In 1999, Shashi Mani Tripathi started Jagriti Sewa Sansthan in Deoria district, Uttar Pradesh, after noticing that women, particularly from socio-economically weaker families, had time on their hands but few structured avenues to use it productively.
That observation became the starting point for Jagriti Sewa Sansthan, a grassroots organisation that set out to turn women’s time and potential into opportunity.
Jagriti, which means “awakening”, was an apt name for an organisation built around helping women discover their own agency, skills and economic potential.
It began and continues as a low-cost training programme where women from villages could learn computer education, English, tailoring, handicrafts and beauty skills.
Shashank Mani Tripathi, Shashi’s son, shared his mother's instinct: India's transformation wouldn't come just from its metros, but from within its districts and villages.
