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From Shy Voices to Confident Entrepreneurs: Bonda Women Step Beyond Their Villages

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From Shy Voices to Confident Entrepreneurs: Bonda Women Step Beyond Their Villages

Bengaluru, August 15, 2026: Seven executive members of a Farmer Producer Company (FPC), all women from the Bonda tribe, one of India’s Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), have travelled from the remote Bonda Hills of Odisha’s Malkangiri district to Bengaluru for a training programme on food drying and processing techniques at Jain University.

The training is part of a livelihood initiative implemented by Rise Against Hunger India to help increase household incomes through the processing and value addition of locally available forest produce, including bamboo shoots, jackfruit, mangoes and edible forest leaves.

The visit marks a significant milestone for the women, who are now directors and office bearers of their Farmer Producer Company (FPC). Three years ago, when Rise Against Hunger India began working with the community, many of them were hesitant to speak even in group settings. Today, they actively participate in discussions, ask questions and make decisions for their enterprise.

Their journey from shy participants to leaders of a collective enterprise reflects a deeper transformation rooted in confidence, agency and a growing belief in their own potential.

For many of the women, this is their first journey outside their region and their first experience of life in a major city. Beyond technical skills, the programme is providing exposure to new environments, people and opportunities while building on the community’s traditional knowledge of forest resources.

“The transformation we have witnessed among these women over the past three years is deeply encouraging. The fact that they are now travelling far from their villages, participating actively in a technical training programme and representing their producer company reflects how significantly their confidence and leadership have grown. Our aim is not to move communities away from their identity, but to help them build on their strengths and connect their traditional knowledge with opportunities that promote dignity and sustainable livelihoods,” said Dola Mohapatra, Chief Executive Officer, Rise Against Hunger India.

For the participants, the visit represents far more than a training opportunity.

“This is the first time I have travelled so far from my village. We used to see big buildings and cities only in movies. Travelling to Bengaluru, seeing tall buildings, riding the Metro, trying new food and meeting new people has been a completely new experience for me,” said Adibari Sisa, Executive Member, Amakund Farmer Producer Company.

“Being part of the producer company has given me confidence. Earlier, I only had dreams that I could do something meaningful. Now, I can see those dreams becoming a reality. This experience has shown me that women can be leaders and create positive change in their communities,” said Laxmi Badanayak, President of the Farmer Producer Company.

The NTFP training programme is part of Rise Against Hunger India’s broader efforts to strengthen community-led livelihoods and resilient local enterprises. By combining technical skill development, exposure and collective decision-making, the organization is supporting communities to create sustainable economic opportunities on their own terms.

About Rise Against Hunger India

Rise Against Hunger India is committed to ending hunger and improving lives through programmes focused on food security, nutrition, sustainable agriculture, women’s empowerment and livelihood development. The organisation works with vulnerable communities across India to build resilience, improve well-being and create pathways to sustainable development.

Over the past decade, Rise Against Hunger India has served more than 46 million meals and reached over 4 million people through its food security, nutrition and livelihood programmes, working alongside grassroots organizations, rural communities and humanitarian partners across India.

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TrueformPR Offers E Commerce and D2C Brands a Route Beyond Product Page Promotion

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TrueformPR Offers E Commerce and D2C Brands a Route Beyond Product Page Promotion

Brand storytelling and press release distribution help consumer businesses explain the company behind the offer

INDIA — TrueformPR provides press release distribution, media relations, and brand partnership services for e-commerce and direct-to-consumer businesses. The agency supports brands seeking to communicate company news alongside their product marketing and customer acquisition activity.

A product page answers purchase questions. A company announcement can address a different set of interests: why a brand exists, what has changed in its business, or how a new development affects its customers. For a consumer brand, a substantive launch or confirmed expansion can become a story with relevance beyond a promotional offer.

Compared with a short promotional post, a release allows more context and a stable explanation of the announcement. Social channels remain valuable for interaction and product discovery. PR adds a format for communicating the business development and, where appropriate, presenting it to journalists for consideration.

TrueformPR’s service portfolio includes product launch PR and influencer and brand partnerships as well as press release writing and distribution. These activities can address different parts of a brand’s communications needs, with the exact work determined by the engagement. A basic wire subscription should not be treated as including every service in the portfolio.

The Grow wire plan provides two releases per month and one social media feature at ₹999 per month. Other plans offer different volumes and support. Earned media outreach is priced separately, and independent editorial coverage is never promised as a guaranteed consequence of buying distribution.

TrueformPR presents an option for consumer businesses that want their public story to extend beyond price-led promotion. Brands can contact the agency to discuss a newsworthy development, the audience it affects, and the combination of services that fits their communications objectives.

About TrueformPR

TrueformPR is an India-based public relations agency specializing in press release distribution and media relations. Its services support startups, SaaS businesses, consumer brands, small businesses, consultants, and personal brands.

Media Contact
TrueformPR | hello@trueformpr.com | +91 95095 29800
https://trueformpr.com

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Review of Parchhaiyon Ke Log by Vineet Kumar Mishra

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Review of Parchhaiyon Ke Log by Vineet Kumar Mishra

Vineet Kumar Mishra’s Parchhaiyon Ke Log is a collection of six stories that looks closely at the lives people often pass without noticing. Its premise is simple but powerful: beneath apparently ordinary lives lie private fears, memories, desires and struggles that rarely find expression. As the author observes in the preface, there are no conventional heroes or villains here, only people quietly fighting their own battles.

The collection moves through strikingly different settings. “Ninth Floor” takes us into a Gurgaon corporate office where Raj, Priya and Aman confront the anxiety of layoffs, professional stagnation and the pressure of financial responsibilities. The glass walls of the office become an apt metaphor for lives that appear transparent but remain deeply isolated.

“Prateekshalaya” shifts to a hospital waiting room, bringing strangers together through the universal experience of uncertainty. “Dhundh Mein Aadmi” explores memory and identity through Harishankar, whose gradual loss of memory raises an unsettling question: what remains when a person begins to lose the memories that define him?

The collection also enters the more intimate territories of love, loss and social restrictions. “Chandni Ki Mez Par” captures the fragile beauty of love and promises, while the long story “Ujaas” follows Ananya and Mali, whose relationship is tested by social conventions and a long separation. The story ultimately examines whether love is always granted the space and time it deserves.

Author’s greatest strength is his empathy. He finds emotional weight in everyday details, the office desk, a hospital chair, an old mirror, a forgotten plant. His prose is direct and accessible, though at times the emotional intensity is deliberately sustained for longer than necessary.

What distinguishes Parchhaiyon Ke Log is its refusal to offer easy resolutions. Its characters do not necessarily triumph; they endure, remember, lose and continue. The concluding reflection reinforces this philosophy: stories may end on the page, but their meanings continue in memory, silence and what remains unsaid.

A sensitive and relatable collection, this book invites readers to look beyond appearances, and perhaps to notice the hidden stories in the people around them.

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Book Review: Os Ki Syahi Se by Vineet Kumar Mishra

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Book Review: Os Ki Syahi Se by Vineet Kumar Mishra

Some books are read for their stories; others are read because they quietly recognize something within us. Os Ki Syahi Se by Vineet Kumar Mishra belongs to the latter category. Published by Bigfoot Publications in August 2026, this collection of 99 poems explores memory, love, absence, waiting, loss and the passage of time with an intimate and contemplative voice.

The title itself captures the central paradox of the collection. Dew is fleeting, while ink leaves a mark. The poems inhabit precisely this space between the temporary and the permanent; experiences that may last only moments but leave impressions that endure. The author’s preface describes these poems not as a narrative of one person or one relationship, but as an expression of subtle emotions that often remain beyond language.

Divided into six sections—including Smriti Ki Dehri, Prem Ka Vyakaran, Anupasthiti Ka Nagar, Ankahe Khat, Samay Ka Hisab and Viram Se Pehle—the collection traces the emotional journey from remembrance and love towards separation, acceptance and the possibility of moving on.

What distinguishes the author’s writing is his ability to turn ordinary details into emotional metaphors. In “Til”, a small mole remembered on the back of a neck becomes a reminder of a relationship and of how another person’s gaze can alter our understanding of ourselves. Elsewhere, absence becomes more powerful than presence: the departed person survives not physically, but through memory and imagination.

The collection is particularly strong when it avoids conventional romantic sentimentality and examines love intellectually. “Punaravritti” suggests that subsequent relationships can become attempts to recreate the first love, while “Bauddhik Avastha” presents love as something capable of reshaping thought itself.

At times, the recurring themes of longing and loss can feel deliberately familiar, but this repetition also reflects the book’s subject: memory itself revisits the same emotional ground.

Os Ki Syahi Se is ultimately less about losing someone than about learning how absence becomes part of one’s identity. It is a quiet, reflective collection for readers who understand that some goodbyes never completely become past tense.

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