Ms.Irom Sharmila Chanu - another name for the 'Iron Lady'
Ms. Irom Sharmila Chanu (Born on 14th March 1972) - a social activist and poet from Manipur, who has been on 'fast-unto-death' for the past nine years demanding withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 from Manipur, has been awarded ‘Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize’ on September 11, 2010. The award carrying Rs 51 lakhs, a gold medal and a citation was given to Ms Sharmila by the Indian Institute of Planning and Management. Irom Sharmila is the world's longest-running hunger striker. Ms Sharmila has been struggling for almost 10 (ten) years for restoration of human rights in Manipur. She began 'fast-unto-death' after the Assam Rifles (Indian security personnel) killed 10 people at Malom village in Imphal valley in an encounter on November 2, 2000. She is too angry to eat, too upset, too disgusted by the violence that surrounds her, too disturbed by her helplessness to do anything about it. So, three times a day for the past decade, two nurses have bee...