She received the Padma Shri in 2021 for her contribution to social work. Sindhutai died on January 4, 2022, at the age of 73, but the homes she established and the children she raised remain part of her legacy.
This woman raised over 1,000 children as her own
Abandoned by her husband while pregnant and refused shelter by her own family, Sindhutai Sapkal found herself begging on railway platforms with her newborn daughter. But as she encountered other abandoned children, she began taking them in and giving them the care and family she had been denied.Affectionately called Maai, she went on to raise thousands of orphaned and destitute children, earning the title of the 'Mother of Orphans'. She received the Padma Shri in 2021 for her contribution to social work. Sindhutai died on January 4, 2022, at the age of 73, but the homes she established and the children she raised remain part of her legacy.
