The Employability Puzzle: Educated but Unprepared for Work
If you grew up in northern India, chances are you’ve heard the saying Padhoge Likhoge Banoge Nawab (study hard and you’ll go far in life). It’s one of those timeless proverbs that families pass down, a reminder of how deeply education is valued in our culture. The phrase became even more popular after Asha Bhosale sang it in the 1958 film Malik. Back then, just a decade after independence, this wasn’t just a catchy line – it echoed a national belief that education ( a means for good employability) wasn’t just good for the individual, it was essential for building the future of the country.
In a newly sovereign India grappling with poverty, illiteracy, and social fragmentation, this proverb encapsulated a powerful aspiration. It signified hope for millions, who saw education as the primary vehicle for socioeconomic transformation. The imagery of the nawab as in the phrase was not literal but symbolic – it represented dignity, status and participation in the democratic promise of postcolonial India. The assumption was that an educated populace would serve as the vanguard of progress and modernity.
But today, that hopeful vision needs a closer look. Sure, more kids are in school than ever before, but just getting an education isn’t always enough. The big question now is: are we preparing young people for real jobs and real opportunities? For many, the link between schooling and a meaningful livelihood still feels weak. It’s time to rethink what we’re teaching, how we’re teaching it, and whether it’s truly setting students up for success.
Addressing the massive gap
Here’s the tough reality: in India today, getting a degree doesn’t always lead to a job. In fact, more education can sometimes mean fewer chances at employment. Sounds backwards, but the numbers say it all. According to Azim Premji University’s State of Working India 2023report, nearly 43% of graduates under 25 are unemployed. That’s twice the rate of those who stopped at secondary school. Some states are seeing this gap even more sharply with Andhra Pradesh having more than 35% of graduates jobless in late 2022. Even more telling is that the graduates made up a whopping 73% of the state’s total unemployed. It’s a worrying sign that our education system isn’t connecting with the job market, and young people are paying the price.
You can really see this disconnect playing out in real life. In Uttar Pradesh, government job openings for low-skill roles, like messengers or railway porters, which need only a 5th or 10th-grade education recently saw hundreds of thousands of applicants. But the catch is many of them were postgraduates, MBAs, even PhDs. When highly educated people line up for jobs that don’t need those qualifications, it’s a clear sign that something’s broken. The deeper issue is whether our education system is preparing people for the kind of work that actually exists or not.
Recognising impediments in the process of employability
According to the Mercer-Mettl Graduate Skill Index 2025, only 42.6% of Indian graduates are considered employable, down from 44.3% in 2023. It’s a worrying trend that reflects a growing disconnect between education and what the job market actually needs.
A big part of the problem is the way many universities still operate. Rote learning and outdated syllabi leave little room for building relevant skills. Students rarely get to work with technologies that are reshaping the world of work like artificial intelligence, data analytics, cloud computing or cybersecurity. They earn degrees, but not necessarily the capabilities that help them thrive at work.
Practical experience is often missing too. Internships, live projects and apprenticeships are still not mainstream in higher education. This means graduates often step into the workforce without ever having worked in a real-world setting. On top of that, soft skills like communication, critical thinking and teamwork don’t get the attention they deserve.
The employability gap widens further when you consider regional disparities, gender gaps and the slow rate of job creation. For many young people, especially in underserved areas, it’s about access and opportunity.
To change this, we need much closer collaboration between industry and academia. Course design should involve employers. Students need hands-on learning built into their programmes. And soft skills training should be as essential as technical knowledge. We also need to explore new approaches that respond to fast-changing market needs and help young people build their own paths – whether that’s in jobs or entrepreneurship.
Building real world solutionsfor more employability in India
The growing gap between college degrees and job readiness can’t be ignored. While government-led skilling schemes and education reforms are an important part of the solution, they aren’t enough on their own. What’s needed is a more collaborative approach, one that brings in civil society, NGOs and community-based organisations that work directly with young people, especially those from underserved backgrounds.
Take Smile Foundation’s STeP (Smile Twin e-Learning Programme), for example. It’s designed to equip young people with both the technical and soft skills they need to get into the workforce. Beyond training, STeP also offers career counselling to help participants make informed, realistic choices about their future.
Between 2023 and 2024, over 9,000 young people were trained through the STeP programme. Of these, 550 went on to secure jobs across a range of industries. We also conducted more than 800 career counselling sessions and organised multiple industry exposure visits, giving participants a real sense of what different workplaces are like.
Support doesn’t end once someone completes the training or gets placed. STeP offers continued guidance – from confidence-building and interview prep to post-placement support so that young people feel equipped to stay and grow in the jobs they land.
Initiatives like this show that employability is also about helping young people build aspirations, understand their options and connect to opportunities that often lie just out of reach.
How Women Empowerment Reduces Gender-Based Violence
Crimes against women, ranging from domestic abuse to sexual assault, are a pervasive global issue. The World Health Organization estimates that at least one in three women worldwide has experienced physical or sexual violence in her lifetime. In India, entrenched patriarchal norms and economic dependency often compound the problem. Official data show disturbing trends: the 2022 NCRB report recorded 66.4 crimes per 100,000 women, up from 58.8 in 2018 (a 12.9% increase). Most reported cases are domestic (31.4% involve cruelty by husbands or relatives) or sexual (7.1% are rape cases).
Even workplace harassment is rising. Complaints under the POSH Act grew from 402 in 2018 to 422 in 2022. Globally too the toll is high – in 2022 about 89,000 women and girls were victims of intentional homicide – and South Asia bears a heavy burden. India, ranked 128th out of 177 countries on women’s security in 2023, continues to see heinous crimes despite legal reforms.
Chart: Reported crimes against women in India climbed from 58.8 to 66.4 per 100,000 women between 2018 and 2022 (NCRB data). This 12.9% rise highlights growing violence and/or better reporting.
Forms of violence against women
Crimes against women take many forms, all rooted in gender inequality. Major categories include:
Domestic violence – Physical, emotional or sexual abuse by a husband or family member (cruelty under IPC §498A). This is the most common crime: about 31.4% of all reported violence against women in India is “cruelty by husband/relatives”. Such abuse can range from beatings and intimidation to coerced suicide.
Sexual assault and harassment – Non-consensual acts like rape, molestation and sexual abuse. Rape accounted for 7.1% of crimes against women in 2022, though experts note under-reporting. Outraging a woman’s modesty (molestation) was 18.7% of cases. At the workplace or in public spaces, harassment (now punishable under the 2013 POSH Act) is also widespread.
Dowry Harassment and Death – Demands for dowry often lead to cruelty and even murder. Despite legal bans, thousands of cases are reported annually. In 2020 India logged about 10,366 dowry harassment cases and 6,966 dowry deaths. Victims may face torture or death when in-laws demand more gifts or money.
Trafficking and exploitation – Women and girls are trafficked for sexual or labour exploitation. This includes prostitution and bonded labour (IPC 370–372). Many young women are lured or kidnapped into a network of abuse. Under special laws, immoral trafficking and buying/selling of minor girls are recognised offences.
Child marriage and child abuse – Forced underage marriage and sexual exploitation of minors violates the law (Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, POCSO Act). Adolescent girls are especially vulnerable to rape and forced marriage, which carry their own penalties. Child marriage is officially banned, but enforcement gaps persist.
Honour killings and witch-hunting – In some regions, women are murdered by relatives for perceived ‘honour’ violations (e.g., marrying outside caste) or accused of witchcraft. These extrajudicial crimes are rooted in superstition and patriarchy. The government has special provisions, but cases still surface in tribal and rural areas.
Acid attacks – Deliberate pouring of acid (often by rejected suitors or relatives) to disfigure women. Since 2013 acid attacks are a distinct crime (IPC 326A) punishable by 10 years to life imprisonment. However, cases have risen. Media reports cite hundreds of attacks a year. Acid violence is most common in South Asia; Bangladesh’s strict laws have reduced attacks by ~20–30%, but India continues to see many incidents.
Cyber and online abuse – Digital stalking, harassment, non-consensual sharing of images (‘revenge porn’) and bullying of women online. This emerging threat is covered under IT laws, but enforcement is still developing. A recent NCRB category ‘cybercrime against women’ reflects this growing trend.
These forms often overlap and compound one another. For example, a woman facing dowry torture may also be raped or threatened with acid. Children can be victims of sexual abuse at home or trafficked. In India, the United Nations notes that gender-based violence includes all these facets – domestic abuse, dowry violence, honor crimes, acid attacks and more. Each form leaves deep scars on survivors and families.
Impact of violence
The consequences of crimes against women are devastating on multiple levels. Physically, victims suffer injuries, chronic pain, disabilities or unwanted pregnancies. Psychologically, they face trauma, depression, stigma and loss of trust. Many survivors struggle with social isolation and economic hardship, as abuse often destroys livelihoods.
According to public health experts, these individual impacts add up. Violence increases women’s health problems, can lead to STIs or death, and even disrupts entire families. At a societal level, gender-based violence violates basic human rights and undermines development goals. It reduces women’s participation in education and the workforce, cutting productivity. UN reports warn that such violence hinders progress on Sustainable Development Goals (like good health, equality and decent work).
In India, these impacts are compounded by social and economic factors. Many women lack financial independence or legal awareness, making it hard to escape abusive situations. For instance, under many custom and inheritance norms women cannot claim property, and most work in informal jobs without protection.
The National Family Health Survey (2019–21) found 29.3% of women aged 18–49 have experienced spousal violence in their lifetime. Even if crimes are reported, justice can be slow; patriarchal attitudes often blame victims or discourage their testimony. As a result, many cases never enter the official record at all. Experts note that cultural shame and fear of retaliation are huge barriers to reporting.
Real stories illustrate these hardships. Laxmi Agarwal, for example, was just 15 when a jilted man threw acid on her. She spent years in surgery and faced social stigma, even as she tirelessly campaigned for stricter acid laws. Her efforts (and similar ones by activists) led the Supreme Court in 2013 to impose tighter controls on acid sales and higher compensation for survivors. Today Laxmi heads a foundation that helps fellow survivors rebuild their lives. Her courage shows how victims can become voices for change but it also underscores the brutality of these crimes.
Legal protections and government schemes
India has a broad legal framework to address violence against women. Key laws include:
IPC 498A (Cruelty by husband/relatives) – Penalises physical or mental cruelty to women in marriage, including dowry demands.
Protection of women from Domestic Violence Act (2005) – Allows survivors to seek protection orders, residence rights and maintenance from abusive partners.
IPC 304B (Dowry Death) – Punishes death of a bride within 7 years of marriage if dowry harassment is proven.
Dowry Prohibition Act (1961) – Bans requesting or giving dowry gifts; harassment under this Act saw over 13,000 cases in 2019.
POCSO Act (2012) – Protects children (including girl children) from sexual offences with stringent penalties.
Criminal Law (Amendment) Acts (2013, 2018) – Enacted after high-profile cases, these strengthened rape laws (including fast-track courts, death penalty for gang-rape) and clarified offenses like stalking and acid attacks.
Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act (2013) – Mandates employers to prevent and address sexual harassment on the job (though social awareness and complaint rates remain low).
Beyond laws, the government runs many schemes and support systems. For victims of violence, One Stop Centres (also called Sakhi Centres) were launched in 2015 to provide integrated aid. These centers offer medical care, legal counselling, police liaison and temporary shelter under one roof for survivors of domestic or public violence. The Ministry of Women & Child Development reports over 708 One Stop Centres were operational by 2022, assisting 540,000 women nationwide.
Other initiatives include a 24×7 Women’s Helpline (1091/181) and the unified emergency number 112 for immediate assistance; Beti Bachao Beti Padhaocampaign to promote girl child welfare; Safe City Projects (in major cities) installing CCTV and better lighting; and Mahila Adalats (special women’s courts) for resolving complaints quickly. Police stations also now have Women’s Help Desks for gender-sensitive handling of cases.
Funds from the Nirbhaya Fund are used for training investigators, setting up trauma rooms and providing forensic kits to speed up rape case trials. The National Commission for Women (NCW) itself operates a dedicated WhatsApp helpline (72177-35372) to report violence. All these measures aim to plug gaps in the system.
Despite the laws, enforcement is uneven. Experts urge further action. Educational campaigns in schools, community-level gender-sensitisation and better funding for support services. For example, the Women’s Commission notes that combining legal aid with job training and counselling is crucial to help survivors rebuild independent lives. In other words, legal remedies must go hand-in-hand with social change to truly curb these crimes.
Crimes against women: India vs. Global context
While violence against women is universal, its shape and prevalence vary by region. Globally, WHO data indicate that about 30% of women experience intimate partner or sexual violence in their lives. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported nearly 89,000 gender-related homicides of women/girls worldwide in 2022. South Asia bears a disproportionate share of certain crimes.
For example, India, like neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh, has historically high rates of acid attacks and honour killings. Notably, Bangladesh’s strict acid laws have led to a 20–30% decline in attacks, a success India still strives for.
India’s Women Peace and Security Index rank (128/177 in 2023) trails most developed countries. Factors include continuing social inequality, access to justice, and political representation. In some metrics India outperforms its neighbours. According to the 2021 National Family Health Survey, the child sex ratio (females per 1000 males) improved to 1020, indicating progress against female infanticide.
However, in crime statistics the picture is worrisome. The NCRB found criminal cases against women per 100,000 population are significantly higher in states like Delhi (144.4) and Haryana (118.7) than the national average.
It’s clear that India’s challenge is both similar to and worse than global trends. Like many countries, India struggles with under-reporting and stigma. But deeply rooted gender bias and large population density mean even a small percentage of unreported crimes translates to very high absolute numbers.
Comparing international data underscores that every country has a stake in solutions – from enforcing international conventions to sharing best practices. India’s recent improvements in laws and awareness are positive, but the on-ground reality still lags behind many peers.
Empowering women and girls – The role of Smile Foundation
Stopping crimes against women requires prevention and empowerment, not just punishment. Smile Foundation addresses root causes by empowering women and girls in vulnerable communities. Our flagship Swabhimanprogramme (launched in 2005) offers a holistic mix of health, nutrition and livelihood support to marginalised women.
Swabhiman helps women start microenterprises, learn financial literacy and access healthcare. For instance, Smile provides skill training (e.g. sewing, farming) along with seed capital, so beneficiaries can earn their own income.
Image: A Smile Foundation beneficiary uses vocational training (here, tailoring) and support to build a livelihood. Programmes like Swabhiman equip women with skills, tools and awareness, enabling them to earn independently.
Smile’s approach ties into broader development goals by combining reproductive health awareness with entrepreneurship, Swabhiman makes women more self-reliant. In practical terms, nearly 190,000 women across six states have benefitted from Swabhiman in recent years. These women learn to plan family health, start savings and even lead local groups. For example, in Maharashtra Smile recounts how Ishwati – once a daily-wage laborer – received seeds, a pump and training to start farming. She now earns about ₹10,000 from selling her crops, supplementing her family’s income and inspiring others in her village. Stories like hers show that when women gain skills and confidence, they can resist exploitation and lift their families out of poverty.
Smile also focuses on educating and empowering girls. Our She Can Fly initiative (alongside other campaigns) encourages girls to stay in school, get vocational training and focus on health and nutrition. Educated girls are far less likely to be married off early or fall prey to traffickers. By promoting financial literacy and life skills, Smile helps girls become change agents in their own communities. Together, these programmes aim to reduce vulnerability. We believe that an informed, skilled woman is better able to assert her rights and avoid abusive situations.
For donors and policymakers, Smile’s impact is a model worth supporting. The organisation’s integrated work – combining nutrition programmes, reproductive health camps and women’s entrepreneurship – addresses several risk factors for violence. Recognising this, Smile aligns with national schemes (like Anemia Mukt Bharat and Poshan Abhiyan) to strengthen government initiatives.
Our partnerships have helped set up community kitchens, support mothers’ groups and equip health workers to be more responsive to women’s needs. In short, Smile Foundation illustrates how empowerment and awareness can complement laws to actually reduce crimes against women.
What can be done
Experts emphasise a multi-pronged approach by educating boys and girls about gender equality, sensitising communities, strictly enforcing laws and expanding support for survivors. Engaging youth is vital – curricula and media must challenge stereotypes that condone violence. Policymakers must ensure funding for women’s shelters, legal aid and healthcare is adequate and effectively used. The public can play a role by supporting and volunteering with NGOs like Smile that empower at-risk women.
Real change also needs cultural shifts. Indian society must move beyond protective attitudes to genuinely value women’s autonomy. Everyday citizens can help by speaking out against harassment, supporting survivors, and demanding accountability. Even small steps – a bystander intervening in public harassment or communities educating young couples about mutual respect – can add up.
In India and around the world, ending crimes against women will require everyone’s effort. The legal toolbox is in place, but enforcement and social support must be strengthened. Programmes like Smile Foundation’s Swabhiman and She Can Fly show that empowering women economically and socially can break the cycle of abuse. By combining legal remedies with education and opportunity, society can turn the tide – ensuring every woman and girl can live free of violence.
Sources: Official crime data (NCRB, NFHS) and expert analyses; global stats (WHO, UNODC); Smile Foundation reports and case studies; academic and media reports.
Well-functioning Anganwadi Centres are the backbone of India’s early childhood development and maternal-child health programmes. Nearly 14 lakh Anganwadis across India serve as the first point of contact for nutrition, health monitoring, and preschool education for rural and urban poor children. In 2025, these centres provide hot meals, immunisations and growth tracking for 0–6 year-olds, and critical prenatal/postnatal care to pregnant and lactating women.
ASER 2024 data show that Anganwadis are the biggest provider of pre-primary school services, with over half of all 3–4 year olds enrolled there. These figures highlight that Anganwadis not only fight malnutrition (child undernutrition fell from ~30% in 1975 to 7.7% by 2019–21) but also prime millions of children for school.
Across India, Anganwadis are often simple village centres providing early education and nutrition. Upgrading these facilities as advocated by NEP 2020 is essential for quality learning and health.
On-the-ground surveys reveal alarming deficits in Anganwadi infrastructure. Recent data from Telangana expose how thousands of centres lack basic amenities. Out of 35,700 Anganwadis surveyed, 41% (14,866 centres) had no electricity, crippling lighting, ventilation, and cold-storage of vaccines and supplements. Similarly, 32.5% (11,595 centres) had no toilet facilities, jeopardising sanitation and dignity, especially for girls and women. And 16.8% (5,981 centres) lacked drinking water access. These gaps directly violate Swachh Bharat and Poshan Abhiyaan goals, and mirror a wider pattern.
A 2020 NITI Aayog review found that a majority of Anganwadis still operate in rented or makeshift spaces, not permanent government-built rooms. The consequences are crumbling walls, overcrowding, and AWWs unable to teach or even cook mid-day meals. For example, in one Odisha Anganwadi shown below, children sit under a leaking roof, illustrating the urgent need for upgrades.
Many Anganwadis today lack safe, child-friendly buildings. In rural India, a worn-down Anganwadi centres struggle to serve mothers and children in inadequate space, underscoring why state action is needed.
The case for renewed investment
As NEP 2020 notes, the early years are crucial not just for physical development but also cognitive and emotional growth. High-quality, child-friendly infrastructure (safe classrooms, play areas, sanitation, and power) is now explicitly mandated by policy. Indeed, states like UP and Maharashtra are hiring dedicated pre-school teachers and rolling out new curricula in Anganwadis. But to meet these goals, existing centres must be upgraded in tandem.
In practical terms, infrastructure translates to a well-lit, ventilated Anganwadi with clean water and toilets. It boosts attendance, learning and health. In Telangana, Anganwadi Workers report they cannot adopt digital or creative teaching methods without electricity. When toilets and water are absent, young children, and caregivers face illness and indignity. Conversely, interventions that improve the centre environment (e.g. furniture, cooking facilities, kitchen gardens) lead to higher community trust and programme uptake.
Smile Foundation’s own experience confirms this. With PepsiCo Foundation, Smile implemented the Nutrition Enhancement Programme (NEP) in rural Punjab. Over three years, NEP improved maternal-child nutrition in 23 villages of Sangrur, reaching 60,000 people. This CSR-backed initiative directly benefited 16,000 pregnant/lactating women and children and indirectly another 45,000, through 260 health camps, kitchen gardens and AWW training.
Likewise, in Kosi (Mathura, UP), the recent Pink Smile project (PepsiCo–Smile) deployed mobile medical units and community camps to screen and treat anemia for 4,200 vulnerable women and children. These projects underscore how supporting Anganwadi-based care yields immediate health gains.
Building on this evidence, Smile Foundation has launched dedicated Anganwadi infrastructure programmes through CSR partnerships. In Maharashtra, the Mars Wrigley Foundation’s Community Connection grant empowered us to revamp 10 Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) across Pune. Over 2024–25 we revitalised 10 AWCs, impacting 13 centres overall, reaching 1,562 direct beneficiaries (children, mothers, adolescent girls) and 4,660 community members.
Key upgrades included 202 kitchen gardens to improve food security, 30 health/haemoglobin screening camps, and training for Anganwadi workers. We provided furniture, learning materials and safe sanitation creating cleaner, child-friendly learning spaces.
Similarly, under our Women Empowerment (Swabhiman) programme in Tamil Nadu, Odisha and other states, Smile has supported Anganwadi upgrades by building toilets, installing solar lights, and water filters, and training AWWs in hygiene and nutrition. Our anaemia and nutrition mobile units also regularly link families to their Anganwadi Centres. All these efforts from Assam to Andhra Pradesh illustrate Smile’s conviction that investing in Anganwadis today builds healthier, more educated communities tomorrow.
Practical CSR partnerships for lasting impact
For CSR leaders seeking high-impact opportunities, Anganwadi upgradation should be a strategic priority. We recommend:
Adopt & Upgrade: Corporates can ‘adopt’ clusters of Anganwadis (or a mini-Anganwadi cluster) in partnership with NGOs like us. Funding can go to core infrastructure like permanent classrooms, clean toilets, borewells or piped water, electricity/smart lighting, boundary walls, and kitchen equipment.
Nutrition & Nurture: Enhance the centre’s nutrition role by sponsoring kitchen gardens, community nutrition workshops, and improved kitchen-cum-store facilities. These immediately improve the meal program’s reach.
Capacity Building: Invest in training Anganwadi workers (AWWs/AWHs) on early childhood pedagogy, health screening, digital tools and gender sensitivity so that physical upgrades yield programme quality gains.
Monitoring & Community: Collaborate with local panchayats and beneficiaries in planning; involve employees as volunteers (e.g. helping refurbish centres). Set measurable outcomes (enrollment, health indicators, attendance) and share progress publicly.
The government’s own task force advises that public-private partnerships (PPPs) are vital to bridge the gap in ICDS service delivery. By partnering with NGOs like Smile Foundation who bring field expertise, CSR units can ensure sustainable models. For example, Mars Wrigley’s multi-year support combined fresh infrastructure inputs with IEC campaigns and AWW training. Such integrated projects create lasting change far beyond a one-time donation.
Building child-friendly futures
Well-equipped Anganwadi centres are an enabler of national development. They lay the foundation for healthier, smarter generations.
Smile Foundation calls on policymakers and CSR leaders to make Anganwadi upgradation a national mission. By collectively funding and maintaining model Anganwadis, India can accelerate the goals of POSHAN Abhiyaan, Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao, and universal preschool education. Every rupee invested yields returns in reduced malnutrition, better schooling outcomes and empowered mothers. We urge CSR heads to engage now. Your strategic CSR priorities can transform Anganwadis into vibrant community hubs, ensuring no child misses out on a strong start in life.
Sources: Government and media reports highlight the infrastructural shortfalls in Anganwadis, and policy analyses recommend urgent upgrades. The outcomes of Smile Foundation’s CSR partnerships (with PepsiCo, Mars Wrigley, etc.) document the impact of targeted Anganwadi improvements. All facts and figures above are drawn from these reports and our project data.
India’s villages are bursting with youthful promise, but chronic infrastructure gaps keep many rural children in the dark—literally and figuratively. A recent Parliamentary report notes that only about 56.5% of government schools have electricity. This leaves nearly half of rural learners studying by daylight or kerosene lamp, cut off from the smart education the world now offers.
Government data show that barely 57% of schools even have computers and 54% have any Internet access. The result is inequality in urban and rural space. For example, in Delhi a vast majority of schools are digitally equipped, but in Bihar only 18.5% have Internet. In this setting, blending solar-powered infrastructure and digital classrooms can be a game-changer enabling round-the-clock electricity and internet even off the grid.
One Smile Foundation case study reports, in Odisha’s remote Kalahandi district schools once lacking desks and often even teachers have been transformed under Digital India. Today they boast internet connectivity, smart boards, and e-learning platforms. Lessons that once felt abstract now come alive on screens. These quiet revolutions show how renewable-energy upgrades and EdTech can leapfrog rural schools over decades of neglect.
Solar classrooms are more than a modern convenience. They are vital green infrastructure for the future. A 2022 expert study of Madhya Pradesh’s Harda district found that electrifying four rural schools and anganwadis with rooftop solar (and simple battery backups) boosted student attendance and enabled evening study sessions. Children could finally use smart classes, computers and the internet once there was light. Measured outcomes were impressive.
Over a year the PV systems generated ~2,250 kWh of clean energy, saved ₹18,000 in utility costs, cut carbon emissions by 47 tonnes (equivalent to planting 74 mature teak trees), and unlocked water-pumping for clean drinking water. In the words of the implementers, the quality of light from electricity, often LEDs, is much better and more efficient, directly improving learning conditions. Such results echo global evidence. UNESCO’s new Green School Quality Standard explicitly calls for solar panels to provide a reliable energy source during electrical blackouts and drive climate action in schools.
Together, solar roofs and digital classrooms form a powerful green infrastructure ecosystem. Solar panels on school roofs provide clean, off-grid power for ICT labs, water pumps, and safe lights. Classrooms become living labs where children literally plug into sustainability. Smile Foundation has facilitated solar panel installations in several partner education centres across nine states. These panels not only save energy costs, they are teaching tools with students learning first hand how renewable energy works and why it matters. The result is improved schooling today and a generation fluent in climate resilience.
As one Smile-backed Smart Classroom project found, solarisation plus tablets and interactive boards made learning interactive, engaging, and empowering in places long marked by deprivation.
Critically, these green education initiatives align with India’s development schemes and global goals. The Union Government’s Samagra Shikshaprogramme (the integrated school education scheme) now explicitly lets states use school electricity budgets to invest in solar/hybrid systems to ensure sustainability. Likewise, flagship campaigns like Digital India and the National Education Policy 2020 call for 24×7 schooling facilities and universal connectivity, which require steady power.
On the global front, UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) agenda and the Greening Education Partnership stress climate-informed pedagogy and school infrastructure. UNESCO highlights that schools must walk the talk by greening learning environments. In fact, the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ties these threads neatly. SDG 4 (quality education) and SDG 7 (affordable clean energy) intersect in solar classrooms, while SDG 13 (climate action) is advanced when students adopt renewable power. Smile Foundation’s work is a microcosm of this synergy. Our projects are mapped to multiple SDGs, and indeed they now benefit 75,000+ students across 500+ schools in 9 states with these green-learning investments.
Smile Foundation has long championed rural education and gender equity. In recent years, we have brought solar and digital tech to the fore. Our Mission Education centres now include Smart Classrooms equipped with projectors, tablets, and offline e-content – all powered by rooftop solar. This has enriched learning for thousands of underserved children.
For example, in 2024 Smile and partners installed solar-powered digital classrooms in government schools across Assam, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Haryana. These six states were chosen specifically for their high need of both electrification and digital access. By incorporating solar energy, the project emphasises sustainable practices within the educational sector while fostering an atmosphere conducive to 21st-century learning. Students no longer struggle with power cuts or mobile blackouts; instead, they use laptops and projectors every day.
The outcomes are measurable and inspiring. Smile reports that its tech upgrades have directly impacted 75,000 childrenin 2024, turning classrooms into hubs of climate action. Teachers now integrate interactive climate content into all subjects. Students at a Smile centre designed water rockets and roller coasters to learn physics, linking science to sustainability. Girls in these programmes are especially empowered.
Earlier girls’ education campaigns (She Can Fly) and career fairs have built momentum, and now girls in rural classrooms actively engage with digital learning and STEM through Smile’s OJT and STEM labs. Parents and community elders also notice a change. In places with solar classrooms, villagers report longer school hours, higher attendance, and a revived respect for education. Children who previously trudged home after noon now stay back for evening classes under electric lights, boosting study time and retention. In tribal Harda district, officials saw attendance rise immediately after panels went up with energy access driving higher enrolment and retention in school.
Quantitative gains are evident in learning metrics too. After technology interventions, tests scores and digital literacy jump. One study by Smile’s team showed rural students exposed to tablets and e-lessons bridged about 60-70% of the learning gap compared to urban peers, particularly in maths and English. Computer education classes, once rare in small schools, are now routine. Perhaps most telling, Smile reports that anecdotally girls’s participation in STEM doubled in schools with solar-powered labs (from 20% to over 45% of STEM club members). Young women on the solar-team become role models, saying if these panels can power our classroom, surely I can power my future.
Policy and partnership levers
These on-the-ground results didn’t happen by accident. We leveraged multiple policy and funding streams. Samagra Shiksha has earmarked funds for ICT labs and even suggests solar in the recurring budget. The Digital India and PM eVidya campaigns, launched during Covid, have built nationwide e-learning content (DIKSHA, SWAYAM, etc.) but their impact depends on power.
Clearly, electrification and solar schemes must align with education budgets. Initiatives like Saubhagya (universal household electrification) and PM-KUSUM (solar pumps for farmers) exemplify the government’s rural solar push; extending similar focus to schools is logical. In fact, MPs on the HRD Committee have urged a Green Schools Fund to install solar everywhere.
Beyond government, corporate CSR is a huge enabler. India’s Companies Act mandates ~2% of profits go to CSR. Many corporations now target that money at education and sustainability. We have successfully partnered with firms to our education programme to fund tech labs and solar kits.
Climate-resilient impact
Importantly, solarised schools promote more than literacy; they build climate resilience. Rural areas face increasing heatwaves and storms – governments and UNESCO urge adaptation in education. UNESCO’s Green Schools framework even calls for flood-resistant classrooms and reliable off-grid power. Solar roofs, rainwater harvesting, and shade trees become part of green infrastructure on campus.
When Smile students plant native saplings and monitor their survival, they live SDG 13 by converting learning spaces into green belts around school. One Smile tree-planting initiative in Maharashtra engaged 2,000 kids in planting 30,000 saplings – these not only sequester carbon but teach stewardship. Such projects forge a virtuous cycle: greener campuses reduce heat inside classrooms and lower energy needs. And with solar panels, a school’s carbon footprint plummets – as the Harda case shows, just a few panels offset tens of tonnes of CO₂.
What the data shows
Multiple surveys underscore these benefits. The UDISE+ (national school census) data cited by Smile reveal that millions of Indian children lack access to even basic digital infrastructure. But recent upticks are promising. For example, Education For All in India’s analysis of UDISE 2021–22 found that in some states like Uttar Pradesh solar adoption is rising (8.8% of schools had panels, up sharply in aided vs. govt schools), though many states still lag (e.g. only 3–4% in WB or Assam). This means huge potential remains untapped. Every percentage point of schools solarised could reach hundreds of thousands of students. Modeling studies show that increasing solar in schools directly correlates with improved learning outcomes. For instance, UDISE data cited in research suggest that schools with reliable lighting see 10–15% higher enrolment and exam pass rates compared to dark schools.
Another key metric is digital literacy. India’s National ICT Literacy Index (2023) shows rural-urban gaps of 20 percentage points, with girls trailing boys by 10 points in connectivity. In Smile-supported villages, mobile-computer literacy camps have pushed up women’s digital skills by ~30%. Anecdotally, girls in solar classrooms report newfound confidence: one 14-year-old girl from Jharkhand said, “I can now use a laptop confidently to help my siblings with homework without fear of grid failure.”
Scaling up with policy action
To ensure every child benefits, we need smarter policy coordination:
Integrate Solar into All School Schemes: Samagra Shiksha and state education budgets should mandate solar kits as part of new school buildings and retrofits, just as they mandate toilets and ramps. States can issue dedicated guidelines (like the clause in Samagra allowing solar for sustainability). The Centre could create a Solar Schools component in national programmes, similar to how smart classrooms were funded.
Link Education and Energy Planning: Renewable-energy schemes (PM-KUSUM, rooftop solar missions) should explicitly include schools and Anganwadis as priority installations. For example, Rural Development funds or CSR solar pumps might co-finance schools’ microgrids. Similarly, rural electrification efforts (e.g. Saubhagya or BharatNet connectivity) should be coordinated with Samagra districts, ensuring simultaneous rollout of power, net, and smart-boards.
Finance via CSR and Philanthropy: The government can incentivise greater CSR in this sector by recognising climate-and-education projects as doubly impactful. Tax breaks or matching grants could reward companies that fund solar-education collabs. Impact bonds and blended finance could also be used. For instance, a green bond for rural education infrastructure, with pay outs tied to metrics like enrolment or test scores.
Cross-Sector Partnerships: NGOs, corporates, and local governments must co-design solutions. Smile’s digital-cum-solar classroom in Haryana, done with state education officers’ buy-in, is a model. National bodies (like the NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission or the CSR Research Foundation) could convene task forces to replicate best practices across states. Teacher-training institutes should include modules on using solar/ICT tools. Universities (like IITs) could donate expertise in low-cost solar tech for schools.
Promote Climate Education: The curriculum itself should reflect this infrastructure. If a school has solar panels, students should use them as teaching aids in math and science. Textbooks and online courses must highlight renewable tech projects happening locally. UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development framework emphasises learning by doing – school solar projects are tailor-made for such pedagogy.
Challenges and sustainability
Of course, hurdles remain. Maintenance of solar kits, digital hardware, and connectivity can be tricky in remote areas. Govt schools often lack IT technicians, and panels require periodic cleaning. Here too, solutions exist. Solar vendors now often offer 5-year maintenance contracts. Rural youth clubs can be trained (perhaps under the “Skill India” umbrella) to service school systems, creating local jobs. Internet backhaul can piggyback on village panchayat networks or BharatNet. Importantly, communities must co-own these assets. Smile’s model involves School Management Committees in each phase, ensuring parents and local leaders invest in upkeep.
Financially, the long-term gains justify the costs. Solar installations have a 10–15 year payback from bill savings. Economic analyses show that every rupee invested in rural education yields ~₹4–5 in lifetime economic benefits from higher productivity. With green infrastructure, the environmental externalities (avoided pollution, climate resilience) stack on top. Thus multilateral agencies like the World Bank and ADB are increasingly funding “green schools”. India should tap such funds and align them with domestic CSR/ADB projects (note ADB’s own support for off-grid solar schools).
Equity through green education
In the 21st century, green infrastructure is as essential to education as desks and books. Solar-powered digital classrooms embody a perfect synergy. They deliver electricity, clean energy, and global knowledge to doorstep villages. By merging renewable energy and EdTech, India can ensure that being born in a far-flung panchayat no longer means a second-tier schooling. Instead, it can be a stepping stone in the Equitable, Sustainable Education envisioned by the SDGs.
Smile Foundation experience shows it’s doable. Hundreds of schools across nine states, thousands of lives changed, and children inspired to be “eco-warriors”. Now, the task is to scale up rapidly through policy, partnerships, and funding. By embedding solar into every rural school and coupling it with quality digital content, India advances toward Samagra Shiksha for real – not just brick-and-mortar, but a full spectrum of facilities. This cross-sector approach – government norms, private CSR, civil-society innovation – can finally make electricity and internet as commonplace in rural India’s classrooms as pencils and notebooks. In doing so, we do more than light up blackboards. We ignite young minds to become the green leaders India needs.
Sources: Government and development reports on solar in schools; Smile Foundation’s impact and project blogs; UNESCO guidelines and SDG frameworks; academic and expert analyses on rural education and energy.
Every morning before dawn, Dhanam, a small business owner in Chennai, prepares her idli stall for the day. Fatigue was her constant companion till a free checkup by the Smile on Wheels mobile medical unit revealed that she had diabetes. With access to timely guidance and care delivered close to home, she has been able to manage both her health and her livelihood without missing a single customer in a day.
While India’s urban medical infrastructure has emerged as a global benchmark attracting international patients with its world-class hospitals and advanced treatments, the same cannot be said for rural healthcare. But this sheen of excellence fades quickly as one moves beyond city limits. In rural and underserved areas, healthcare is often an afterthought which remains delayed, distant, and fragmented.
The issue is not only the absence of hospitals or beds, but the critical shortage of skilled and often overlooked, shortage of skilled healthcare workers. Hospitals and clinics can be built, but without trained professionals to staff them, they remain symbols of intent rather than engines of impact.
A healthcare system without trained caregivers is a system destined to fail. For business leaders, CSR professionals, and policymakers, this challenge also presents an opportunity. Investing in rural health is a strategic investment in the nation’s social and economic infrastructure. Strengthening the rural health workforce fuels productivity, resilience, and long-term development goals. It ensures that no life remains unreachable, and that India’s rural healthcare transformation is truly inclusive.
Rural Healthcare Workforce Deficit
In India where healthcare professionals are often revered as “gods,” the expansion of modern hospitals, rising numbers of medical graduates, and a growing private sector have created an impression that quality healthcare is now within reach for all. Yet this perception masks the troubling truth that in countless remote villages across India, even a basic medical consultation remains out of reach. The closest doctor may be hours away, and trained nurses are often absent from the local primary health centre.
India’s rural healthcare system continues to fight the crisis of the acute shortage of trained human resources. Despite sustained government efforts and targeted interventions, the lack of doctors, nurses, and frontline workers in rural India remains one of the most critical barriers to delivering equitable care. Several interlocking factors explain why rural India remains on the wrong side of this imbalance.
Geographical maldistribution and urban preference
Despite an overall increase in medical graduates over the year, recent surveys suggest that India has approximately 1:1456 of doctor-population ratio contradicting the WHO standards of 1:1000. A key challenge lies in the urban concentration of medical professionals. Increasingly, doctors are opting for city-based careers, drawn by better professional opportunities, higher earning potential in the private sector, and superior living conditions. This growing urban preference has contributed to the persistent difficulty in staffing rural healthcare facilities leaving large swathes of India underserved and vulnerable.
Unsupportive rural working conditions
Persistent gaps in infrastructure such as unreliable electricity, limited access to clean water, inadequate staff housing, and non-functional diagnostic tools continue to plague rural healthcare systems in India. For doctors and medical personnel posted in remote areas, the lack of quality schooling for their children and the absence of secure, livable environments for both work and residence present additional barriers. These challenges collectively discourage healthcare workers from accepting or continuing rural postings, reinforcing the urban-rural divide in access to essential health services.
Urban-centric medical education system
Medical and nursing education in India remains largely centred around tertiary care, with limited emphasis on preparing professionals for the realities of rural practice. This urban-centric training leaves graduates ill-equipped and often unwilling to serve in underserved regions. Compounding the issue is the stark mismatch between the number of MBBS graduates and the availability of postgraduate seats, pushing many aspiring doctors to forego rural postings in pursuit of further academic opportunities—a trade-off that continues to weaken frontline care in rural India.
Systemic delays and administrative inefficiencies
Recruitment to India’s rural healthcare centres is often hindered by delayed processes, lack of transparent vacancy notifications, and bureaucratic red tape. These systemic inefficiencies not only slow down staffing but also deter many young medical professionals from applying to Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Community Health Centres (CHCs), further deepening the rural health workforce crisis.
According to recent surveys, 65% of India’s total population lives in rural areas. Given this demographic reality, it is imperative to assess whether the country’s healthcare workforce aligns with the needs of its rural citizens.
Alarming data from the National Medical Journal of India indicates a shortfall of nearly 80% in rural healthcare staffing, even as infrastructure has expanded. Since 2005, India has witnessed a 63.8% increase in the number of Community Health Centres (CHCs). As of 2022, there were 5,480 CHCs operational in rural areas, supplemented by 584 in urban settings. In tribal regions, 960 CHCs have been established, signalling a concerted effort to reach historically underserved populations.
Notably, states such as Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Bihar have led the way in expanding healthcare infrastructure, reflecting targeted efforts to mitigate regional health disparities. However, infrastructure alone cannot deliver care without adequately trained and retained personnel, these centres risk becoming underutilised assets.
Public Health Chronicles*
Government initiative for healthcare in India
In alignment with Sustainable Development Goal 3 and India’s health priorities, the government is working to build a more inclusive and resilient healthcare system, especially in underserved regions. Recent reforms focus on strengthening frontline infrastructure, expanding workforce capacity, and leveraging digital solutions to close critical service gaps.
Ayushman Bharat – Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs): These centres provide comprehensive primary care including maternal and child services, NCD screenings, and essential medicines bringing preventive and promotive healthcare closer to rural communities.
National Health Mission (NHM):
Launched in 2013, NHM integrates rural and urban health missions, emphasizing decentralized planning, community engagement, and system-wide improvements.
Human Resource Reforms:
Using Rural Health Statistics to guide decisions, policy measures now target recruitment bottlenecks, workforce incentives, and training reforms to ensure skilled personnel reach India’s remotest health centres.
Human resources for health – The critical pillar of Indian rural healthcare
The World Health Organization defines the Human Resources for Health (HRH) as all individuals engaged in promoting, protecting or improving public health. It includes clinical care, public health interventions, research, management and support services. (WHO,2007). Their role and capacity directly influences health outcomes and system efficiency.
When there is a low HRH density, its direct impact is seen in increased maternal and child mortality, reduced life expectancy, and a growing burden of untreated mental health conditions. The shortage of healthcare givers in the rural landscape of India also becomes a concerning factor towards implementation of health policies to its full effect, disrupting continuity of care, and posing a significant barrier to achieving public health goals. Most critically, it threatens the country’s progress toward Universal Health Coverage.
What’s needed? A people-first approach
Like any profession, healthcare demands a robust, supportive ecosystem. One that nurtures not only clinical expertise but also professional development, career advancement, and personal well-being, especially in high-demand, resource-limited settings like rural India.
To address this systemic gap, health policy experts and medical academicians have put forward strategic recommendations aimed at bridging the divide between trained healthcare providers and the underserved rural population. These include:
Providing the medical personnels with rural healthcare fellowships programmes
Provide them with incentivised service models like housing, pay structure, and career recognitions
Strengthening community-based solutions by promoting the training of local women as ASHA workers and auxiliary nurse midwives
Digital upskilling and telemedicine integration
These interventions recognise that rural health systems must be built from the ground up and not imposed from the top down. By encouraging local leadership, creating enabling conditions for healthcare professionals, and aligning incentives with service delivery, India can create solid, sustainable pathways for its rural health workforce.
Partnerships that strengthen people power
In the remote interiors of Tamil Nadu, a community of daily-wage labourers survives on earnings that barely cover basic necessities. For them, healthcare was a luxury, an added financial strain they simply cannot afford.
However, that narrative has begun to shift. Through a strategic partnership with a leading multinational health technology firm, Smile Foundation’s Smile on Wheels mobile medical unit now brings accessible, no-cost primary healthcare directly to their doorsteps.
Regular check-ups, preventive screenings, and free medicines have empowered pregnant women, children, and the elderly to take charge of their health without the anxiety of added financial burden.
This model demonstrates how targeted CSR partnerships can bridge systemic healthcare gaps, enabling low-resource populations to live healthier lives sustainably and with dignity.
Corporate Social Responsibility towards building a robust healthcare system is not a new phenomenon but definitely one of the most powerful tools to strengthen it. Since ages, corporate partnerships for healthcare have played a pivotal role in advancing the healthcare goals of the country bringing quality healthcare services and dignified lives to the underserved communities of India.
Therefore, their role in solving the challenge of limited healthcare givers in India is more important to support and implement the initiatives taken by the state for a healthier India.
Support training of frontline workers in India’s rural healthcare system
Training the rural healthcare workers strengthens community-based care, improves health outcomes and builds trust in the system. By investing time and efforts, corporate partnerships can empower women and children with better healthcare facilities, enhance workforce retention, and ensure sustained impact leading to compassion meeting the true potential of the frontline workforce in delivering quality healthcare.
Invest in technology enabled capacity building
Technology driven solutions such as e-learning platforms, mobile medical units, and telehealth services extend the reach of quality care. These tools bridge access gaps, enable real time diagnostics, and foster last mile impact- transforming healthcare delivery for underserved communities while ensuring cost efficiency and positive impacts.
Partnering with NGOs in India to develop and deploy rural health talent pools
By partnering with trusted development organisations in India, corporates can enable scale deployment of trained health professionals in rural regions. These collaborations create sustainable talent pipelines, rooted in local context, ensuring continuity of care, community trust, and measurable healthy system strengthening at the base level.
Achieve Universal Health Coverage goals with Smile
Smile Foundation’s healthcare programme reaches over 12.89 lakh people across 16 states directly contributing to SDG of ensuring health and well being for all. The initiative delivers primary healthcare at the doorstep for the underserved communities of the country where the focus on 3A’s – Awareness, Affordability, and Access are delivered at the doorstep.
With the goal of building capacity and promoting changed behaviour, Smile’s healthcare interventions in 2024 have conducted 23 nationwide training for frontline healthcare workers combined withtargeted IEC campaigns, promoting long term health seeking behavioursaddressing antenatal care to diabetes, hygiene, and geriatric support.
To advance last-mile healthcare solutions, the programme has also introduced mobile dental clinics and established Transport Aarogyam Kendras for truck drivers who often forgo medical care due to cost or limited access. These efforts aim to bring quality healthcare directly to populations typically left on the margins.
At Smile Foundation, we see our grassroots health programmes as a clear opportunity for companies to meet their CSR goals. Partnering with us means delivering inclusive, technology-enabled, and community-centric healthcare to rural communities where the need is urgent and the impact is lasting.
India’s higher education expansion belies that access remains deeply unequal. Despite dramatic growth in colleges and universities, only a fraction of students make it to campus. The latest government data shows that a staggering 71.6% of Indian youth do not progress from high school to college. This means millions of talented students, especially from low‑income, rural or marginalised backgrounds, never even get a chance. The reasons go beyond tuition fees.
For many, the pathway to college is blocked by a maze of social and institutional barriers like a lack of information and guidance, complex scholarship processes, digital and language divides and entrenched biases around caste, gender and field of study. As one recent survey cautions, “scholarships are essential, [but they] often fall short of addressing the full range of challenges faced by students from marginalised backgrounds,” leaving too many behind.
One young woman’s story captures this gap. Aishwarya, an engineering student from a working‑class family in Bengaluru, dreamed of a science career despite her father’s modest income. “I had always dreamt of pursuing a career in science,” she recalls. Yet even after earning a coveted college seat, she struggled: “The fees, transport, books and even mobile data for online classes started adding up. It became impossible to continue with my studies.” Aishwarya’s predicament shows why affordability alone is a reductive way to see the problem. It wasn’t just money – it was every extra cost and complication that overwhelmed her. Schools and scholarships often focus narrowly on tuition, but students like Aishwarya need a safety net that covers all essentials.
But money isn’t the only missing piece. Many first‑generation college students are also navigating an alien world. Classrooms, career counselling and internship culture can feel utterly foreign to someone from a village or slum. These students may have no one at home to help write a résumé, prepare for an interview or network professionally. In the words of one scholarship advisor, “financial aid is just one piece of the puzzle”. Without guidance, confidence and exposure, even well‑funded students can falter.
Research confirms that bridging “small gaps” in language, transportation and mentorship can dramatically boost a young person’s confidence and sense of belonging. In other words, handing someone a scholarship but dropping them into a strange new environment is unlikely to yield success. As one report bluntly puts it, “without complementary support of this kind, financial aid isn’t likely to result in success.”
To overcome these hurdles, holistic scholarship models are emerging. Rather than just paying fees, they wrap students in a blanket of support. A leading example is Smile Foundation’s Scholarship programmewhich pairs financial aid with life‑skills training, English and digital fluency classes, mentorship, career counselling and even mental health support. Our need‑based sponsorships cover not only school fees but also books, uniforms, stationery and transport – ensuring continuity from primary school through higher secondary.
We also run bridge and remedial courses for dropouts, giving out‑of‑school youth a second chance at learning. In partnership with corporate CSR funds, Smile even extends vocational and professional scholarships for nursing, computer training and other career paths so that older students gain employable skills.
Girls receive special attention. Smile Foundation notes that female students face gendered expectations, mobility constraints and lack of access to safe campuses or hostels. To counter this, our scholarships for girls are embedded in a broader strategy providing menstrual hygiene kits, counselling and safe transport arrangements alongside funding. These measures help keep girls in school with dignity and confidence. Indeed, poor infrastructure and social pressure still cause girls in India to drop out in large numbers.
A UNESCO survey found 23 million girls worldwide each year leave school simply for lack of proper menstrual hygiene facilities – a reality Smile’s programmes directly address by providing sanitary supplies and education. By focusing on the whole student, not just the ledger sheet, holistic scholarships help remove the hidden barriers that money alone cannot fix.
From the classroom to the career
Of course, going to college is only the first step. Equally important is what comes after, and here too, India faces an urgent challenge. As industry surveys repeatedly show, there is a growing employability gap. The latest India Skills Report (2025 edition) found that only about 54.81% of Indian graduates are considered job‑ready by industry standards. In other words, nearly half of college grads still lack the soft skills, digital know‑how or career orientation that employers want. This is a dilemma for students and donors alike of a degree that doesn’t lead to a job is a missed opportunity.
Bridging this gap requires purposeful integration of skills and internship opportunities into scholarship programmes. Smile Foundation’s vocational scholars, for example, gain real workplace exposure through internships and industry workshops. One beneficiary, Vaishnavi, speaks for many: working a brief internship in a Mumbai office “changed my self-perception entirely,” she says. “Until then, I never thought someone like me could work in a place like that… Now I know I can.” This transformation, from classroom confidence to career confidence, is exactly the aim.
Smaller initiatives aren’t enough; we need system‑wide change. India’s National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) acknowledges this by calling for stronger links between academia and industry. In practice, NEP mandates that universities experiment with vocational education and include mandatory internships and apprenticeships in their curricula. CSR partnerships can accelerate this by helping align college curricula with real job skills, sponsor laboratory facilities or digital labs, and mentor students. Several Indian CSR guidelines now encourage firms to support educational initiatives and many companies do fund scholarship seats but often without the accompanying training. For true impact, CSR‑funded scholarships should come bundled with career bootcamps, group discussions, mock interviews and internships.
Such public‑private collaboration also builds social capital. When students meet mentors and industry leaders, they learn the norms of professional life – the resume buzzwords, presentation etiquette and networking savvy that others pick up informally. These interactions set realistic expectations and open doors. If a bright rural student sits down with an engineer who once came from a similar village, she gains both inspiration and guidance. As Smile Foundation’s scholarship head emphasises, the goal is to ensure students aren’t just enrolled, but ready for the workplace. With this model, a scholarship becomes a ladder from school all the way into a career.
A new definition of “Access”
At its core, this approach asks us to redefine “access” to higher education. Access isn’t achieved the moment a student steps through the college gate; it is truly realised only when she completes her degree and walks into a job that matches her potential. This shift changes everything. Students who receive wraparound support – mentorship, life skills training and career exposure – have dramatically higher retention and graduation rates. In fact, they build what educators call identity capital: the confidence, connections and self‑understanding that let them convert an education into opportunity. One study of peer‑mentoring camps found that 96% of disadvantaged girls went on to higher education when given comprehensive support.
These success stories ripple outward. A single girl who becomes a professional can transform the aspirations of her whole community. Her siblings see her example and dare to dream; her parents feel vindicated in educating daughters. In the long run, every such scholar is a social mobility agent. In economic terms, investing in holistic scholarships is like investing in a multiplier, one income‑earning graduate can indirectly benefit dozens of others.
For donors and CSR leaders, the implication is clear that funding fees is necessary, but not sufficient. Smart investments target multiple needs simultaneously. For example, Smile Foundation in 2023 reached 120,000 students with educational programmes, supported 44,000 girls with school and vocational training, and funded 2,000 scholarships for higher studies. These efforts are not stand‑alone; they are integrated with teacher training, lab upgrades and health campaigns. An evaluator might not see the tagline “scholarship” on every initiative, but together they form a ladder that keeps students climbing.
Rethinking the scholarship model
There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but certain principles have emerged:
Simplify and localise the process: Make applications user-friendly, available in regional languages and accessible through a single portal. As YDF researchers note, the current system “often falls short” because students face underused online portals and confusing forms. Providing local outreach and translation can close this gap.
Provide upfront, comprehensive support: Move away from reimbursement models that force families to front fees. Scholarships should cover tuition and supplies before the semester starts. Even small hidden costs like photocopying certificates or paying for internet access can derail a poor student. Covering uniforms, travel and exam fees up front ensures no one is left waiting or indebted.
Bundle life skills and mentorship: Accompany funding with regular counseling, communication workshops, and peer mentorship. Smile Foundation encapsulates this by embedding scholarships in life-skills training in a language students understand. Such holistic care from teaching time management to providing psychosocial support boosts resilience.
Prioritise girls and the most disadvantaged: Design eligibility criteria around socioeconomic need, not just grades. Scholarship programmes must explicitly counter gender and caste bias. Initiatives like Smile’s She Can Fly recognise that for many families, sending a daughter to a distant college is a social challenge as much as a financial one. By including menstrual hygiene kits, counselling and safe lodging in a girls’ scholarship package, one organisation can dramatically improve female retention.
Partner with industry and education systems: Scholarships should be the bridge between school and the workplace. CSR funding can create scholarship seats tied to internships or apprenticeships. Colleges can work with employers to adapt curriculum and host career fairs. The NEP 2020 envisions incubation centres and vocational tracks in universities – donors can help build these bridges by funding projects, labs and student exchange with industry.
Track and share success: Document case studies of students who have thrived with holistic support. Anecdotes like Vaishnavi’s success are inspiring, but scaling best practices requires data. If governments and NGOs pool evidence on which combinations of support lead to graduation and jobs, we can replicate what works.
Implementing such a model takes coordination, but the payoff is enormous. For donors and CSR heads, the message is clear: Invest in the whole student, not just the fees. A truly equitable higher education system will not emerge from fee waivers alone. It will be built by understanding students’ lives – their journeys, hurdles and aspirations – and filling every gap along the way.
By closing gaps in both tuition and opportunity, holistic scholarships pave a fairer, more durable path to success. They ensure that a poor student not only gets in, but also moves forward. Only by redefining access in this way can India truly unleash the potential of its youth.
Sources: Government and industry reports on higher education (AISHE, CII), news analyses, and Smile Foundation programme materials.
India’s economic story is often told through the lens of innovation, startup growth, and digital disruption. But behind this dominant narrative lies the fact that millions of working Indians are underemployed, not unemployed. According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, India’s underemployment score stands at 62.28, even though official unemployment remains below 7 percent.
The distinction matters. While unemployment refers to those without jobs, underemployment captures those working below their skill level or in insecure, low-paying roles. A large portion of these workers belong to India’s informal or gig economy. They drive cabs, deliver groceries, repair appliances, or assist in homes and hospitals. They are essential to daily urban life, but remain invisible in policy conversations. Without intervention, they risk being left behind in an economy that is moving faster than their ability to catch up.
The solution lies in reimagining skill development, especially for blue-collar gig workers. This is not about formal degrees or certificates, but about equipping people with the tools they need to succeed in the real economy.
Gig economy: A growing workforce with shrinking opportunities
India’s gig economy is expanding rapidly. Reports estimate that gig work could contribute up to 1.25 percent of India’s GDP by 2030. Platform-based jobs now stretch across services from delivery and ride-hailing to beauty, domestic care and field tech support.
Yet most of these roles sit at the bottom of the value chain. They are transactional, poorly paid, and offer little upward mobility. More than 90 percent of India’s workforce is informally employed, and within that, a significant share are blue-collar gig workers with little to no social security.
A Bain & Company study notes that only 12 percent of gig workers use platforms to grow their earnings or build businesses. A staggering 35 percent are financially strapped day labourers who survive on daily wages, making them particularly vulnerable to inflation, illness, or platform shutdowns.
The skills gap explains much of this stagnation. Gig work today is no longer just physical—it is digital and customer-facing. A delivery worker needs to manage orders through apps, handle cashless payments, communicate with customers and navigate real-time changes. These are not intuitive tasks, especially for first-time earners from rural or low-income urban households.
The problem is not a lack of aspiration. Most of these workers seek better lives, more stable incomes, and opportunities to grow. What they lack is access to the kind of skilling that prepares them for the future of work.
The limitations of current skilling programmes
India has made considerable investments in skilling through schemes like Skill India Mission and PMKVY. These programmes have helped formalise vocational training across sectors. But for gig workers, especially blue-collar ones, most skilling options remain out of reach.
First, traditional training centres often operate on fixed schedules and at fixed locations. Gig workers, with unpredictable shifts and long hours, cannot easily attend. Second, many programmes still teach generic skills like tailoring, data entry, beauty services without linking them to current market demand or platform-specific roles. Third, most workers receive little support after training. Placement services, mentorship, and access to finance are rarely integrated into the training lifecycle.
There is also a gender gap. Women in gig work, particularly in domestic or care roles, are rarely targeted for upskilling despite growing demand in health and home-based services. Digital safety, mobility constraints, and childcare responsibilities make it harder for them to access training.
Skilling that meets workers where they are
For skill development to truly empower India’s gig workforce, it needs to adapt to the realities of blue-collar work. This means making training modular, mobile, vernacular, and hyper-local.
An effective skilling model for gig workers should include:
Hands-on vocational training that mirrors real-world tasks
Soft skills and life skills like communication, time management, and customer interaction
Basic digital literacy to help navigate apps and online platforms
Financial literacy to improve savings, budgeting, and credit access
Entrepreneurial skills for those who want to build micro-enterprises or transition out of platform dependency
These elements are not optional. They form the foundation of a future-ready, inclusive workforce that can adapt as platforms evolve and new jobs emerge.
Smile Foundation’s skilling model: Linking training to livelihoods
Smile Foundation’s work in the area of employability offers valuable insights into how blue-collar workers can be prepared for a modern economy. Through our Smile Twin e-Learning Programme (STeP), we provide market-linked training to youth aged 18 to 32 from underserved backgrounds. The curriculum focuses on retail, hospitality, logistics, beauty, and wellness—sectors where gig work is concentrated.
What sets STeP apart is its emphasis on end-to-end support. Participants are trained not just in job-specific skills but also in communication, basic English, financial literacy, and digital tools. The programme also partners with over 200 companies to ensure placement opportunities after training.
In 2023–24, more than 12,000 youth completed training through STeP. Of those, around 72 percent secured jobs in sectors aligned with their training, many in gig and service roles. The programme operates in 25 states, with a special focus on rural and tier-2 regions where formal skilling infrastructure is limited.
Beyond STeP, Smile Foundation collaborates with companies through CSR partnerships to reach larger numbers of gig workers. These partnerships fund mobile skilling vans, doorstep training and digital courses. This convergence of civil society implementation with corporate investment can accelerate change on the ground.
Corporate engagement: Not just good CSR, but good business
The private sector has a critical role to play in building a robust, inclusive gig economy. Better-skilled workers lead to better service delivery, improved customer satisfaction, and brand trust. In a competitive platform economy, quality, and reliability are key differentiators. Companies like Urban Company, Zomato, and Amazon are already experimenting with in-house training modules and health coverage for gig workers.
Others, like Quess Corp and Tata STRIVE, are running placement-linked skilling programmes that bridge the supply-demand gap in blue-collar services. Platforms that invest in upskilling their workers tend to have lower attrition and better ratings—benefits that directly affect their bottom line.
Government incentives could further encourage such investments. For example, public-private partnerships could tie skilling outcomes to tax credits or regulatory benefits. Micro-credentials co-designed by platforms and skilling partners can provide gig workers with verified, portable skills that enhance employability across platforms.
What needs to happen nextfor the gig economy
India’s demographic dividend will only pay off if its working-age population has the skills to meet 21st-century demands. For the blue-collar gig workforce, this requires a new approach that is agile, inclusive, and outcome-focused.
Here is what policymakers, nonprofits and corporate leaders can do:
Map sectoral needs: Regularly update demand forecasts for gig sectors and tailor skilling programmes accordingly.
Encourage digital skilling: Make short-form, mobile-first learning content available in multiple Indian languages.
Target women workers: Design training that includes mobility support, childcare solutions, and safe working conditions.
Link training to finance: Combine skilling with access to microcredit, insurance and savings products.
Certify and recognise skills: Create micro-credential systems that allow workers to build and stack skills over time.
Strengthen local ecosystems: Build partnerships between municipalities, industry, and nonprofits to ensure local implementation and accountability.
These steps require collaboration, not duplication. Skilling cannot succeed in silos. It must be embedded into public policy, supported by private innovation and delivered through grassroots networks.
Looking ahead: From labour to leverage
India’s gig economy is here to stay. It represents an opportunity to make the labour market more flexible, more inclusive, and more resilient. But without a concerted focus on upskilling, it could also deepen existing inequalities.
Blue-collar gig workers are not just labourers. They are caregivers, problem-solvers, and digital citizens in the making. When we invest in their growth, we invest in the very infrastructure that keeps our cities moving and our economy running.
A delivery worker today could become a team leader tomorrow, a home services provider could become a franchise owner, a ride-hailing driver could transition to fleet management. All this is possible if the right skills meet the right opportunity.
As India builds its future of work, the question is not whether gig work will grow, but whether gig workers will grow with it.
Menstrual hygiene remains a major barrier to girls’ education in rural India, with stigma, poor awareness and inadequate sanitation contributing to school absenteeism.
Menstrual Hygiene Day highlights the urgent need to normalise conversations around periods and ensure adolescent girls can manage menstruation with dignity and confidence.
Lack of menstrual hygiene awareness and access to sanitary products continues to affect girls’ health, confidence and long-term educational opportunities across underserved communities.
Strategic CSR–NGO partnerships can strengthen menstrual hygiene management through infrastructure support, menstrual literacy and improved access to safe hygiene products.
Community-led menstrual hygiene programmes involving ASHA workers, peer educators and schools can help reduce stigma and improve health-seeking behaviour among girls.
Smile Foundation’s Swabhiman initiative is promoting menstrual hygiene awareness, peer education and access to sanitary products to reduce school dropouts and strengthen girls’ confidence.
In a classroom in Odisha, Shalini stood up to answer a question. She had no idea her life was about to change. A red stain on her seat, a sign of her first period, brought giggles, whispers and then silence. No one had spoken to her about menstrual hygiene or menstruation before. Frightened and ashamed, she thought she was unwell. The next day, she begged her parents not to send her back to school. In that moment, her education and confidence began slipping away together.
Shalini’s story reflects the harsh reality faced by countless girls across rural India, where lack of menstrual hygiene awareness, limited access to sanitary products and poor sanitation facilities continue to affect girls’ education. For many adolescent girls, periods become a reason to miss classrooms, fall behind in learning or eventually drop out of school altogether.
Menstrual hygiene is not only a health issue; it is deeply connected to dignity, confidence and equal access to education. Without safe spaces, awareness and support, millions of girls continue to navigate menstruation through silence, stigma and fear, limiting their potential long before they get the opportunity to realise it.
UNICEF & WATERAID INDIA STUDY (2015)*
The unspoken numbers
According to UNICEF India, over 253 million adolescents live in India, with nearly half being girls and 25% of them in rural areas. Despite several government-led menstrual hygiene initiatives, thousands of girls still drop out of school due to shame, pain, poor access to products and lack of supportive infrastructure.
Period absenteeism: Why?
Whether in rural villages or urban neighbourhoods, a girl’s first period often arrives unannounced and with fear. Her body undergoes unfamiliar changes, but in the absence of support and information, this moment becomes isolating. When compounded by poor infrastructure, stigma and silence, menstruation becomes not just a personal struggle, but an educational barrier.
Social taboos
Even today, in many parts of India, menstruating girls and women are subjected to regressive restrictions like being barred from entering temples, kitchens or even touching food on the grounds of being “impure.” These practices are reinforced by harmful myths, such as the belief that menstrual blood is toxic or that using sanitary pads causes infertility. As a result, many girls are pushed toward using cloth or other unhygienic alternatives compromising their health, dignity and confidence.
Poor menstrual product access
In many rural communities, girls face limited access to safe menstrual products, clean cloth or private drying spaces. Adding to their troubles is the issue of no proper disposal facilities; they often resort to using ashes or rags as quiet acts of desperation that compromise their health and dignity.
Menstrual hygiene in Indian women (15-24yrs)
Recent data reflects encouraging progress: 78% of women in India now use hygienic menstrual methods such as sanitary napkins, tampons or menstrual cups indicating growing awareness and improved access. However, among adolescent girls, only 42% rely exclusively on these hygienic practices*, with significant disparities persisting across states and districts. This gap underscores the urgent need for targeted interventions that address both availability and cultural barriers in underserved regions.
*Menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent women in rural India: a cross-sectional study
Paying the hidden cost of secrecy and infrastructure gaps
Many girls across rural India navigate their periods in secrecy by hiding pads in books, fearing stains, missing school events, and sometimes their yearly reviews as well because of menstruation. With no dustbins, running water or private toilets in schools, managing menstrual hygiene becomes near impossible. The result is a deafening mix of isolation, shame and lost days of learning.
Menstrual health is a national priority
India has taken steps in the right direction. The Menstrual Hygiene Scheme (MHS), by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, offers subsidised sanitary napkins and peer counselling through ASHA workers. The Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) promotes adolescent health, including menstrual awareness. The Suvidha Scheme by the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers introduced biodegradable sanitary pads at ₹1, increasing affordability.
However, gaps persist. Many of these programmes struggle to reach India’s most marginalised girls. Product availability doesn’t always translate to product use, especially when surrounded by silence and stigma.
As a result, many adolescent girls navigate menstruation in isolation—confused, unprepared and unsupported. For countless girls, this social conditioning leads to school absenteeism, diminishing their confidence, academic continuity and long-term opportunities.
Addressing the gaps through strategic partnerships
To bridge these challenges, strategic CSR–NGO partnerships are serving as catalytic agents. By combining grassroots reach with corporate scale, these collaborations have the potential to advance menstrual hygiene management as a systemic solution driving health equity, school retention and long-term social impact for adolescent girls across India.
Improving school infrastructure beyond brick and mortar
One major challenge for school girls from rural communities during menstruation is the lack of functional school infrastructure; poor washrooms, inadequate disposal, limited water and no privacy often lead to school dropouts.
What can be done
Support the development of gender sensitive washrooms with lockable doors, running water, disposable bins and incinerators.
By partnering with NGOs, corporates can implement their CSR goals for women empowerment. Through impact dashboards, the projects can be tracked to identify the usage, maintenance, and overall the hygienic parameters required for young girls in home and schools.
Culture stigma needs community solutions
One of the most important issues that must be addressed immediately at a large scale is the lack of awareness about menstrual health amongst young girls and their communities. This becomes more concerning when the concerns of young girls are silenced due to vulture silence, shame and myths that often lead to fear, poor hygiene and isolation.
What can be done
Corporates can support community based menstrual literacy programmes where they can collaborate with local organisations, ASHA workers and peer educators to increase awareness on menstrual hygiene. Furthermore, they can also educate the girls, teachers and community workers through culturally adapted IEC tools (flipbooks, comics, digital stories ) to challenge taboos and normalise conversations.
Take the example of Shivani. Once hesitant and withdrawn, she found her footing through menstrual health sessions conducted by Smile Foundation’s Swabhiman programme. With accurate information and support, she gained not only knowledge, but also the confidence to speak up. Today, she serves as a peer educator empowering other adolescent girls in her community and promoting health-seeking behaviour.
As part of its integrated approach to women’s health, Smile Foundation’s Swabhiman trains community-based volunteers as reproductive and menstrual health educators in underserved areas. This capacity-building intervention strategically addresses knowledge gaps, dismantles cultural taboos and promotes safe menstrual hygiene practices directly reducing school absenteeism and health risks among adolescent girls. By embedding peer-led advocacy into last-mile delivery, the initiative strengthens behavioural change at the community level while aligning with national adolescent health goals and SDG targets.
Making innovation accessible, affordable and adaptable
As key drivers of social impact, CSR–NGO partnerships are well positioned to eliminate unhygienic menstrual practices such as the use of cloth, ash or sacks by co-developing and scaling access to affordable sanitary products tailored for rural adolescent girls. In light of growing environmental concerns, these partnerships must also prioritise innovation in biodegradable and reusable menstrual solutions, ensuring both adolescent health and ecological sustainability. Such an approach aligns with ESG goals and supports long-term, community-based health equity.
What can be done
Support women-led production units for biodegradable sanitary napkins or menstrual cups.
Collaborate on last mile distribution through workshops in local communities and schools, Anganwadis and frontline health workers.
Support impact evaluations to track product adoption, usage frequency, and behavioural shifts.
For instance, through targeted workshops on menstrual hygiene, Smile Foundation’s Swabhiman programme ensures last-mile delivery of accurate, stigma-free education to adolescent girls in underserved communities. By promoting body literacy and safe hygiene practices, the initiative empowers girls with the confidence to stay in school, safeguard their health and become agents of change in their communities.
Her better health and future with Swabhiman
To commemorate Menstrual Hygiene Day 2026, Swabhiman is addressing menstrual hygiene as a critical enabler of uninterrupted education for adolescent girls in rural India. By training peer educators, frontline volunteers, and community health workers, Swabhiman delivers accurate, stigma-free menstrual literacy at the grassroots. It also facilitates access to sanitary products, promotes hygienic practices and advocates for safe, girl-friendly school sanitation infrastructure. This integrated approach reduces absenteeism and school dropouts caused by menstruation-related challenges. Aligned with national priorities and SDGs 4 and 5, Swabhiman empowers girls to manage menstruation with dignity transforming it from a source of shame into a gateway for continued learning and confidence.
A call to strategic CSR for menstrual hygiene in India
By investing in menstrual hygiene, CSR initiatives can move the needle on multiple fronts including school attendance, public health, gender empowerment and community resilience.
Smile Foundation invites partners committed to building inclusive, lasting impact. Let’s work together so that menstruation is no longer a reason for any girl to drop out but a moment where she steps into knowledge, dignity and power.
The Silent Workforce: Women Farmers in Rural India
Iron-folic acid (IFA) tablets are a cornerstone of India’s public health drive, but anemia remains a stubborn barrier to safe motherhood and healthy newborns. NFHS 5 data shows that 52.2% of pregnant women in India are anemic, and experts warn this widespread deficiency “contributes to high maternal and infant mortality rates”. Mothers who lack iron and nutrition are more likely to deliver low-birthweight or premature babies, and even mild anemia raises risks for both mother and child. Recognising this, the government’s Anemia Mukt Bharat strategy (2018) scaled up IFA supplements and nutrition counseling across the lifecycle. These efforts have helped millions, but by themselves they are not enough – pills must be backed by early diagnosis, education, and local action to make a real dent.
Government efforts and the community gap
India’s flagship IFA schemes for adolescents, and pregnant and lactating women are globally unmatched, and studies confirm iron supplementation is “the most efficient and scalable intervention” for anemia. Frontline workers including ASHA and Anganwadi workers distribute supplements and conduct awareness drives under Poshan Abhiyaan and Anemia Mukt Bharat. But in practice, tablets alone often fall short. Without counseling, many women skip doses or suffer side effects, and local diets remain poor in iron. Innovative local fixes can bridge this gap. For example, Sangrur (Punjab) officials found children were discarding morning IFA tablets. By mixing the iron dose into the mid-day meal and encouraging school kitchen gardens (spinach, fenugreek, etc.), they achieved 100% tablet intake and fresh nutrients. Smile Foundation’s work builds on such models, partnering with communities to translate policy into practice.
Smile Foundation’s programmes follow a systems approach that complements government infrastructure. Instead of relying on pills alone, we weave together multiple threads – from kitchen gardens and nutrition education to regular screening and counselling. Key components include:
Kitchen gardens and food diversity: Schools and villages plant iron-rich veggies (spinach, legumes, moringa) so families have fresh iron sources year-round. In Sangrur, Smile helped grow dozens of community gardens.
Regular health camps and screening: Mobile medical vans and local camps provide maternal-child check-ups and hemoglobin tests. In Mathura’s new “Pink Smile” initiative, fortnightly anemia camps reach thousands of women and girls.
Nutrition education and fortified foods: Interactive sessions and recipe kits teach families how to use local foods for nutrition. In Gujarat’s Banaskantha, we distributed 15,000 fortified “laddoos” (iron-rich snacks) over 10 months alongside IFA tablets. More than 70% of the girls in that programme showedgains in hemoglobin and BMI.
Adolescent and maternal counseling: Peer groups and home visits reinforce healthy behaviors.
Capacity-building of local workers: Training Anganwadi staff and teachers ensures sustainability.
These elements multiply impact by engaging the whole community.
Sangrur, Punjab: Nutrition Enhancement Programme
In Sangrur district, a three-year Nutrition Enhancement Programme demonstrates the scale of this approach. It reached 23 villages and impacted over 60,000 people, including pregnant women, lactating mothers, and young children, plus their families. Through this effort, Smile teams and officials held 260 health camps offering nutrition and anemia screening. We also conducted nearly 9,750 community sessions and home visits on diet and self-care. The results have been encouraging – local officials report that anemia rates among school children plummeted from ~40.6% to just 2.7% within six months of the intervention. By coupling government resources (mid-day meals and IFA distribution) with kitchen gardens, counselors and camps, Sangrur has virtually eliminated anemia in some piloted schools – proof that ‘integration’ works.
Mathura, Uttar Pradesh: Pink Smile
In Mathura’s rural Chatta Tehsil, Smile Foundation partnered with PepsiCo India on the recent Pink Smile project to tackle anemia and malnutrition in 10 villages. In its pilot phase, the programme has already reached 4,200 villagers (women, adolescents and children), and aims to cover over 40,000. Pink Smile brings together mobile medical vans, fortnightly anemia screening camps, and nutrition education. For example, local health teams distribute low-cost, high-nutrition recipes and food kits to pregnant women, set up kitchen garden kits for families, and train ASHAs on counselling methods. These hands-on, on-site services ensure early diagnosis and follow-up: anemia cases are caught at screening camps, treated promptly, and mothers receive regular dietary advice. This multi-pronged model – front-line care plus community nutrition – is designed to boost the impact of existing schemes by meeting people where they live.
Banaskantha, Gujarat: Project Sampoorna
Banaskantha is one of India’s Aspirational Districts and was the focus of Smile’s Project Sampoorna. Launched in 2018, Sampoorna worked with 1,000 adolescent girls (age 14–19) across 10 villages, all diagnosed with mild-to-severe anemia. Over 10 months, each girl received the special fortified laddoo twice a week, along with iron-folic tablets, multi-vitamins, and deworming as needed. Intensive education sessions taught the importance of iron-rich diets and kitchen gardening. The outcome was that the severe-to-moderate anemia in the group fell from ~78% to about 34%. Underweight prevalence dropped from 70.2% to just 13.8%, and girls in the “normal” BMI range rose from 29.5% to 86.1%. In practical terms, 70%+ of participants reported significantly better hemoglobin and body-mass index after the programme.
One girl’s story illustrates the human side of these numbers. Sahisa, a teenager from a village in Banaskantha, arrived at Sampoorna severely anemic and had even dropped out of school from fatigue. Through regular laddoos, supplements and close follow-up by Smile’s team, her health rebounded. Over a few months, she regained strength and energy. Sahisa returned to her village school and even enrolled in a vocational training course. Sahisa’s turnaround highlights that defeating anemia can literally turn lives around.
Beyond health: Education, productivity, and community development
The benefits of curing anemia reach far beyond hemoglobin levels. A well-nourished girl is more likely to stay in school, concentrate in class, and develop skills – boosting her future earning potential. Studies confirm this link: iron deficiency in childhood causes cognitive and physical delays that lead to “lower schooling and productivity loss” in adulthood. In practical terms, the gains seen in these projects have meant better school attendance and participation. Families also report that healthier mothers can care for their families and work more effectively. By improving nutrition and health, these programmes strengthen human capital: educated children, productive adults and ultimately stronger rural economies.
A systems approach amplifies public health
Taken together, the experience in Punjab, UP and Gujarat shows that community-led solutions reinforce the public health system and amplify government efforts like Anemia Mukt Bharat by adding local ownership and continuous follow-up. Tackling maternal and neonatal anemia demands a systems approach, one that combines government resources with grassroots engagement.
India’s anemia programmes have always been built on IFA supplementation and allied public health services – and rightly so. By adding regular community screenings, kitchen gardens, nutrition education and adolescent engagement to the national IFA drive, programmes like Smile Foundation’s are bridging the gap between policy and practice. These integrated projects keep families and local leaders involved, reinforce health workers’ efforts, and link wellbeing to tangible gains. The result is that young women like Sahisa emerge not only anemic-free but empowered – a generation of healthier mothers and workers in the making. In the battle for maternal and child health, fighting anaemia at its roots transforms what was once a silent crisis into an opportunity for social and economic progress.
A Conversation with Raghu Tewari, Founder of AMAN, Almora
As told to Smile Foundation’s team
High up in the Kumaon hills of Uttarakhand, communities have long survived through collective wisdom, sustainable farming, and close-knit social bonds. But over time, migration, climate changes, and policy neglect have threatened their traditional way of life. In Almora district, one organisation—AMAN—has stepped in not as a provider, but as an enabler.
We sat down with Raghu Tewari, founder of AMAN, to learn more about how his grassroots efforts are helping mountain communities rediscover their own strengths.
AMAN is also a participant in Smile Foundation’s Empowering Grassroots programme, conducted in partnership with Change the Game Academy, which supports community-led organisations through capacity building in leadership, local fundraising, governance, and programme development.
Q: What inspired you to start AMAN? What kind of work does AMAN focus on?
Raghu Tewari: I come from this land. Over the years, I saw how hill communities, especially in and around Almora, were rich in knowledge but lacked access to systems that respected or supported them. Many government schemes don’t reach here, and even when they do, people don’t always know how to access them. I believed that the community should be equipped to speak for itself, to solve its own problems. That’s how AMAN was born, not to do things for people, but with them.
The Empowering Grassroots training helped us understand how to build credibility—how to report our impact, how to engage local stakeholders, and how to speak the language of funders.
We work in areas like sustainable agriculture, preservation of indigenous knowledge, education, and community advocacy. We support women-led collectives, revive traditional farming methods, and help children, especially girls, stay in school. A big part of our work is also connecting people to entitlements like ration cards, pensions, and government schemes they were unaware of or unable to apply for.
Women of the village at a training session
Unfortunately, development organisations from the south do not play a significant decision-making role in global conversations, thereby limiting their access to donors and funds. Not only does it make scaling our solutions more challenging, it also delays reaching a common ground between the global south and north. For example, donors from the north often say that capacity must be built, but fail to understand that capacity cannot be built when very limited funding is available. As a result, development organisations from the south become subcontractors for development organisations of the north. These subcontractors have no authority and often have to operate with margins that barely cover their costs – not to mention capacity building.
Development should focus on long-term solutions rather than short-term projects, and these solutions need funding for them to be scalable and sustainable. However, many donors believe that organisations in the global south are risky business partners, creating a self-reinforcing chicken-and-egg situation. Donors from the north do not provide funds because partners from the south lack capacity that cannot be built due to a lack of funds. Although there has been talk of local anchoring for a long time, little progress has been made with this very paradox.
Q: How did Empowering Grassroots support your work?
Raghu Tewari: Before the training, our work was good but scattered. The Empowering Grassroots programme helped us become more structured and focused. We learned how to write stronger proposals, plan sustainable programmes, and even raise funds locally. One of the best parts was learning how to tell our own story better. That boosted our confidence.
Now, we’ve improved our documentation, and we’re able to reach more families with fewer resources because our systems are stronger. That’s a big leap for a small organisation like ours.
After the training, we conducted a local fundraising drive, our first ever. We didn’t raise huge sums, but what mattered was that it came from the community itself. That changed the relationship between us and the people we serve. They began to see AMAN as their own platform. It built trust, accountability, and pride.
Training of women to make edible items like buscuits and juice
Q: Why is preserving indigenous knowledge so important to your mission?
Raghu Tewari: Because it’s being lost. Young people today often see traditional farming or local crafts as outdated or inferior. But these are practices that sustained generations, farming without chemicals, water management without machines, conflict resolution through community dialogue.
We’re working to document this knowledge, involve elders in sharing it, and encourage youth to respect and revive it. Whether it’s using native seeds or practicing traditional medicine, this is resilience. It’s sustainable, affordable, and rooted in the environment.
We want to expand our work to more villages and build local leadership. If we can train young people from within these communities to take charge, whether in farming, education, or governance, we won’t need external help in the long run. The goal is to create self-sustaining communities.
