Sports
“You’re a girl. How can you go out in a sports outfit?”
Taunted and rebuked by the conservatives during her teenage years for her passion for water sports, the encouraging words of her mother kept Bilquis Mir going. Now the 33-year-old is not only a household name and a youth icon in Kashmir but also a trusted coach and international judge.
Water sports offer Kashmiri girls new career choices
The popularity of water sports for girls is surging in Kashmir thanks to inspirational coach Bilquis Mir, whose success in national and international water events makes her a role model.
Tribal girl goes from athlete to village leader
Bhagyashree Lekami was focused on entering the sports profession until the people in her village made her head of the panchayat. Now she tries to ensure her village progresses, from winning workers’ confidence to busting vaccine hesitancy.
Sport unites two hostile tribes in Assam
Sport is bringing peace between two feuding tribes - the Bodos and Santhals - in a village of Assam thanks to the efforts of a young Bodo athlete.
Megha Parmar, the first woman mountaineer from Madhya Pradesh
We spoke to the inspiring Megha Parmar, a mountaineer, scuba diver and a youth icon from Madhya Pradesh, about her journey, motivation, and her many achievements. She will be one of the inspiring rural changemakers at the World Localisation Day event.
“My pupils will one day play at the Olympics”
Karuna Purty beat poverty and prejudice to become a national hockey player. Now she coaches girls who have the same dream in their eyes that she had many years ago. Karuna Purty from Khunti district of Jharkhand talks about her journey in her own words.
Kashmiri girls pedal out of taboos
Kashmiri women who cycled were once ridiculed. But the pandemic-induced lockdown spurred them to cycle their way to better health and fitness, breaking patriarchal shackles along the way.
Santhal girls shatter social taboo playing football
Teenaged Santhal girls in West Bengal have taken to football despite facing community antagonism. They hope that the sport would deliver them from poor socioeconomic shackles
Girls join football clubs to resist child marriages in rural Bihar
Once topping the charts in child marriages in the country, Bihar has reduced the incidence of this social evil considerably, helped by innovative interventions such as starting girls clubs for solidarity and encouraging them to play football