Begum Rokeya Day today

Staff Correspondent: The 134rd birth and 82nd death anniversaries of Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, the pioneer of awakening for women’s rights in the subcontinent, is being observed today (Tuesday).

Marking the day, many programs have been chalked out in the capital and elsewhere across the country.  The programs include milad mahfil, placing wreaths on her portraits, discussions, cultural functions and ‘Begum Rokeya Award -2014’ giving ceremony.

Marking the day, President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have given separate messages paying their rich tributes to the memory of Rokeya.

Begum Rokeya was born in village Pairaband on December 9 in 1880 and died on the same day in 1932 in Kolkata.

She struggled for establishing women rights, freedom, education, empowerment, economic emancipation and movements creating a renaissance in the then highly conservative and British-ruled colonial society.

Risingbd/Dhaka/Dec 9, 2014/Mukul