We often celebrate women who break the glass ceiling in the corporate world. They defy stereotypes to rise above the odds.

But for a minute, picture doing this in remote areas of the country, where limited access to resources plays spoilsport and patriarchy is rife.

Here are five women changemakers who broke barriers to uplift rural India.

1. Chhavi Rajawat, Rajasthan Former sarpanch of Rajasthan’s Soda Village, Rajawat aced an MBA degree before she decided to turn her skills and attention to rural India and its development.

Rajawat’s stint as sarpanch witnessed 800 households getting pipelines, around 800 homes getting toilets, numerous ponds being revived, and 100 roads being built.

2. Neha Upadhyay, Ladakh Neha Upadhyay empowers farmers, especially women, by introducing solar drying and eco-friendly practices in Ladakh through her initiative, Guna Organics.

Upadhyay has impacted more than 3,000 women through her platform Guna Organics, which integrates organic practices and solar technology in farming. She has also been instrumental in eight rural nooks being branded as ecovillages.

3. Chetna Gala Sinha, Maharashtra Chetna Gala Sinha started the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank in 1997, the first bank in India created specifically for rural women and operated by them.

The impact of the bank extends beyond the financial scope. According to the website, 90,000 accounts have been opened with the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank while 900 farmers have benefited from the market programmes.

4. Lata Kachhawaha, Rajasthan After arriving in Barmer district in 1985 following her mother’s demise, Lata Kachhawaha began working with Sure NGO to empower women of the Meghwal community to earn a living through Kashidakari, a traditional form of embroidery.

The women are taught about entrepreneurship, tallying balance sheets, and understanding profits and losses. Thousands of women have benefitted through the programmes.

5. Kanchan Parulekar Kanchan Parulekar helms Swayamsiddha, a Kolhapur-based organisation that, in the last 32 years, has worked to empower women entrepreneurs by enabling them to earn through bakeries, food processing units, bag manufacturing units, beauty parlours and handicrafts.

“Marginalised communities often find it difficult to access basic facilities due to poverty. I saw my parents work hard to bring the Government’s attention to this, and bring in policy changes for years. I, too, wanted to help bring concrete transformation,” she shared.