From planning climate action to fighting gender stereotypes: top SocialStories this week

It takes a lot of strength and courage for someone to overcome bullying and teasing. Deepa, a transgender person, is someone who fought her battles and became a micro-entrepreneur.

Meanwhile, Yogesh, who comes from a farming family, witnessed the financial condition at home and set out on a journey to improve the lives of famers in the country.

Read these and more in this week's SocialStory.

From being teased for being a transgender to opening her own beauty salon: Deepa’s inspiring story

From Dilip to Deepa Bhaskar Gangurde, it has been a long and arduous journey. Dilip, 30, was continuously and constantly teased, castigated, and ridiculed for behaving and dressing “like a girl”.

But the transgender has come a long way since then. From embracing her gender identity to embarking on a three-month beauty care course and becoming a micro-entrepreneur, Deepa has found a new direction – and way of life.

Launching the next three decades of climate action with young engineers and architects

The climate crisis has hit closer home this year--be it the flooding in Bengaluru, the devastation in Assam due to floods that destroyed two lakh homes, or the heatwave we felt in 16 states. Our homes and cities are more vulnerable to climate change because of the copy-cat uniformity with which we design and build them throughout the country, instead of a climate and region-sensitive approach.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an ambitious target at the COP26: to achieve net zero by 2070. We can make our buildings efficient and net-zero-energy to achieve this goal. And, buildings are our first defence against storms, floods, and heat waves caused by climate change. We can design our buildings to protect vulnerable communities, and provide critical functions in the absence of basic services like electricity and water.

Coming from a farming family, I want to work to improve the lives of farmers

This week, in Survivor Series, we shared the story of Yogesh Khirale who is on a journey to train, assist, and work with the farmer communities in India.

My name is Yogesh R Khirale. I am from a small town in the Wardha district in the state of Maharashtra. I live with my father, my mother, and my wife. My father is a farmer by occupation. I had always been interested in learning about the agricultural sector and wanted to work in this field. A part of this decision also came from the situation at home. As we are from a small town, our means of income were limited, our financial situation was not ideal, and my mother also faced a lot of health issues.

5 social enterprises helping India see better

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 285 million people worldwide are blind or visually impaired. In fact, 79 million Indians are affected by visual impairment, and over 137 million have near vision loss. Further, in many parts of India, awareness of vision correction and access to eye care centres is low.

Today, many NGOs and not-for-profit organisations are working towards making primary and quality eye care accessible to the masses. SocialStory has combined a list of a few such organisations.