Twenty one- year-old Swamignand of Dattaipalli village, Nalagonda district, Andhra Pradesh, says, “I considered violence against women as normal before I became a member of an ally of the campaign. Now I fully recognise the repercussions of a woman being abused and the enormity of the damage that it causes, both within the family and in the larger society. A group of us have transformed our cultural sangam into a youth sangam where our focus has been now realigned to motivate girls to study. In our village, parents stop girls from studying after class eight when they reach puberty. We are trying to persuade parents to retain their girl children in schools to help tide over the crisis of female illiteracy and disempowerment.”