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India Aid

ASHA

The project in the city of Pune was established in 1993 by Minal Dani, MAPS' in-country India coordinator and has been providing a wide range of services to women and children ever since. The mission of ASHA (Action for Self Reliance, Hope and Awareness) is to address violence and injustice against women. These atrocities take the form of aborting female fetuses, female infanticide, bride burning, female suicides (due to harassment by husband or in-laws), arranged marriages of very young girls for financial exchange, and acid burning and poisoning of girls by spurned lovers. The scope of the project has grown over the years and currently provides a broad array of services, from emergency counseling to skills development and empowerment for impoverished girls living in the slums, to health services for women and children including immunizations and family planning education. Other areas of help involve sponsorship programs for children abandoned by their fathers, income generation loans for women, and adoption. The need for funding for this project is ever increasing as the scope of services continues to increase to meet the needs of those it serves.