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IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST

On International Women's Day we bring you images from across the country of working women -- the iron ladies -- who keep the wheels of the Indian economy running.

India's women bouncers Amandeep Kaur (R) and Manpreet stand in a disco pub in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh . Amandeep, started working as a bouncer two weeks before her colleague Manpreet joined her. Both women work part-time as bouncers four nights a week from 8 pm to 2 am.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST
Alcohol factory employees work inside a distillery at Rangpo village, about 80 km north of the northeastern Indian city of Siliguri.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST
A woman removes stalks from red chilli at a farm in Shertha village on the outskirts of the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST
A worker makes kites with images of anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare inside a workshop in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. The kite makers said they made around 300,000 kites this year with Hazare's images and each kite is sold for five rupees in retail shops.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST

A woman makes cow dung cakes used as cooking fuel in the northern Indian city of Allahabad.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST
Women agricultural labourers sit in a tractor trailer as they wait to return home at the end of a work day outside Sangli in Maharashtra

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST
A construction labourer carries bricks on her head at the construction site of a residential estate on the outskirts of the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST
Labourers climb down from a tractor trolley as they arrive for work at the Buddh International Circuit, the venue for the first ever Indian Formula One race at Greater Noida.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST
Women inmates prepare scented floating wax candles inside Chanchalguda Women Prison for the Hindu festival of Diwali in Hyderabad.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST

An employee assembles a computer on the production line at a Dell factory in Sriperumbudur Taluk, in the Kancheepuram district of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST

Washerwomen stand beside washed clothes kept for drying on the banks of river Sabarmati in Ahmedabad.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST

Air India air hostesses sit outside the domestic airport as part of a strike in New Delhi.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST

Childen sit on the ground in a outdoor school during a lesson in Santiniketan village. In Santiniketan village in West Bengal -- the home of Nobel literature prize winner Rabindranath Tagore -- a voluntary initiative helping local Kora and Santhali tribal children to read and write Bengali is now so popular it needs a second building.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST

An Indian woman at a call centre provides service support to international customers in the southern city of Bangalore  The hiring frenzy at call centres in India is the flip side of daily tales pouring out of the US and Britain, where thousands of software and back-office jobs are being cut as companies take advantage of cheap communications offshore to drive down costs.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST

Women labourers winnow rice near a paddy field on the outskirts of Agartala, capital of India's northeastern state of Tripura.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST
Mukesh Gupta/Reuters

Ruby Kour, a performer, gets makeup applied backstage before taking part in a religious play as part of Dussehra festival celebrations in Jammu. Effigies of the 10-headed Demon King "Ravana" are burnt on Dussehra, the Hindu festival that commemorates the triumph of Lord Rama over Ravana, marking the victory of good over evil. The festival will be celebrated on Thursday. Kour played the role of Sita, wife of Hindu god Rama, in the play.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST

A woman drinks water while having lunch inside a workshop in an industrial area in Mumbai.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST

A woman farmer carrying paddy crop is silhouetted against the setting sun on the outskirts of Agartala, capital of India's northeastern state of Tripura.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST

A sex worker watches a Raksha Bandhan festival celebration in a red light area in Mumbai. Raksha Bandhan, an annual Hindu festival celebrating the bond between sisters and brothers, will be celebrated across the country on Tuesday. During the festival, sisters tie a sacred thread 'Rakhi' around their brother's wrist for his well-being, in return for their brother's vow to protect them.

IN PICS: Women who drive India's economy!

Last updated on: March 7, 2012 18:23 IST

Models pose for photographers at the recently concluded Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2012. The Indian fashion industry is said to be over Rs 750 cr. The Lakme Fashion Week is one of the oldest and the most prominent in India that now hosts almost a dozen fashion weeks twice a year.