Vaishnavi is a 2-year-old girl child from Deri skinner village, Manikpur. Her father is a driver and mostly stays outside the house due to the nature of his job. Vaishnavi's mother is a maid who works in various houses, due to which she is unable to pay attention to her child. In her absence, Ms.Rekha, a member of Jai Maa Bhawani SHG, takes care of Vaishnavi.

A 'neonatal death' is defined as a death during the first 28 days of life and globally, this period carries the highest risk of mortality, per day, than any other period during childhood.

"Globally, cotton farming has had a bad reputation. For its overuse of pesticides. For child labor. On all fronts, cotton has had a lot of cleaning up to do. As a cotton-growing country, the situation in India was no different - at Ambuja Foundation, we struggled to change the ingrained practices of farmers - who were damaging the environment and barely surviving, in the process.

Ambuja Foundation kick-started organic farming promotion in 2010 in Bhagwanpur block in Uttarakhand. Today, the district is home to the Bhu Amrit Farmer Producer Organisation, a collective of organic farmers who work across the entire value chain of organic production, certification, and marketing. With 667 farmer shareholders, the group produces a variety of products and has commenced marketing them in key markets such as Delhi, Gujarat & Punjab, and has even moved their products online, via Flipkart and Amazon.

“When you visit a village in Rajasthan, you are bound to find a pond close by. One of the most ancient and traditional structures for rainwater harvesting, there are about 83,000 ponds in Rajasthan.

“In Darlaghat, Himachal Pradesh, livestock are a major source of income for families. A big challenge however, was access to timely, good quality veterinary care.

My husband and mother in law never used to let me do anything – my existence was limited to home! But I wanted more for my life.

“When Ambuja Foundation approached me to implement the internet saathi project, I was not very sure. Forget the internet - women, including me, didn’t even own a smartphone!

“A special invitation for 'loans' went out to SHGs from the Women's Federation of Chandrapur in 2015. Usually provided for small businesses, weddings or for buying a house/vehicle, this was the first time loans were being offered for toilets.

“No one would have dreamt that Harbinder Kumar would one day be working in the Ropar District Court House. But that’s exactly what this 24 year old, mildly intellectually challenged young man is doing - and he is loving it!

"I used to despair about my life. I’m not like everyone else, and what are the chances in life for a disabled guy like me? I soon started drinking and even began selling liquor like everyone else in my village. The only respectable thing I did was shoe polishing, which did not earn me enough money.

“Shamsher was our first child and you won’t believe how I was dancing with joy at his birth. But we could sense something was not right while he was growing up. Finally, my wife and I accepted that Shamsher was different.