Shaifalika Panda wins Shakti Award at ‘We Women Want Conclave 2025’
By Payal Banerjee
New Delhi, Aug. 7: Shaifalika Panda, the Founder and CEO of Bansidhar and Ila Panda Foundation, IMFA’s CSR wing, won the prestigious Shakti Award at the ‘We Women Want Conclave 2025’, hosted by NewsX in New Delhi. Mrs Panda won the award for her social development work.
Apart from receiving the award, Mrs Panda was also part of a panel that focused on raising confident girls in today’s world, where she highlighted that improving girls’ education and health goes a long way in making confident women who lead transformation.
The panel “Bringing Up Girls”, focused on creating social structures and support systems for girls to thrive in a complex and often unequal social landscape. Mrs Panda joined thought leaders including Sara Abdullah Pilot (Co-Founder and Chairperson, CEQUIN), Charu Narang Singh (Board Member, Kisan Trust), and Radhika Bharat Ram (Joint Vice-Chairperson, The Shri Ram Schools), as a speaker in this discussion. The panel was moderated by Priya Sehgal, Editorial Director, News X.
Speaking during the session, Mrs Panda emphasized the importance of confronting deeply rooted gender norms and systemic inequities, particularly in rural contexts where girls’ aspirations are often curtailed by circumstance. She stressed the need for sustained investments in education, healthcare, and mentorship to help young girls develop confidence and a sense of self-determination.
“True empowerment means dismantling deep-rooted social barriers and moving beyond token efforts to build sustained, community-led ecosystems. Supporting girls through the three A’s: Agency, Aspiration, and Access helps them navigate challenges and realize their dreams. This requires all of us- families, communities, workplaces, and stakeholders to be active allies in creating lasting change,” she said.
The We Women Want conclave has, over the years, evolved into a meaningful platform for dialogue, advocacy, and celebration.
This year’s We Women Want Conclave & Shakti Awards 2025 edition featured keynote addresses by Dr. Shashi Tharoor and Union Minister Gajendra Sekhawat, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and many celebrities like Ekta Kapoor, Dia Mirza, Shabana Azmi and so on. The event also celebrated grassroots change-makers, including Drone Didis and Lakhpati Didis, whose personal stories of resilience and innovation resonated deeply with the audience.
