Anasuya Basavatarakam

A pioneering Indian social entrepreneur who revolutionized women's education and microfinance in rural India

Anasuya Basavatarakam (1920–1998) emerged as a transformative figure in 20th-century India, championing women's empowerment through education and financial independence. Born into a marginalized farming family in Andhra Pradesh, she defied societal norms by completing her education and later establishing the Basavatarakam Centre for Women’s Education in 1947. This institution provided free schooling to girls from Dalit and tribal communities, eventually expanding into a network of 150+ schools across South India. Her UNESCO-recognized 'Education for Liberation' model integrated vocational training with literacy, empowering over 50,000 women by 1970. In 1965, she founded India’s first women-led microfinance cooperative, Seva Samaja, which provided loans without collateral to female farmers. Her work inspired global movements like the Grameen Bank, as noted in BBC's 'Women who changed the world'. Basavatarakam’s legacy persists through the Basavatarakam Trust, which today supports over 200,000 rural women annually.