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Gandhian Hema Kakati passes away

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, April 3 - Noted Gandhian and social worker Hema Kakati passed away at the Sarania Ashram run by the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust, Assam branch, this evening. She was 94 and had been ailing for some time. Her last rights will be performed at Navagraha crematorium here tomorrow morning.

She was actively associated with a number of organisations besides being the secretary of the Sarvoday Trust. A recipient of several awards and honours, her last award was the Diwaliben Award 2002 for her pioneering work in tribal welfare and promoting national integration. She donated the money of all her awards for social causes. For a long time her charity was not known to the public.

Hailing from a family of freedom fighters at Charing in Sivasagar district, Kakati joined the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust in 1945. It was the organisation in which she worked with unflinching devotion since the time she heeded the call of the late Amal Prova Das, an icon of social activism in the Northeast.

Throughout her life as a social worker she has shown an indefatigable spirit. This helped the work she and her co-workers carried out to raise awareness about women�s health, empowerment, child-care, and in promoting social cohesion in times of recurring communal tension.

She leaves behind her brother and sister besides a host of relatives and well-wishers.

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