She never saw the inside of a classroom, nor could she read or write. Yet one day, this woman would use computers and the law to fight injustice. This is the extraordinary story of Nauroti Devi.
As a young woman, Nauroti spent her days breaking stones on a road construction site in Rajasthan’s Harmada village. With a meagre pay that barely kept hunger away, life was simply about surviving the next day.
Then came the famine of 1981. The land dried up, food disappeared, and hope became scarce. Nauroti worked shoulder to shoulder with 700 labourers from five villages. But survival only grew harder and harsher.
Until one day, she uncovered a cruel truth. Women were paid Rs 4 a day, while men earned Rs 7 for the same work. Some were not even given that, told their labour “wasn’t good enough”. Injustice was not new, but this time, she could not stay silent.
Something shifted in her. She began uniting workers to fight for justice — a woman with no education but a heart full of fire. With support from a local NGO, Nauroti decided to fight back.
The case travelled all the way to the Supreme Court of India. A woman who had never been to school stood up against an entire system. And she won. Equal wages were restored and dignity reclaimed.
For Nauroti, this victory was not the end. She understood that to fight injustice, you first need knowledge. So she joined Barefoot College in Tilonia for a six-month literacy programme.
There, she discovered letters, laws, and the power of awareness — skills she had been denied her whole life. As she learnt, she also lifted others, and women from nearby villages began gathering around her.
Then one day, villagers requested her to stand for the panchayat elections. Nauroti agreed. A woman who once used thumbprints was now ready to sign papers as a leader. In 2010, she became the Sarpanch of Harmada.
As Sarpanch, Nauroti brought technology into a village that had never imagined it. She even installed a computer in the panchayat office. The internet became her classroom.
Through it, she learnt about women’s rights, health, agriculture, and labour laws — anything that could bring dignity to her people. Every lesson, she carried back to Harmada.
Her life reminds us that literacy is not just a skill. It is freedom. It is the bridge between survival and dignity, between being overlooked and being unstoppable. When one woman learns, an entire community moves forward.