Vasai-Virar

Indumaty Barve, Usha Manerika, Jayashree Samant and Shubhada Kothawale came together in 1991 to form the Shramik Mahila Vikas Sangh to help underprivileged women and single mothers become financially independent

Called bavkhals, these age-old ponds once nurtured coastal wadis (orchards and farms) but had become filled with waste over the years. Until one man decided to breathe life into them.

In 2017, 89 per cent of minor missing cases were solved, 450 children were reunited with their parents or sent to safe shelters like Child Welfare Centres. Other than this, more than 100 victims of sex trafficking and labour trafficking were rescued.