: A Silent Revolution: The 25-Year-Long Journey of Rural Transformation Across India #IndiaNEWS #Environment This article has been sponsored by TVS Motor Company. A few years ago, a group of men

A Silent Revolution: The 25-Year-Long Journey of Rural Transformation Across India #IndiaNEWS #Environment
This article has been sponsored by TVS Motor Company.

A few years ago, a group of men living in a remote village in south India had discovered an alarming threat – the handbag.
The handbag was not like any ordinary bag they had seen. It was not as much about how it looked but what it did and carried that bothered the men in this village.
Available in different shapes, sizes and colours, they noticed that the handbag had the same effect on the wearer – a seemingly dangerous transformation for every village woman who donned these handbags. She became confident, fearless and free.
This is an observation that author Snigdha Parupudi points out in her new book, The Silent Revolution The Journey of the Srinivasan Services Trust. The book encapsulates the two-decade-long journey of rural development initiated by a trust called Srinivasan Services Trust (SST).
A symbol of upward mobility for a marginalised section of society – the women, carrying a handbag represented the act of breaking patriarchal shackles.
“Inside the bag there is money, there is freedom, there are plans for the future. A woman with a handbag has things to do and places to be,??? writes Parupudi.
“With SST’s support, women who were working in self-help groups (SHGs) were able to earn a good living, provide education for their kids and ensure financial stability for their families. They carried their money and their agency in these handbags, which soon began to intimidate many men in the village, says the author in conversation with The Better India (TBI).
However, the wave of positive change soon swept over them when the realisation dawned that financial empowerment of women is indeed beneficial for their families and the whole of the community, in the long run.
Such are the instances of positive impact that Parupudi captures in her book that introduces readers to SST’s inspiring journey of being an enabler of this transformational change in underserved rural communities. Through interesting anecdotes and unique first-person narratives, the book unfurls the inspiring stories, which are both deeply personal and empathetically collective.
Chronicling SST’s 25 years of Brilliance

The Srinivasan Services Trust (SST), the social arm of Sundaram-Clayton Limited and TVS Motor Company, was founded in 1996, in honour of the companys founder T S Srinivasan, with an aim to realise his dream of initiating an equitable, participatory and sustainable development in society. For this, SST focuses on empowering communities from within through a sustainable model of converting individual beneficiaries into community leaders.
The Trust partners with government agencies, at the state and district levels, as well as like-minded corporates to drive large-scale transformation.