Transform Rural India

The Jharkhand Rural Women Policy consultation brought together government leaders, grassroots voices, experts, and women’s collectives to shape a stronger framework for rural women’s empowerment in the state. Convened by the Government of Jharkhand through Jharkhand State Livelihoods Promotion Society, with support from Transform Rural India, the consultation featured key voices including Hon’ble Minister for Rural Development Deepika Pandey Singh and Supriya Shrinate, National Spokesperson, Indian National Congress, who reinforced the need to move from fragmented interventions to systemic, women-led transformation. Key recommendations from the consultation included: 👉🏼 A comprehensive rural women’s policy spanning livelihoods, health, nutrition, safety, land and tribal rights, climate resilience, and digital inclusion 👉🏼 Stronger participation of women in Gram Sabhas and Panchayati Raj institutions 👉🏼 Better market access, entrepreneurship support, and stronger implementation of PESA 👉🏼 Gender-responsive budgeting, data-driven policymaking, and robust accountability mechanisms At TRI, we were honoured to contribute to the dialogue on women’s economic empowerment, focusing on stronger livelihoods, entrepreneurship, skilling and removing barriers to women’s economic participation. The/Nudge Institute CINI INDIA #RuralDevelopment #Jharkhand #TRIAT10 #TRI

“If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it is that rural India does not lack aspiration or capability.” In the latest chapter of #HerWork, meet Ankita Rathor. What began as a journey in engineering evolved into a decade of working at the intersection of communities, governance and sustainable rural development. Over the past few years at TRI, Ankita has been working at the intersection of climate resilience, natural resource management and community-led rural transformation. Along the way, it is stories like Wasala Makta that stay with her, a village that moved from uncertainty to ownership and eventually became a learning site for other communities. For Ankita, the most meaningful change is not just in livelihoods or infrastructure, but in the confidence of communities to lead their own development journeys. 🔗 Read Ankita’s full story here: https://lnkd.in/gaddFFMw Stay tuned as we continue sharing stories from #WomenAtTRI working at the heart of systems change. #TransformRuralIndia #ClimateAction #RuralDevelopment #TRI #TRIAt10

Families are changing. Should development strategies change too? As the world marks #InternationalDayOfFamilies, this is also a moment to ask whether development practice is keeping pace with the changing realities of family life. In rural India, migration, climate stress and shifting gender roles are transforming families in multiple ways. In this latest #ThoughtfulTarakki piece, our colleagues Shyamal Santra and Shampa Roy explore why stronger development outcomes depend not only on supporting individuals, but on strengthening families, communities and collective systems of care. What do you think is the right approach to building development models that reflect these changing realities? Click below to read the full article. Photo and insight credits: Nitu Singh Md. Rayhan Siddik #RuralDevelopment #TRIAt10 #TRI #TransformRuralIndia

India’s proposed Women Farmers’ Entitlements Bill, 2026, could mark an important shift in how we define who counts as a farmer. This week’s Thoughtful Tarakki piece by Anish Kumar, Co-founder, #TRI, begins with the long-overdue recognition of women farmers, many of whom do the work of farming while remaining excluded from formal entitlements and visibility. But the article makes a larger argument: this invisibility extends beyond gender to India’s vast marginal farmer population, with consequences for rural demand, migration, employment and the country’s development trajectory. As India charts its path to Viksit Bharat, can we afford to keep ignoring the farmer India refuses to see? 👇🏼 Click the link to read the full article #ThoughtfulTarakki #Agriculture #WomenFarmers #RuralIndia #TRIAt10

Chhattisgarh is now India's first women-led renewable energy state. The DWEEPTI Yojana gives women across 11,065 Gram Panchayats the training, contracts and financing to install, maintain and run decentralised solar systems. ✅ 50,000 green jobs.  ✅ 5000 women-led enterprises.  ✅ 10,000 rural institutions electrified over 5 years. TRI spent six years across 79 villages in #Jharkhand and #Chhattisgarh building and testing this model alongside communities and in September 2025, that evidence was placed before the Government of Chhattisgarh. Swipe to see how it became a state policy 👉 CREDA(Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency) | Chhattisgarh Government ⭐️Rashmi Pandey, Anveshi G., Neeraja Kudrimoti , Ashok Kumar Prashanth Chinnappanavar #DWEEPTI #WomenInEnergy #RenewableEnergy #RuralIndia #TransformRuralIndia #CleanEnergy #SolarDidi #Chhattisgarh #EnergyAccess #WomenLedDevelopment #GreenJobs #SustainableDevelopment

Access to water changes everything. What families grow, what they earn and how they plan for the future. Across rural #Chhattisgarh, communities are showing what sustainable water security looks like when planning is local, participatory and rooted in convergence. What once began as village plans is now visible in farm ponds, restored water bodies, integrated farming and new livelihood opportunities that are strengthening incomes, resilience and food security. And none of this happens in silos. Community institutions, Panchayati Raj Institutions and local leadership are coming together to plan, act and steward shared resources. At the heart of this transformation are women leaders and community collectives shaping change as owners, not participants. With support from Hindustan Unilever Foundation and #TRI, this work continues to demonstrate the power of community-led water stewardship in rural Chhattisgarh. Story credits: Ajay Bhan Singh Ritik Raushan Ashutosh Nanda Big thanks to the HUF Team: Dr Shraman Jha, Ambreen K. Priyanka Rawat #TRIAt10 #TransformRuralIndia #RuralIndia #WaterSecurity

The deepest lesson from PESA areas: democracy becomes real when people govern their own lives with dignity and trust. In our latest Thoughtful Tarakki piece, our colleagues Jitendra Pandit and PANKAJ PANDEY explore what PESA areas can teach the rest of India about democratic self-governance. Our work across rural India has consistently shown that development outcomes emerge when communities are trusted as decision-makers, not treated merely as beneficiaries. We have seen that through Gram Sabhas and customary governance systems, communities have long practised collective decision-making, accountability and stewardship over local resources. Perhaps it is time we stopped viewing PESA areas as exceptions and started learning from them. 👇Read the full piece in the link below #ThoughtfulTarakki #PESA #LocalGovernance #RuralDevelopment #TRIAt10 #TRI

Samoti Barman knows what it means to navigate motherhood without the right support. After enduring two difficult pregnancies herself, she refused to let misinformation and outdated beliefs continue shaping women’s health choices in her village. Today, as Doncha’s Health Change Vector and #InfluencerDidi, Samoti is helping women make informed decisions about their health through conversations, community action and care. Her turning point came through the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY - NRLM), which helped her grow into many roles in her community - a tailor, a Poshan Sakhi and a fierce champion for women’s health. This #MothersDay, Samoti’s story is a reminder that when mothers have the right information, they can change the future for their families and communities. At Transform Rural India as a team of development strategists we co-design pathways that unlock women's agency and build inclusive, responsive villages. #TRIAt10 #TRI #DAYNRLM #TransformRuralIndia #CommunityHealth #RuralWomen #SystemChange

Everyone is talking about the heat. But who are we not talking about? The ASHA worker walking kilometres in peak May. The farmer watching a crop fail and woman searching for water months earlier than she should have. In this Thoughtful Tarakki piece, our colleague Anveshi G. looks beyond temperature records to examine the lived reality of extreme heat in rural India, where heat is not just a weather event, but a livelihoods, health and resilience crisis. The article also highlights how communities across Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand are already solutions to adapt to a changing climate. As the heat conversation grows louder, this piece is a reminder that some of the most important voices are still missing from it. 👇🏽Click the link below to read the full article. #ThoughtfulTarakki #TRIAt10 #TRI #Climatechange #Heatwave #RuralIndia

Quality healthcare shouldn’t stop at the city limits. The Rural Hospital at Pali, Ratnagiri has been transformed into a future-ready facility dedicated to the community by Hon’ble Minister Shri Dr. Uday Sawant, Industries and Marathi Language, Government of Maharashtra (GoM). The upgraded hospital now delivers integrated care across the life cycle, from an NQAS-compliant delivery room and Newborn Stabilisation Unit, to expanded NCD and cancer care, a modern trauma centre and a state-of-the-art diagnostic unit and renewable energy systems. This milestone is made possible by the support of SBI MUTUAL FUND CSR and SBI Foundation under the SBI Jivanam initiative, a demonstration of what strategic public-CSR partnerships can achieve for rural India. We are grateful to Sushil Kumar Verma (CFO, SBI Foundation), Nishant Bangera (CSR Lead, SBI Mutual Fund), Rajaram Chavan (AVP & Programme Head, SBI Foundation), Bhaskar Jagtap (Civil Surgeon, Ratnagiri), and Dr. Vikash Kumre (ACS & MS, Rural Hospital, Pali) for their presence and commitment. Pali, Ratnagiri is proof that geography should never determine the quality of care you receive. ⭐️Funded by: SBI Mutual Fund  ✅ Implemented by: Transforming Rural India (TRI) Swapan Dhar, Rajaram Chavan, Shyamal Santra #TransformRuralIndia #RuralHealthcare #HealthSystems #Maharashtra #PublicHealth #CSR #HealthcareTransformation #SBI #SBIFoundation #SBIMutualFunds #SBIJivanam #TRIAt10