AS A collection agent for a credit society, Manisha Shinde made daily visits to slums in Pune to collect savings from women working with self-help groups. During these visits, the women often shared with her their stories of struggle, which usually ended in a wish: “If only we had a house of our own”. But in a city where, according to the Pune Municipal Corporation, around 40 per cent people live in slums, they knew they didn’t stand much of a chance.
Their dream is now taking shape, thanks to Shinde and other collection agents of the Navchetna Mahila Nagri Pat Sanstha, the credit society with which the women — mostly members of self-help groups, where they made papads and pickles — held accounts. A 30-apartment building, with homes of 450 sq ft each, is coming up on a 17,000-sq-ft plot, 14 km from Pune city.
It gives such a good feeling when one reads of such inspirational stories in newspapers. Read this story in full, by Ajay Khape published in The Indian Express....
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