Who is Purnima Devi Barman, the conservationist from Assam on Time's 2025 Women of the Year list?
Purnima Devi Barman from Assam is a wildlife biologist, best known for her work towards the conservation of the greater adjutant stork, also known as Hargila, which was until recently listed as endangered by the IUCN.
Time Magazine has named renowned Indian biologist and wildlife conservationist Purnima Devi Barman in its Women of the Year 2025 list. Barman has been named among 13 women honouring their "extraordinary leaders" working towards a better, more equal world.
She is the only Indian woman on Time's Women of the Year 2025 list, released Thursday, and features influential women from diverse fields.
Time's Women of the Year 2025 list
Others named in the 2025 Time Women of the Year list are actor and producer Nicole Kidman, WNBA MVP A¡¯ja Wilson, Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles, artist Laufey, actor Anna Sawai, reproductive rights activist Amanda Zurawski, Feeding America CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, Gambian women¡¯s rights activist Fatou Baldeh, activist and author Raquel Willis, actor and breast cancer awareness advocate Olivia Munn, co-founder and CEO of Bobbie Laura Modi, and Gis¨¨le Pelicot, the French woman who was drugged by her husband and raped by over 70 different men and became a global icon in the campaign against sexual violence.
Who is Purnima Devi Barman
Barman is a wildlife biologist, best known for her work towards the conservation of the greater adjutant stork, which was until recently listed as endangered by the IUCN.
CREDIT: FACEBOOK/ Purnima Devi Barman
It was in 2007, during her PhD research, that Barman first learned about the plight of greater adjutant stork, also known as Hargila in Assam.
According to Time Magazine, Barman's life changed when she got a distress call that a tree, home to a family of greater adjutant storks, was being chopped down.
CREDIT: FACEBOOK/ Purnima Devi Barman
Greater adjutant stork conservation
She learned that the greater adjutant storks were disliked by the villagers, and due to their nests being destroyed, their numbers were falling.
According to Time, that was the first time she felt the ¡°importance¡ªthe call of nature. From that day, my mission started.¡±
Working with locals and the local administration, Barman educated them about the importance of the birds to the ecology. She also founded Hargila Army, an all-women conservation group, which now has over 20,000 members who protect the birds' nests and educate others about the greater adjutant stork.
CREDIT: FACEBOOK/ Purnima Devi Barman
Thanks to her work, the greater adjutant stork population has also made a remarkable recovery, from just 450 in 2007 to 1,800 in 2023, after which the IUCN moved it from endangered to ¡°near threatened.¡±
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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