In 1998, India's nuclear tests were code-named "Operation Shakti, " the Sanskrit word for strength.
It expects to have 25, 000 Shakti entrepreneurs by next year, covering 100, 000 villages and 100m rural consumers.
"Every village has five to six girls who have been brought from outside, " says Rishikant who works with Shakti Vahini.
Shakti Vahini is one NGO trying to help the paros by rescuing them and sending them to a safe home run by the state government.
Shakti, the goddess depicted, is of immense significance to all Hindus.
Unilever has a similar program in India called Project Shakti which was started in 2000 and where women can sells its products door-to-door in rural areas.
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Hindu Human Rights is also protesting against the new film by Ismail Merchant, Shakti, in which rock singer Tina Turner plays the role of goddess Kali.
As guests of the custom-tour organizer Shakti Himalaya, we are ensconced in the heart of village life but with plumbing, (occasional) hot water, and (balky) electricity.
The downturn is something people here read about in the newspapers, according to Dhanna Singh, a member of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), a union of activists and farmers.
The Shakti portion, in Ladakh typically the top, or "summer, " floor shared with the family prayer room, accommodates two to four guests in fine comfort but not-- intentionally--in dislocating international-style luxury.
"We believe this is high time for the central government to restore the investment sentiment by implementing and introducing some more policy stimulus, " said Shakti Satapathy an analyst with AK Capital in Mumbai.
Shakti's modus operandi, difficult to sum up in a nutshell, is this: Here and in similar operations in Sikkim and Kumaon, Shakti leases floors in larger, well-situated traditional houses around the region, often with the family remaining in residence on other floors.
Unilever has long had a strong distribution network in India, but it has expanded its efforts with a division called Shakti, which provides Indian women's self-help groups with business education and the chance to earn a living selling cheap sachets of Unilever products.
The effort has proved so successful that Unilever introduced a high-tech element: the Shakti entrepreneurs now run kiosks with personal computers which villagers can rent to send e-mails and browse the web for things that can make a big difference to their lives, like market prices.
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