Meera Mahadevan set up the first crèche in Delhi at the Gandhi Darshan site. Thus began a journey of entering worksites, negotiating with contractors and building trust with worker parents to reach the children.

The web of daycare centres spread from construction sites to slums, and from Delhi, to Mumbai and Pune; in-house skill-building transformed into formal training in childcare for semi literate women and, later, govt./NGO functionaries.

India has fallen well short of the MDGs on the reduction of infant and maternal mortality and hunger, indicative of how our women and children fare. Early Child Development and Childcare constitute the common ground, and the building block, towards achieving the Education and Gender Parity Goals of 2030. Can we do better, this time?