Rahibai Soma Popere has been awarded the Padma Shri by President Ram Nath Kovind for her contributions to agriculture. The President of India’s official Twitter account also shared a photo of the President of India bestowing the country’s fourth-highest civilian national honor to Rahibai Soma Popere, also known as ‘beej mata’ or ‘seed mother.’
Rahibai Soma Popere, a native of Ahmednagar’s Akola tehsil’s isolated Kombhalne hamlet, has been awarded the Padma Shri. The prizes were announced in January 2020 and were conferred on Monday, November 8 at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
A year earlier, a three-minute short film on Rahibai Popere’s anti-hybrid seed campaign by a city-based filmmaker had won third place in the international section of Nespresso Talents 2019 at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival.