Binalakshmi Nepram in Forbes (India) 2015 list
Source: The Sangai Express / Agencies

New Delhi, January 04 2015: Binalakshmi Nepram, humanitarian, author and civil rights activist, founder of Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network, CAFI and North East India Women Initiative for Peace who works to support women survivors of armed violence all across North East India has been listed in prestigious Forbes (India) Magazine "Minds That Matter" list for 2015 .

Forbes India in their 9 January 2015 issue writes that people like Nepram are "Thinkers who best explain a rapidly-changing India to the world (and the world to India)" and that Nepram was chosen as "She fights racism against people from the North East and says it needs to be said in a country with deep geographical and regional prejudices" .

Binalakshmi Nepram :: Pix - Office of Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network

In 2014 Ms Nepram along with many from the region led massive non-violent movements in India's capital Delhi that forced Government of India to set up the Bezbaruah committee to look into racial discrimination of people from North East India.

On January 3, 2015, the recommendations of this committee was adopted by Govt of India.

Nepram is the only North East person included in the list.

Many from the region hailed the inclusion of Nepram in Forbes list calling it "a feather in our caps" and a "public recognition of the significance" of Nepram's decade long work for peace, disarmament, ending wars and a gender-just society in conflict affected North East India,home to South Asia's longest running insurgency.

Born in the State of Manipur located in India's North East region Binalakshmi Nepram is a writer, civil rights activist & a humanitarian spearheading work on making women-led disarmament a movement and an issue that is meaningful to people's lives.

She is author of four books.

In 2003, in order to help thousands of women who are affected by gun violence in her home-State Mani- pur, Nepram started Manipur Women Gun Survivor Network.

She has represented India civil society in various women and disarmament meetings held at United Nations in New York & Geneva.

Nepram is a recipient of Dalai Lama Foun- dation's, WISCOMP Scholar of Peace Award, Sean MacBride Peace Prize, CNN IBN Real Heroes Award.

In 2013, London based organization Action on Armed Violence named Nepram as "100 most influential people in world working on armed violence reduction" .