Indian biologist and wildlife conservationist Purnima Devi Barman has been named among Time Magazine’s ‘Women of the Year’ for 2025. The list, released on Thursday, recognises 13 women who are described as “extraordinary leaders” working towards a better and more equal world.
Barman, 45, is the only Indian woman to be featured alongside individuals such as actor Nicole Kidman and Gisele Pelicot of France, who became a global advocate against sexual violence after surviving an ordeal in which she was drugged by her husband and raped by over 70 men.
Time’s profile on Barman details a pivotal moment in her life in 2007 when she received a call about a tree being felled in Assam, home to a family of greater adjutant storks.
She recalled questioning why the tree was being cut down and facing hostility from the surrounding crowd. “Everyone surrounded me, started whistling at me,” she said.
At that moment, her thoughts turned to her infant twin daughters. “Like the storks, they were so small.” She was compelled to rescue the birds, and the experience of feeling their heartbeats profoundly affected her.
“For the first time, I felt the importance of the call of nature,” she said.
Barman described this event as the beginning of her mission. At the time, the greater adjutant stork population in the region was estimated to be around 450. Her conservation efforts led to a great recovery, and in 2023, the species was reclassified from endangered to near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
“Their population in Assam has soared to more than 1,800,” the profile noted.
Barman’s conservation work is supported by her ‘Hargila Army’, a network of around 20,000 women dedicated to protecting the birds’ nests and promoting awareness of the species.
The greater adjutant stork, a scavenger standing nearly five feet tall, has benefitted from these efforts, which have transformed public perception and contributed to its growing numbers.
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