Hillary Clinton to unveil 50-year memorial of SEWA

Clinton will also meet salt pan workers in the Little Rann of Kutch. “Our agariya women working in the salt pans of the Little Rann are now earning carbon credits after switching from diesel pumps to solar pumps,” said Nanavaty.

Clinton, who lands in Ahmedabad on Sunday, will begin her tour by paying respects to SEWA founder Elaben Bhatt who passed away on November 2, 2022, before she heads to the SEWA Reception Centre in Ellisbridge and then to the Lokmanya Tilak Baug. The garden was built to commemorate the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897.

The garden, where the first meeting of SEWA was held, now has a memorial in the shape of an open book made of red sandstone, under a banyan tree planted by Bhatt on April 12, 2022, to commemorate 50 years of SEWA.

On her previous visit in 2018, SEWA had invited Clinton to be part of their 50 year celebrations. “She has kept her promise,” said Nanavaty.

“Clinton who will inaugurate this memorial will take part in the celebrations of 50 years of SEWA and 75 years of Indian Independence,” added Nanavaty.
Ahmedabad-based architect Aniket Bhagwat, who re-designed the garden under the aegis of the Torrent Group’s UN Mehta Foundation (UNM), said, “The memorial by the UNM Foundation and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has a note on Elaben in English and Gujarati.”

On Tuesday morning, Clinton is expected to visit IIT Gandhinagar.