Ansuja Madiwal, a 15-year-old student , always had an interest in computers, but was only allowed half an hour a day to experiment with and learn about one at her school in Dharavi in Mumbai. But that was before she joined the Dharavi Diary programme in 2014. Within a year, Ansuja was so proficient at coding, she built a mobile app called Women Fight Back to help women in distress. It offers SMS alerts, distress alarms, and emergency phone calls. Ansuja says it already has over a 100 downloads on Google Play Store.
Dharavi Diary, a slum innovation project for girls in the Naya Nagar neighbourhood, was started in 2014 by filmmaker Nawneet Ranjan. Using the open-source tool, MIT App Inventor, the group, now fondly called the Tech Girls of Dharavi, has developed mobile apps to tackle everyday problems.
