Dr. Hina Shafi Bhat Honored with ET Inspiring Women Leaders Award

Dr. Hina Shafi Bhat, Former Chairperson of the Jammu & Kashmir Khadi and Village Industries Board (J&K KVIB), has been honored with the prestigious ET Inspiring Women Leaders Award at the ET Women Inspiring Conclave, held at Grand Hyatt, Gurugram. The event was organized by the Times Now Group to recognize exceptional contributions by women leaders across various fields.

Dr. Hina Bhat is the daughter of the late Mohammad Shafi Bhat, a former Member of Parliament. In 2014, she chose to leave behind a flourishing career in dentistry to enter politics by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). That same year, at the age of 36, she contested her first election from the Amira Kadal assembly segment in Srinagar but was unsuccessful.

Shortly after coming to power in 2014, the BJP appointed her as the vice president of the state chapter of the Mahila Morcha, the party’s women’s wing. In 2017, she was inducted into the northern zone of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC). Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Mann Ki Baat address, acknowledged her efforts in restoring the Pampore training center of KVIC, which had remained inactive for 25 years.

During her tenure as Vice Chairperson and later Chairperson of J&K KVIB, Dr. Hina Bhat played a pivotal role in transforming the board into a key driver of employment generation in Jammu and Kashmir. Between 2019 and 2024, KVIB successfully established 30,850 micro-enterprises, creating livelihood opportunities for 246,800 individuals—a significant increase compared to the 7,662 units and 47,638 jobs created between 2014 and 2018. Notably, women entrepreneurs accounted for nearly 40% of these new ventures, reflecting a strong commitment to gender empowerment.

Under Dr. Hina Bhat’s leadership, KVIB also spearheaded the revival of traditional crafts such as beekeeping, Sozni embroidery, and chain stitch through the Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI). Currently, eight SFURTI clusters worth ₹20 crore are at various stages of implementation. Two of these clusters have already been inaugurated by the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu & Kashmir, positively impacting approximately 10,000 artisans and workers.