Her Life is a showcase of India’s unsung heroes, women navigating their way through a changing world. Using audio, video, photos and text, women share their successes and hopes on Her Life, but also their failures and fears. It’s her life – in her own words.
Despite lacking a technical education and being ridiculed for her ‘scientific pursuit,’ 48-year-old Nasira Akhtar of Kanipora village in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, is about to get a patent for her grassroots innovation of a magical herb that converts polythene into ashes.
Manipur’s 90-year-old Hanjabam Ongbi Radhe Sharmi, who promotes potloi setpi – the traditional bridal dress of Manipur’s Meitei community – is happy with gaining recognition through her Padma Shri award. But she believes the government should financially support artisans like her during their old age.
Losing her husband to COVID was a huge blow for Sugna Devi. Desperate to provide for her children, she learned sustainable farming techniques and now makes and sells bio-pesticides and fertilisers. With a focus on chemical-free farming and soil fertility, she trains others also to make these bio-products.
Pipi Keithellakpam was criticised by her family and villagers for starting a pig farm, as piggery is considered the domain of men. But she refused to give up. After a disease outbreak killed all her pigs she found the courage to start all over and taste success again.
Following the footsteps of her mother, yet developing her own style of painting the Bhil Pithora art, Shanta Bhuriya not only gets commissioned to paint but trains young and old alike to keep this traditional art form alive.
Born in a poor farmer household and having had to bear the burden of losing loved ones early in life, Sukari Nag of Neganar village in Chhattisgarh was emotionally and financially drained. Joining a self-help group not only improves her income but helps her guide others as the group’s leader.
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.
Kudeladu Jani, a tribal farmer in Odisha’s Kandhamal district who’s been conserving traditional seeds for two decades, says they’re precious because they need no chemicals, are nutritious and protect the community’s traditional agro-ecological knowledge.
Inspired by the verdant fields of Punjab, research scientist Jigmet Yangchin motivates women in the cold mountainous regions of her homeland, Leh. She introduces easy vermicomposting and cleaning the River Sindh – anything to make life better for her people.
