“Change is constant” even if it’s the cliché to say but it’s true. There are few people who enable change at grassroots level. Sangeeta Kunwar, age 45, an empowered woman from Rolakheda village of Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan has earned recognition in her village for the contribution which she made. Not only she broke several stereotypes but also paved way for new horizons which challenged the social taboos which were holding the women for no reason.

She hails from Rajput community-dominated village where women still are living a life of social neglect and oppression. Women adhere to strict societal norms where they are not allowed to do anything. Neither they can socialise. Somebody has rightly said “where there is a will, there is a way” and Sangeeta had a willingness to change the state not only for her but for the other women of the village too.

Married at an early age, she couldn’t pursue her education beyond 8^th standard. Also, she lost her husband with whom she has a daughter who is pursuing her education as of now. The hardships of life couldn’t demotivate Sangeeta who always had an instinct to thrive the paddle of continuous improvement via imbibing new skill sets and it was the intervention of Second Chance Education Program in the Chittorgarh district in September 2019, which formed the base.

Her active participation and involvement not only helped to mobilise 30 women of the village but also assisted in connecting those women to Rural Self Employment Training Institute based out of Chittorgarh from where these women derived ten day training which imbibed them the skill sets to drive new initiations. Now the aspiring women have the idea to commercially produce candles.

As per Second Chance Education Program, gender inequality as an issue needs to be addressed. For this a 5-day training session at the Chittorgarh based hub was conducted. Sangeeta not only attended the same but also playing a key role in fostering the learning as village level. She is now involved in the associated tasks in 6 villages as of now and she is delivering trainings to the women of these villages for which she is being paid. The actions of her seem promising and the commitment to float the ideas despite all odds is noteworthy. “Harbinger of Change” context holds true in this case!!