Our fellow Jyoti from Najafgarh, New Delhi

is a hardworking and ambitious young woman.
She has a Postgraduate degree in Political Science, B.Ed in elementary education and has qualified CTET three times. However the path to such a remarkable educational background was not easy to her.

Despite her parents' support, many members of her extended family and other members of the community discouraged her aspirations for higher education. They told her parents that "there was no need to educate your daughter so much. She shouldn't study from a regular college but correspondence course is enough"

"My choice of subject was opposed, my choice of attire was also monitored.. my choice was always questioned. However, they couldn't stop me from achieving my dreams. So I decided to finance my own education so that I don't depend on anyone. " she recalls.

After finishing her education she began to teach for a year but didn't feel satisfied and believed it wasn't her true call.
During her master's itself, she began preparing for exams to join the police force.
She recalls "during my preparations I realised women don't get the same safety that men do, I used to exercise for my physical exams but no public parks were safe from male gaze and people's scrutiny. There were no proper equipments and facilities present for women. I could only prepare better after my family made a small space within our farm for me to practice".

She was actively engaged with many NGOs during her college days which made her realise her true calling was Social work.
Her own personal experiences and conditions among which millions of women continue to live in India motivated her to do something different and further the cause of women's emancipation.

Her professors recognised her aims and talents and asked her to apply for the Indira Fellowship.
She joined with a desire to give women the agency they lack, as they are restricted to their roles of homemakers. She wants to educate and create awareness among women about their rights. They are not expected to be opinionated. Through her activities within the fellowship she interacted with women oriented groups which made her realise how important it is for women to have 50% political, social and economic equity. She wants women's issues to not be restricted within cultural domains and should be a seperate agenda. She wants to bring women together as a separate political unit. She wants women to understand the importance of seeking same economic and social status as men
As for her future ambitions she wants to represent women in parliament to strengthen their voices within the political sphere.