What does it take to be a changemaker?
Grit and charm.
Tenacity and empathy.
Energy and sensitivity.
Amongst ladies, these qualities typically take form as deeply rooted, sustainable options — constructed quietly, powered by resilience, and amplified via care.
Within the TBI Girls Changemakers class, this spirit shines in lots of kinds — from preserving conventional information and breaking taboos to main disruptive improvements. Every changemaker is forging new paths towards fairness, dignity, and alternative.
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As a part of Optum Presents The Higher India Showcase, supported by the M3M Basis — a tribute to the dreamers and doers driving change throughout 9 key areas of influence — we highlight 5 outstanding ladies whose work is shaping a extra inclusive and empowered India.
1. Dr Kalpana Sankar
In the present day, 2.2 million ladies throughout India stroll with a spring of their step — due to a newfound monetary independence. The credit score goes to Dr Kalpana Sankar, a nuclear physicist-turned-social reformer who co-founded ‘Hand in Hand India’ to pursue her ardour for ladies’s empowerment. Her work permits the formation of self-help teams (SHGs), entry to jobs, and the eradication of kid labour — all via a holistic mannequin of rural growth.
Her influence lies in creating 1.5 million jobs, empowering 2.2 million ladies with credit score entry and entrepreneurship coaching, and dealing in over 500 villages throughout India.
The mannequin’s success led to it being replicated on overseas shores, too. With over 20 years of her life having been devoted to this trigger, Dr Kalpana believes in championing change via fashions that don’t subscribe to traditional approaches.
She has additionally been a recipient of the distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award in Monetary Inclusion (2023) for her work in driving transformative socio-economic modifications within the rural heartlands of North and South India; the Nari Shakti Puraskar (2016); and the International Award for Girls Empowerment (2019) from UN Girls and the Kingdom of Bahrain.
2. Ruma Devi
Can embroidery transcend being a passion and as an alternative be what catalyses ladies’s empowerment?
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Ruma Devi believed so. A faculty dropout, she used embroidery to remodel the lives of ladies in conservative Rajasthan by reviving conventional crafts and forming collectives, thus empowering over 30,000 ladies to earn an improved earnings and thereby lowering their dependence on seasonal work.
In her function on the Gramin Vikas Evam Chetna Sansthan, Ruma helped deal with the gaps encountered within the advertising and marketing processes, studying the way to generate payments, establish potential patrons, and package deal their merchandise successfully.
The ladies have showcased their merchandise, crafted utilizing pure dyes, in nations like Germany, in addition to at fashionable occasions like Lakme Trend Week. In 2018, she was introduced the Nari Shakti Puraskar by former president Ram Nath Kovind. Ruma has additionally been invited by Harvard to talk about the mannequin’s success.
3. Pallabi Ghosh
Pallabi’s influence doesn’t finish at rescuing a trafficked little one; it’s, as an alternative, just the start of the shut affiliation she goes on to share with them. Counselling, schooling, and livelihood alternatives are among the many after-rescue instrument equipment that she offers, all directed in the direction of long-term rehabilitation.
By way of her Influence and Dialogue Basis, Pallabi has rescued greater than 10,000 youngsters from human trafficking throughout Assam and neighbouring states. Survivors are supplied with vocational abilities like stitching and gardening, together with authorized help and emotional assist, to assist them reintegrate into society and reclaim their lives. Just a few have gone on to turn into advocates for others on related journeys.
What stands out within the mannequin is that it engages native panchayats, social welfare departments, grassroots volunteers, and legislation enforcement in mapping weak areas. Neither threats nor taunts can deter her.
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4. Geetha Manjunath
What if there have been a non-invasive method of detecting early-stage breast most cancers?
Dr Geetha Manjunath’s innovation, Thermalytix, is a groundbreaking diagnostic system that makes use of thermal imaging and AI to detect early-stage breast most cancers. It’s non-invasive, radiation-free, moveable, and designed to make sure privateness throughout screenings.
To this point, over 75,000 ladies throughout 29 Indian cities have been screened utilizing Thermalytix — many via free well being camps. The expertise has enabled early detection amongst marginalised communities, serving to scale back remedy delays and the monetary burden of late-stage most cancers care.
By way of her well being tech social enterprise Niramai Well being Analytix, the system’s deployment in rural areas helps catalyse their entry to cost-effective screening.
5. Aditi Gupta
What if a tabooed subject like menstruation may very well be defined utilizing comics and culturally nuanced storytelling?
NID (Nationwide Institute of Design) graduate Aditi Gupta, together with Tuhin Paul and Rajat Mittal, co-founded one of many first initiatives of its form — Menstrupedia. The platform spreads consciousness about menstruation via numerous codecs, together with an internet site, weblog, printed and digital comedian books, and on-ground workshops.
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Launched in September 2016, The Menstrupedia Comedian: The Pleasant Information to Durations for Ladies has been adopted by over 75 colleges and 25 NGOs throughout India, reaching greater than 70,000 ladies. It has been translated into a number of Indian languages, in addition to overseas languages like Nepali and Spanish, and shipped to nations together with Nepal, South America, and the Philippines.
The Showcase could also be a single occasion, however the tales don’t finish there.
Each winner (and a number of other nominees) shall be constantly featured throughout The Higher India platforms via:
- Video documentaries
- In-depth written tales
- Quick reels and social content material
We imagine that the true energy of recognition lies in what comes after the applause. So anticipate these tales to stick with you lengthy after September, all year long.
Optum Presents The Higher India Showcase, supported by the M3M Basis, goes reside on 18 September, 2025 — a celebration of service, resilience, and the individuals constructing India’s higher future.
Meet the nominees, discover their tales, and observe this journey of influence — multi function place: Click on right here.
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