IAS officer Varsha Thakur- Ghuge, a 2011-batch officer from the Maharashtra cadre, is currently serving as the Collector of Latur, Maharashtra, and is the first woman to hold this position. Her dream for the district is to empower women and ensure their legal and economic rights. “My dream is to bring women into the legal framework and give them real power. If something happens at midnight, a husband shouldn’t be able to say, ‘Leave the house.’ A woman should confidently respond, ‘Half of this is mine, and I’m not going anywhere.’ That’s the kind of strength I want to give them,” she explained.

As the first step towards this Vision, Thakur launched My Daughter, My Pride initiative, which encourages families to include the names of daughters, wives or mother-in- law alongside the male members on house nameplates. “It’s not just about the nameplate; it’s about recognition. It’s her home too. When we implemented this in Nanded, it was widely appreciated, especially in rural areas, where women proudly wanted their names on the house wall,” she said.

Building on this idea, under her leadership efforts are now underway in Latur to promote joint ownership of homes and maximize women's participation in property ownership.“ If it’s a housing home under MHADA Housing, a state initiative, or Ghar Kul in Maharashtra, it should be in joint name. We are strictly implementing this. Also, many women farmers work with their husbands but are not included in land records .This is also something we are addressing,” she explained.

Additionally a hostel for working women has been established in Latur along with other initiatives to empower girl child, women, and working professionals. Her Vision is to ensure economic independence for women and secure what is rightfully theirs. “In rural India, they do everything, yet their efforts remain unrecognised in legal and official documents,” she said.