“Rags to World Bank: Gujarat women script new future” (Times of India)

AHMEDABAD: After rummaging through heaps of garbage in the morning, Kapila Rathod, a 24-year-old waste-picker from Gomtipur in Ahmedabad, does a nine-to-six job for World Bank. If all goes well, she may also work for global retail giants Walmart and IKEA. Kapila is one of 200 women, who have spent most of their lives below the poverty line. But today, they can call themselves stationery suppliers to World Bank and global stationery major Staples. The women run Gitanjali Mahila Sewa Industrial Stationery Producers Cooperative Mandli Limited, a cooperative of 48,000 waste-pickers associated with the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA). Read more