Spoken word artist Nayab Midha on power of poetry and a programme to foster women micro-entrepreneurs—our top stories of the week

Age is just a number—and these women prove it in ways that are inspiring, unexpected, and deeply powerful. At a time when society often equated youth with relevance, they chose to listen to their own timelines instead.

These women are breaking barriers, starting anew, and defying age by not denying it but by redefining what’s possible. This list celebrates older women, their achievements, and their indomitable spirit that has enabled them to achieve the impossible.

The power of the spoken word

Spoken-word artist Nayab Midha has turned poetry into a powerful medium for storytelling, connecting deeply with audiences across India and abroad. She rose to widespread recognition in 2023 when her poem Muskurao went viral, quickly turning her into a household name and expanding her reach to packed auditoriums and international stages. Her recent special ‘Rajkumari’ is a three-hour spoken-word show blends narrative, emotion, and humour to unpack themes of womanhood, ambition, and self-realisation.

Creating rural micro-entrepreneurs

An innovative programme called Young Grampreneur Development, launched by the Ashok Leyland Foundation in partnership with Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST), aims to foster sustainable micro-enterprise creation among rural and marginalised communities in Tamil Nadu as an alternative to distress-driven migration. The initiative focuses on young people who are semi-skilled, unemployed, or underemployed, with an emphasis on women and youth from Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and tribal backgrounds. Running from 2025 to 2028, it plans to reach 4,500 young people, wherein 900 will receive structured training to build enterprises in their home districts. The idea is to strengthen local value chains and create long-term income opportunities.

Malnutrition among women

Climate change is significantly intensifying the workload and vulnerability of rural women in India, particularly those engaged in agriculture, the government told the Lok Sabha.

According to the Environment Ministry’s latest national communication to the UN climate body, erratic rainfall, extreme weather events, and other climatic extremes are leading to frequent crop losses and increased labour for women, who make up a large share of the agricultural workforce—about 30% of cultivators and 43% of agricultural labourers. This insight piece explains the scenario in all its aspects.

Malnutrition among women in India is far more complex than just a lack of food or hunger. A new multi-centre study funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research shows that many women, especially in the 18–40 age group, experience a layered health crisis combining undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies (like iron, vitamin B12 and vitamin D), and early signs of metabolic risk such as insulin resistance. The study highlights how diets low in essential nutrients, combined with work patterns, heat stress, debt, food insecurity, and gendered care burdens, shape this complex nutritional distress. Read more here.