Rani Gaidinliu Award is given by Rongmei Chamnac Phwam Delhi (Rongmei Students’ Organization Delhi) to an individual for recognition of their works and contributions toward helping society. Recommendations received from public submission and also other sources are placed before the Rani Gaidinliu Awards Committee. The number of annual awards is restricted to a maximum of 2 in a particular year. Th
e Rani Gaidinliu Award is conferred on the recommendations made by the Rani Gaidinliu Awards Committee. The following names are the members of the Rani Gaidinliu Award Committee (2021-2023):
1. Livingstone Gangmei, Vice President, RCPD & Editor-in-Chief, The People’s Journal - Chairman
2. DDA, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, GOI - Member
3. A G Kambulung, Manager, Indian Overseas Bank - Member
Brief Summary of Rani Gaidinliu
Rani Gaidinliu, a freedom fighter and spiritual leader who belong to Rongmei Naga Tribe, was born on January 26, 1915, at Luangkao village, now in Taosem Sub-Division under Tamenglong District of Manipur. She led an armed uprising against the British Raj in Manipur, Nagaland and Assam. At 13, she became associated with freedom fighter Haipou Jadonang and became his lieutenant in his social, and political movement against the British Raj. Haipou Jadonang, who was also a Rongmei, started the ‘Heraka movement’, based on the ancestral Rongmei Naga religion, and envisioned an independent Naga kingdom (or Naga-Raj). Rani Gandiliu’s joining with Jadonang prepared her to fight the British. After the ex*****on of Jadonang in 1931, she took up the leadership of the movement — which slowly turned political from religious. Rani started a freedom movement against the British and was eventually imprisoned for life. In 1932, she was just 16 when she was arrested for raising a movement against the British Raj, she was sentenced to life imprisonment by the British rulers. After her arrest in 1932, the Rongmei Naga freedom fighter was kept at several prisons across the Northeast. The first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru called her the “Daughter of the Hills” and gave her the title “Rani” or queen acknowledging her role in the struggle against the British. She passed away on February 17, 1993, in her native village Luangkao. But before that, she was bestowed a number of numerous honours which include: the Tamrapatra in the1972, the Padma Bhushan in 1982, the Vivekananda Sewa Summan in 1983, and the Stree Shakti Puraskar in 1991. She was awarded the Bhagwan Birsa Munda Puraskar posthumously in 1996. The Government of India issued a postal stamp in her honour in the same year. In 2015, the Government of India, on her birth anniversary, issued commemorative coins of Rs 100 and a circulation coin of Rs 5 in her honuor and The Indian Coast Guard commissioned a Fast Patrol Vessel “ICGS Rani Gaidinliu” in the year 2016.
