New Delhi: Anoushka Adya is a young entrepreneur who wants to make a difference at the grass-root level. She wants her education and skills to be used in something significant, this is the reason she returned to India leaving behind a lucrative career and stability in the UK to work for the cause close to her heart, which is bringing in positive change and progress in lives of young girls from the underprivileged background.
Anoushka founded Lajja diaries with this mission which was a huge success and turned it to Lajja Foundation, an NGO that worked for the betterment of young girls and women by facilitating quality education and employment. During the process, she realised that menstrual hygiene is one of the big issues among these girls and women. The main cause behind this was the lack of awareness and social stigma associated with discussing this natural biological process. Lajja Foundation organised several camps in Mumbai slums to create awareness, demo sessions, and also distributed sanitary napkins. The program was called #talkOKPeriodPlease. The aim behind the program was the promotion of menstrual hygiene practices among girls aged between 10-19 years and the use of high-quality sanitary napkins and safe disposal in an environment-friendly manner.
Lajja Foundation is currently revising and replicating the same programs in slums of the national capital Delhi and NCR after the success and good reception in Mumbai. Anoushka is expecting that her foundation will get a good response here as well and that her efforts would bring the desired change in the long-established stigma and wrong practices and customs associated with it.
Under Anoushka’s leadership, the Lajja Foundation has also launched #TheBetiProject to safeguard the right to education of young girls to provide impetus to girlchild education. The campaign will sponsor girlchild who need basic nutrition, medication, counselling and education. Amidst COVID-19 and stress on digital education, the percentage of girls dropping out of school is increased for various reasons. Only 12 per cent of girls get access to digital education as compared to 35 per cent of boys. Lajja Foundation helps such girls with financial assistance so that they can continue their education and ensure a better livelihood on an individual basis and age-old restrictions and perceptions are changed for the better on a societal basis.
Having such dedication towards a community that has been deprived of its rights for a really long time, and the kind of targeted initiatives she has taken in Lajja Foundation shows her determination towards these causes. Her vast knowledge, exposure, and experience help her to tackle these issues objectively.
Anoushka Adya is an example of changing face of modern Indian women who are taking steps in the right direction to make an impact that will have long-term positive outcomes.
The foundation has also distributed food grains and essential items in schools of visually impaired kids and families in need during the COVID-19 induced lockdown. This was done on humanitarian grounds and to extend the helping hand in the hour of need.
