When Bihar's Kurmaha village-based Lalmati Devi, a rural labourer from an impoverished background, attended sessions on health and nutrition through a self-help group she's associated with, what followed was the planting of a nutri-garden -- a key provision of the ongoing nutrition month ('Poshan Mah') to promote better nutrition -- leading her to feed homegrown nutritious food to both her family and community. 'Poshan didi', as she came to be known, became an icon of good health achieved through nutrition, at the very grassroots level where talks of community-led health initiatives are a far cry.

Leading positive nutritional change in the country's hinterland is Jeevika, the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society. As part of the national nutrition mission or Poshan Abhiyan that has malnutrition-free India as one of its key aims, the grassroots organisation mobilises the local villagers in different regions, to educate them, among other things, about the importance of what has come to be called 'Poshan Ke Paanch Sutra' that are important for maternal and child health - breastfeeding, nutritious complete meals, nutritious and diverse food for women, nutri-gardens and hygiene practices.