Alka Pande

Neem leaves and Ajwain, or Bishop’s seeds, are boiled in water, and then left to cool. This concoction, not the mother’s milk, is what newborn babies are given in Dhaki village, Uttar Pradesh. Ideally, a baby must be breastfed within the first hour of its birth, as it is the child's first source of nutrition and immunity, protecting them from various diseases .

NGO Shramik Bharati is empowering women in the slums of Kanpur to become community leaders and lead the movement for a clean, open defecation free India.

Menstruation is still considered a taboo in many parts of the country. While many still do not prefer to talk about this "problem", girls in UP are coming forward to not only talk about it but also to spread awareness about low cost sanitary napkins.

These women of Bihar had never even stepped out of their house alone. But now they are entrepreneurs and play a crucial role in the family's financial affairs. They have come out of their homes, raised their voices and transformed not only their own lives but those of the entire village.

Kalavati, a 50 year old passionate woman mason went house-to-house, collected funds and constructed toilets in her village all by herself. This is her story of how her efforts brought change and improved lives in the households of Uttar Pradesh.

Amid all the depressing news we have been receiving of late on the state of the girl child in India, especially from the northern patriarchal states like Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, here are a few stories that give us hope. These are women, and also some men, who have adopted and cared for abandoned little girls despite their own dire conditions, and many times against the wishes of their family. This is courage and compassion in its purest form.