An Example to follow

The story of Rajpati and the Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana (RGMVP) is an often repeated effort of the program to bring empowerment and understanding to women in the remotest parts of the nation. Rajpati, coming from a backward class and suffering from the practice of parda, never realized that there was a wider world outside the four walls of her house, and that, more importantly, she could participate in that larger world. Through the work of RGMVP, she has discovered not only her own latent abilities, but is now helping others to do the same!

When she first approached the RGMVP team, she was a purdah clad woman, barely able to speak to them. She stammered her name, but was almost unintelligible. Nervous and unsure of herself, she was another example of so many of India’s neglected women in villages across the country. Bound to their houses and by veils, they fail to realize that they can do so much more.

But the change in Rajpati is a beacon of hope for all the other women like her. Boosted by RGMVP, she now is a confident woman, sure of herself and unfettered by the binds of her past. But what is amazing is that she isn’t content to have found herself, she’s now leading others to leave behind the same chains, and discover their role in the wider world. As a Community Resource Person with RGMVP, she is helping women find the same confidence that she now has.


Rajpati has become an adept public speaker and is fluent in conveying the goals and ideas of the RGMVP to gatherings, and her own story is her best metaphor. The change in Rajpati, from a nervous, shy, and helpless woman, to a teacher and guide, truly is a story of empowerment and growth one should be proud of.