Shahina Javed

Meet Shahina Javed, who runs her own support group Roshni, which helps women of her community – from dealing with issues like child marriages to promoting physical fitness by setting up a girls’ soccer team.

From refusing to wear a hijab to protecting victims of domestic violence, this feisty woman has ruffled many feathers in the conservative locality. She started a support group called Roshni, guiding women in her community. Two years ago, Javed raised eyebrows when she set up the all girls’ soccer team. Last year when she stalled the marriage of a minor girl, some rowdies ransacked her office and threatened her with dire consequences.

“I knew that the path to breaking stereotypes will be tough. But I have taken this up knowing the challenges well. Come what may I will keep working for gender equality and women empowerment,” Javed said.

Jeeja Ghosh

Meet Jeeja Ghosh, a cerebral palsy patient, who is the brand ambassador for the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections and is also the proud mother of an adopted baby girl.

Born with cerebral palsy and an indomitable spirit, Jeeja Ghosh has overcome many a hurdle in her life. The latest feather in her cap is her appointment as brand ambassador for the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections as the Election Commission organised camps to enroll voters with disabilities. A graduate in sociology, Jeeja did her Post Graduation from Delhi University and went on to do a second masters in Disability Studies from Leeds University, UK. She became head of Advocacy and Disability Studies at Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy.

She co-founded a non-profit organisation ‘Inclusion Infinite Foundation’ as well as an LLP ‘Ebullience Advisors’. Both startups are replacing the charity based model with a rights based one. Chin up and ready to rock the world, at a personal level, Jeeja pierced yet another glass ceiling by adopting a baby girl, Hiya.

Mousree Basistha

Meet Mousree Basistha, a woman battling with impaired vision, who is the President’s Award winner for Best Employees in India (blind category) and also imparts understanding of legal theories to the bureaucrats of our country.

Smoky white. The only colour Mousree Basistha manages to “see.” She emerged a topper among 54 aspirants with “normal vision” and bagged the post of an assistant professor at the Kolkata Police Law Institute, last year. She achieved one educational milestone after another, like topping the LLB exams and pursuing a Phd after an LLM in Homosexuals’ Rights.

In 2014, she received the President’s Award for Best Employees in India (blind category). Imparting complex theories in law to bureaucrats (IAS, IPS, WBCS and WBPS officers) comes naturally to Mousree. Education empowers her to lead a life with greater freedom. “I am the man in the house, taking care of every little thing and everybody, including my aging parents. Someday I want to adopt a child. If motherhood is the biggest challenge, I must take it,” the can-do woman signs off, smiling.

Mehuli Ghosh

Meet Mehuli Ghosh, a silver medal winner of the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, who has now set her eyes on the Olympic gold in Tokyo.

Seven-year-old Mehuli Ghosh wanted to be a gun-toting CID officer!
Unlike other Bengali girls, she was never interested in confining herself to the stereotype.
Her initiation into shooting wasn't smooth. She was rebuked by coaches and fellow shooters for shooting wayward.
Then marksman Joydeep Karmakar saw the determination in her. He kept her away from any competition and made her go through various mental trainings for a year.
Mehuli thus re-emerged in a new avatar. Two golds in the Pune national championships in 2016 were followed by a stunning tally of eight gold medals in Thiruvananthapuram. The achievements made everyone in Indian shooting take notice. Next, she went on to miss gold by a whisker at the Commonwealth Games in Australia and won a silver in the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.
“With a gun, I can visualize a world my way,” Mehuli said. “My ultimate dream is to win an Olympic gold and I hope it will happen in Tokyo.”

Ratnaboli Ray

Meet Ratnaboli Ray, a psychologist by profession and a mental health activist by passion, is the one to extend care and raise the awareness that mental issues are not a social taboo.

Ratnaboli grew up in a household with two schizophrenia patients who were kept far away from the public gaze. Always deeply troubled by this, she pursued her graduation in psychology and then specialized in psychosocial disability.
Driven by a desire to rehabilitate and reintegrate people with psychosocial disability, Ratnaboli through her tireless efforts joined hands with the state government to establish Anjali, an organization which operates with two main focuses – to provide affordable care to mental health patients, while at the same time trying to remove the social taboo surrounding mental health issues.
Ratnaboli’s journey has been one of determination, a determination to provide care to those who need it. For her unending efforts for the greater good, she has been awarded the prestigious Human Rights Watch's Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism. Ratnaboli continues to provide a much needed care, and hopes to take it further ahead.

Falguni Nevatia

Meet Falguni Nevatia, a medical health social worker who has been providing high-quality primary healthcare to rural and underprivileged communities with an unyielding spirit.

Falguni’s story is one of strength and resilience. She met Arun Nevatia, a cancer fighter since ten, while pursuing her graduation in Mathematics. Because of Arun’s wavering health, the match was not an approved one but that did not stop the duo from tying the knot.
Sensitive to the need for a proper primary health care system, Falguni gave up her teaching career of twenty years to help the growth and development of Rural Health Care Foundation, an organization established by Arun, imparting primary health care facilities to the rural areas and underprivileged sections of the society.
Arun breathed his last in 2013 and she took up the reigns of the foundation. Today RHCF has treated more than 2.1 million patients and is spread across 20 centres in West Bengal. With unfazed determination and true grit, Falguni continues to care for the ones in need.

Tiasa Adhya

Meet Tiasa Adhya, a wildlife conservationist, who is the recipient of the prestigious Nari Shakti Puraskar, for her successful efforts to save the endangered, fishing cat.

Tiasa was brought up in the four walls of a concrete jungle, but she developed an interest for the wild, thanks to her brother and father. It was in 2010, that Tiasa, by then the co-founder of Fishing Cat Project, along with her partner and mentor, Partha Dey, began to research on the habitat and the condition of the endangered fishing cats.
An incident sparked off the fiery side of this conservationist in 2015, when a few poachers killed a fishing cat and posted the picture on social media for the world to see. Appalled by the insensitivity, Tiasa and her team managed to collect 5,000 signatures from 48 countries which worked as a driving force to get the poachers arrested and also helped in getting the conservation of fishing cats within the three-tiers of panchayati administration.
Awarded with the Nari Shakti Puraskar, Tiasa hopes to transform conservation into a “societal decision” through her endeavors.

Lipika-Biswas

Meet Lipika Biswas, a record breaking mountaineer and cyclist, who has been touring the world on the power of two wheels.

Led by an undaunted spirit, Lipika Biswas is the epitome of a woman of strength. Being a trained mountaineer from the prestigious Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Lipika has always given realization to her dreams.
Lipika was part of an all women mountain bike expedition team which had travelled from Kullu (4193 ft) to Khardung La (18380 ft) in 2011, earning them a place in the Limca Book of Records. Along with mountaineering, Lipika has also achieved major feat in cycling. In 2010, she was part of an all women team which had cycled from Kolkata to Kanyakumari.
Her latest achievement is cycling a whooping distance of 2535 kilometres through six European countries - Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland, making her the first Indian woman to do a Solo Cycling Expedition across Europe. Away from the limelight, Lipika carefully nurtures her dreams of adventure and hopes to keep on adding more milestones along the way.

Monica Liu

Meet Monica Liu, the person behind all the lovely Kolkata Chinese food restaurants, who turned from being a spy suspect to an established entrepreneur.

Monica and her family used to run a small eatery in Shillong, but their life took a drastic turn when this family on the suspicion of being Chinese spies were imprisoned briefly in Shillong and then shipped off to a prison in Rajasthan for five years and then transferred to Assam. It was from Assam that Monica wrote to the Government seeking justice for their plight, upon which they were released.
Tapping in the demand for a good Chinese eatery in Kolkata, Monica opened her first restaurant in Tangra, Kim Ling. Braving through much ridicule, Monica was the first to install AC in her restaurant, which was quite unthinkable back then. Today she is the proud owner of seven restaurants across the city, including, Beijing, Kimling and Tung Fong.
Monica Liu, also known as the “Don of Tangra”, runs her businesses with an iron hand and a strong heart.

Ayesha Noor

Meet Ayesha Noor, a 22 year old, who has battled against many adversities in life, is today a Karate trainer to girls of slum areas, educating them in the techniques of self-defense.

Ayesha Noor, a girl of humble origins, began training herself in martial arts when she was only six years old. Falling prey to a chronic illness and losing her father before turning ten, however put her family in a dire financial situation which affected her training and treatment.
Refusing to give up, she trained herself under MA Ali, a karate champion of 1988. Ayesha went on to win gold medals at three state and national karate championships in 2012, post which she went to Thailand to win a gold in the Thai Pitchai International Youth Karate Championship. Her monetary situation however had not improved and she was able to continue with her training, thanks to many benefactors who came to her rescue.
Today Ayesha practices as a Karate trainer to girls from the slums at Ramleela Maidan, as she believes self-defense is something that every girl needs to be aware of.

Dr. Michelle Harrison

Meet Dr. Michelle Harrison, a doctor by profession, who gave up her home in the United States of America to set up Shishur Sevay, a safe home for both abled and disabled girls.

Dr. Harrison, a practitioner of medicine, has battled against and survived cancer, only to give a new meaning to her life and those who are less-privileged. Having been the key position holder at Johnson and Johnson, Dr. Harrison, however chose to sell her own home in the USA and do something for children, who had not been selected for adoption and were spending their days in institutions in Kolkata. Thus she established Shishur Sevay.

Founded on the principle of providing a protective home to orphaned and abandoned disabled children, Shishur Sevay under the fierce guidance of Dr. Harrison has today emerged as one of the most trusted practice model for home based care. Educating children in various forms of dance, music, arts and crafts, Dr. Harrison is committed to providing them with the best of life.

A published author and a visionary, Dr. Harrison is today an inspiration for many.

Shimanti Das

Meet Shimanti Das, the founder of Joyjeet Memorial School, who has overcome a great personal loss and emerged today as a true philanthropist, working for the underprivileged.

It was on the 29th of April, 2003 that Shimanti Das conducted the first class for her school with just a couple of children on the pavement in front of Navina Cinema. This date marked the one year death anniversary of her son, whom she had lost to liver cancer. With a desire to don something for children as a form of grief management, this former teacher-in-charge wanted to open her own school. She faced tough resistance from home, amounting to abuse, which led to her filing for divorce.
Funds were always tight during the initial days, with Shimanti getting help from family, friends, the local Bandhu Milan Club and a Swiss couple. Today, after sixteen years, Joyjeet Memorial provides education to not only underprivileged children but also vocational training to their mothers.
Shimanti continues to support ‘pass-outs’ with stipends and keeps on building on the foundation dedicated to her son.

Tumpa Adhikari

Meet Tumpa Adhikari, the co-founder of Disha, an NGO, who is raising awareness about sexual exploitation amongst the children of brothels of Kolkata.

The fact that Tumpa was determined to change the system, which made it a norm that both sex-workers and their children in the brothels would be subjected to sexual exploitation, became evident when she was in class XI. Tumpa, a mere teenager back then had dragged her alcoholic father to the police for physically abusing her mother. Though Tumpa could not continue her education more than the higher secondary level, in 2005, she and sixteen others with the guidance of social activist, Paromita Banerjee, founded Disha, an NGO, which initially started off by providing a night shelter for all the children of the brothels.
Tumpa, who was born in the Kalighat red light area, today works both there and the Kidderpore red light area, spreading awareness against abuse amongst children and mothers alike. Tumpa’s has been a journey of invincible courage and she has become the role-model for children of other sex-workers.

Suman Kumari

Meet Suman Kumari, a professional boxer who has many national accolades to her name and is now aiming for international glory.

All set for her first ever international boxing championship in China, the journey so far has been an arduous one for Suman. Born in the slum areas of Kidderpore, financial difficulties rage rampant in their one-shack house. She took up boxing when she was 12 years old and has never let any obstacle push her out of the ring till date.
She went on to win national and state level championships and it was finally in 2016 that she decided to take up professional boxing. Under the guidance of Bahadur Chhetri, Suman continued to shine and was finally selected by Amjad Khan during the 2017 Super Boxing League and has been shining ever since.
She also teaches boxing to children and offers her services as a fitness trainer by going from one home to another in a bid to earn her livelihood, even today. Suman is not afraid of working hard and is headed towards more success.

Manasi Mridha

Meet Manasi Mridha, a first generation pink cab driver of Kolkata, who has been bypassing through various dead ends in her life to make a difference.

A teen mother and having been kicked out by her in-laws, Manasi worked odd jobs to feed her son. During this period she acquired driving skills, worked as a private driver and imparted lessons to young women. For Manasi, coming in touch with Sakha was a great help. This NGO helps women to own and drive cabs in the city and they provided Manasi with encouragement and helpful advice.
Getting her cab flagged off by the Chief Minister was indeed a moment of pride for Manasi, but this was just the beginning. Availability of parking spots is a major issue and male cabbies have been bullying women cabbies to change parking spots. Initially submissive, Manasi today protests against such unfair practices and is providing the courage to many who are in her position to not give in to the dominance of patriarchy on the roads.