Basanti Rana, 37, today is a successful entrepreneur in her own right. Hailing from a poor family in the Jajpur district of Odisha, over 100 km from capital Bhubaneswar, Basanti has the credit of training over 1,200 women from poor families in stitching in the last one decade. Among them, 200 girls have become entrepreneurs and run their own independent business enterprises.

This is the same Basanti who was once treated as a social outcast. She was not allowed to befriend with other children as people in her circle used to define her entire existence by her physical disability calling her ‘viklang’ or ‘divyang’ (physically challenged). But today, she no longer carries the stigma. She is no more an ordinary woman today.