Education and skill don't just change one person — they change the future of an entire family. In Jodhpur's Sansi Colony, that idea is taking concrete shape. Here, Neetu Singh Sansi has reached out to women whom society has long kept at its margins. Mothers and sisters who once collected garbage or cleaned other people's homes are now finding a new identity through needle, thread and the alphabet.
A sewing centre where the change began
At the heart of the effort is a sewing centre run with the support of the Yugavartak Nandkishore Sharda Gyan Ganga Mission. The training, however, goes well beyond stitching clothes. Women here are also taught handicrafts, how to sign their names, reading and writing, and a range of everyday life skills. The aim is simple: to put a skill in a woman's hands that frees her from depending on anyone else.
Alongside the training, the women are being linked to self-help groups so they can access government schemes, start their own small enterprises and become financially independent. Neetu Singh Sansi's work does not stop at livelihood either — she keeps working with the women on education, health, hygiene, values and social awareness.
The communities at the centre of this work
Sansi Colony is largely home to denotified, nomadic and semi-nomadic communities — groups that still remain far behind the mainstream of development. Neetu Singh Sansi has reached out specifically to women tied to unorganised work such as waste collection and domestic cleaning, or those who, for whatever reason, never got a chance to study. Despite limited resources, she is working to connect them with confidence, education and skills.
The impact is beginning to show. Many women are learning to read and write for the first time, picking up new skills and inching towards self-reliance. A picture once defined by hardship and exclusion is slowly turning into one of hope and courage.
'Not one meal, but strength for a lifetime'
Ajay Singh Sansi, a local social worker and public representative, calls the initiative an important step towards building society. He says the process of social change may be long, but when work is done with dedication and consistency, its results are deeply powerful. "Giving a person a single meal is important, but making them capable and self-reliant for life is an even greater task," he said.
Neetu Singh Sansi's own goal echoes this — to make women educated, capable and self-reliant enough to lead their own lives. Ajay Singh Sansi is confident that this is not merely training but the work of nation-building, and that the women associated with the campaign will, in time, become an inspiration for their families and society. The new spark of confidence, dignity and self-reliance being kindled among marginalised groups can today be seen in these very women of Sansi Colony.
