Bio
Binalakshmi Nepram, born in Manipur, is a writer, civil rights activist and 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: “Poetic Festoon”, “South Asia’s Fractured Frontier”, “Meckley”,a historical fiction based on Manipur, and “India and the Arms Trade Treaty”. In 2004, Nepram co-founded India’s first civil society organization which is working on conventional disarmament issues – the Control Arms Foundation of India. And in 2007, in order to help thousands of women who are affected by gun violence in her home-state Manipur, she launched the Manipur Women Gun Survivor Network. She has represented Indian civil society in various women and disarmament meetings held at United Nations in New York. A recipient of the Dalai Lama Foundation’s WISCOMP Scholar of Peace Award,2008,Sean MacBride Peace Prize,2010; CNN IBN Real Heroes Award,2011, her team Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network won “Indian of the Year “Award in Special Achievement category same year. In 2013, London based organization Action on Armed Violence named Nepram as “100 most influential people in the world working on armed violence reduction”.