New Delhi: In the era of women empowerment, girls and women are told that they can achieve anything today, but can they? It is not their incapability, but the lack of awareness is still a prevalent concern in the rural region of the country. There are not just enough hours in the day, where women can think about their health, hygiene, education and moreover themselves.
Akhil Bhartiya Gramin Uthan Samiti (ABGUS) is one of the organisations that reflect and provides not only knowledge-based solutions but also build their capacities on such concerns. The ABGUS NGO with RUDRA Foundation firmly believes that scanning the underdeveloped regions is a real task and an alarming need of the hour. They also believe that empowering the girls socially, economically, emotionally and 
psychologically fills the narrow gap of society.
ABGUS has taken various initiatives for developing and changing the condition of girl children and women in rural areas. ABGUS and RUDRA Foundation’s social services range from issues of girl child education, menstrual health to their active participation in decision-making. ABGUS conducted a series of training 
programmes for Menstruation Health Hygiene within its “Health & Sanitation”. During the sessions, the NGO stresses the fact that how women have to work through mood swings and cramps during those special days of the month. The parents and other caregivers are also kept aware of general precautions and measures along with tips that are extremely important for women’s hygiene.
Looking at the growth of the awareness programme, Rajesh Verma, Founder, Akhil Bhartiya Gramin Uthan Samiti, said, “The awareness sessions are mostly organised by the female volunteers of the NGO. They handle the entire process from planning to on-field execution of programs, events, or campaigns. When these little girls and women of the rural see fellow females working for social change, it triggers a positive response from them. Our main aim is to create an environment where they do not have to depend on the society to improve their health, hygiene and living conditions.”
ABGUS’s initiatives are also spread in the field of quality education. Today, the ABGUS and RUDRA-Foundation have impacted the lives of more than 1,63,000 underprivileged students by reducing the dropout rates and increasing school retention in the rural section by 95 per cent. Not only this, the ABGUS and RUDRA Foundation have been continuously working towards water conservation and waste-water management for more than three decades. The NGO’s deed is scattered across the subjects of girl child development and several other awareness programmes.
