. She completed her Primary education at Khatalpatta Z.P. School, her Secondary education at Mahatma Gandhi Balak Mandir,

and her Junior education at Chhatrapati Vidyalaya Bhavaninagar,

Indapur Indapur is a town and a municipal council in Pune district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Indapur is known for Jahagir of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's father and grandfather. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's grandfather Malojiraje died in ba ...

. She graduated in 'Economics Studies' from the University of Pune in 1980 and later married Rajendra Pawar. The couple has two children, one daughter and one son. She is the mother of Rohit Pawar, who is a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from Karjat-Jamkhed.

Social Activities

Bhimthadi Jatra

Pawar has organized an annual carnival called Bhimthadi Jatra since 2008. The week-long event showcases the art, culture, and foot of rural Maharshtra and was founded to promote women's empowerment.

Sobti

Pawar's "Sobti" program was founded by Pawar to spread menstrual awareness and increase rural women's access to menstrual products. Since its founding the program has reached over 55,000 college-aged women in rural India.

Water conservation

Pawar has chaired committees dedicated to water conservation work in rural Maharashtra. These committees and initiatives have improved groundwater levels and increased access to water in drought-stricken regions of Maharashtra.

Police training for women

Pawar leads an initiative to recruit women police officers and provide scholarships for their training. Since the founding of this initiative, over 600 women have become police officers in Maharashtra.

References

{{Reflist 1959 births Living people Indian social workers Indian farmers Indian women farmers Indian activists Indian women activists People from Baramati 21st-century farmers 21st-century women farmers 20th-century farmers