A 13-year-old girl from a tribal community in Odisha kicks and punches her way to gold and silver medals at Thai Boxing championships. She is now preparing for her international debut, and also dreams to become an IPS officer.

Kalpana who runs a ‘sanitary pad depot’ in Mirtala village, Uttar Pradesh, has become a confidante of the young girls there who are now able to freely discuss menstruation and personal hygiene issues with her without any hesitation. For the past three years, she has been selling sanitary pads at a cheaper cost to village women.

What started as an individual initiative to protect sparrows by a local conservationist in 2007 has now evolved into a large-scale community project in Odisha. From just seven sparrows 16 years back, the village is now home to 500 sparrows.