Stories of Change

Shilparani, Bidar, Karnataka

๐–๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐งโ€™๐ฌ ๐‹๐ž๐š๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ ๐’๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐‹๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ก๐จ๐จ๐๐ฌ When women in her area hesitated to approach banks or manage financial records, Shilparani Biradar chose to step forwardโ€”not just as a bookkeeper, but as a

Shital Giri, Latur, Maharashtra

๐…๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐‡๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐‘๐ž๐ฌ๐ฉ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐›๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐„๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐‹๐ž๐š๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ In Bhoesamudra village of Latur district, Maharashtra, Shital Giriโ€™s journey reflects the power of opportunity and belief. Born into a modest farming family, Shital

Asma, Wayanad, Kerala

๐…๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐„๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž: ๐€๐ฌ๐ฆ๐šโ€™๐ฌ ๐‰๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ฒ ๐š๐ฌ ๐š ๐Œ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐จ๐ฆ ๐„๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ฎ๐ซ Asma began farming mainly to support her familyโ€™s food needs. Like many rural women, her work remained within the household,

Ratna Gare, Nashik, Maharashtra

๐…๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐‚๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐‚๐ก๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐‚๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐‹๐ž๐š๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ: ๐‘๐š๐ญ๐ง๐š ๐†๐š๐ซ๐žโ€™๐ฌ ๐‰๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ฒ In Samundi village of Nashik district, Maharashtra, Ratna Gareโ€™s family depended largely on agriculture and small livelihood activities. Like many rural

Lalmanti Devi, Gayaji, Bihar

๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐’๐ญ๐š๐›๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐š๐ญ ๐‡๐จ๐ฆ๐ž: ๐‹๐š๐ฅ๐ฆ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ข ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฏ๐ขโ€™๐ฌ ๐’๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐‚๐ก๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž In Amin village of Gayaji district, Bihar, Lalmanti Devi once lived with constant uncertainty. Her family depended on seasonal farm labour.

Priya Khot, Latur, Maharashtra

๐…๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐‡๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐‹๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐–๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง-๐‹๐ž๐ ๐‹๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ก๐จ๐จ๐๐ฌ ๐™๐™ง๐™ค๐™ข ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™จ๐™ข๐™–๐™ก๐™ก ๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก๐™–๐™œ๐™š ๐™ค๐™› ๐™‹๐™–๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™๐™ค๐™ก๐™ž ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™‡๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ง ๐™™๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ž๐™˜๐™ฉ, ๐™ˆ๐™–๐™๐™–๐™ง๐™–๐™จ๐™๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–, ๐™‹๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฎ๐™– ๐™†๐™๐™ค๐™ฉโ€™๐™จ ๐™Ÿ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™จ๐™๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™จ ๐™๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃโ€™๐™จ ๐™ก๐™š๐™–๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™๐™ž๐™ฅ ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ฆ๐™ช๐™ž๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™๐™–๐™ฅ๐™š ๐™ง๐™ช๐™ง๐™–๐™ก ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š๐™จ. Not long

Parvati Dilip Shinde, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra

๐…๐š๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐…๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐…๐ข๐ž๐ฅ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐‹๐ž๐š๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ: ๐๐š๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐ข ๐’๐ก๐ข๐ง๐๐žโ€™๐ฌ ๐‰๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ฒ ๐“๐จ๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐‚๐ก๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ-๐…๐ซ๐ž๐ž ๐…๐š๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐  Parvati Dilip Shinde from Khatkheda village in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, Maharashtra, is today a confident trainer and grassroots leader

๐๐ก๐š๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ก๐ข ๐•๐ž๐ง๐ฎ, Wa๐ฒ๐š๐ง๐š๐, ๐Š๐ž๐ซ๐š๐ฅ๐š

๐…๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐”๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐š๐ข๐ง ๐‡๐š๐ซ๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐‚๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ž-๐‘๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐…๐š๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐  Despite owning cultivable land, Bharathi Venuโ€™s farming journey in Meppadi village, Wayanad, Kerala, was marked by repeated losses and uncertainty. Pest attacks, lack of

Kavita Bhalke, Latur, Maharashtra

๐Š๐š๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐šโ€™๐ฌ ๐‰๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ฒ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐‚๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐’๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก After Kavita Bhalkeโ€™s marriage in 2009, her family began facing financial challenges. Though educated, social norms did not allow her to work outside the home.

Sangita, Nanded, Maharashtra

๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐‚๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐‡๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ญ๐ก ๐‹๐ž๐š๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ Sangita, from Shelgaon village in Nanded district, comes from a small farming family. A mother of two and educated up to the 11th standard, she always

Babita Kumari, Nalanda, Bihar

From Village Woman to Clean Energy Champion Babita Kumari (36) never imagined she would become an entrepreneur. Coming from a humble family, money was always limited and opportunities felt out

Baby Kumari, Gayaji, Bihar

Meet Meyariโ€™s โ€˜Mushroom Didiโ€™ In Meyari village of Gayaji district, Bihar, women have always worked hard on farmsโ€”but rarely had the opportunity to build something of their own. Baby Kumari

Reshma Badnale, Bidar, Karnataka

๐‡๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ฆ๐š๐ค๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ ๐‚๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ž-๐‘๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐…๐š๐ซ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ ๐‹๐ž๐š๐๐ž๐ซ Reshma Badnale lives in Rampur village, Kamalnagar block of Bidar district, Karnataka. She is part of a joint family of six, balancing her roles as

Nandini Dharane, Bidar, Karnataka

๐…๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ˆ๐ง๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐‹๐š๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ ๐…๐š๐ซ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ ๐‹๐ž๐š๐๐ž๐ซ Nandini Dharane lives in Khatgoan village of Bidar district, Karnataka, where women have always worked on farms but are rarely recognised as farmers. Born

Asha Kumari, Nalanda, Bihar

๐…๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐”๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐š๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐„๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ: ๐€๐ฌ๐ก๐š ๐Š๐ฎ๐ฆ๐š๐ซ๐ขโ€™๐ฌ ๐‰๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ฒ Asha Kumari hails from Mai village in Nalanda district, Bihar. She comes from a landless family, where livelihoods have always been uncertain. Her