Small Steps is an initiative to promote environmental awareness. The project's first step is to promote a responsible alternative to throw-away plastic bags. Upasana has designed a cloth bag, a “small step” to address this problem, it hopes to distribute these bags without cost throughout India, but the main aim is to promote the use of re-usable bags, whether they have been designed by Upasana or not.

It all started with Uma’s family performing a puja (religious occasion) in a Shiva temple at Devgarh, in Bihar (India). Devgargh is a temple town and on the tourist map, being on the tourist map means that tourists leave behind telltale signs of their visit; in this case, heaps of plastic bags.
 
Date of impact: February 2006
After a lot of brainstorming and reflection, Upasana decided to create a campaign to “Handle Plastic Consciously” that would involve individuals at the first level. This ripple will spread further across India, and ultimately free the whole planet of this dangerous menace.
         
By April 2007 Small Steps was launched.

Small Steps is not about bags.
Small Steps says something big: Solutions to our problems lie in every little step we take each day.

Small Steps is about learning to say “NO!”, that too in style.
For those who want to see what is ‘within’ Small Steps: it is about cultivating a higher consciousness, seeing our connection with the greater whole.

One Small Step is actually a big leap. The metaphor is complete; connecting the material with the sublime.

Who doesn’t dream of eliminating ugly plastic heaps from roadsides in India? What did people do before plastic bags arrived? Through Small Steps, Upasana inspires individuals to always carry a cloth bag with them, trendy and useful, a striking way to say NO! to throw-away plastic bags. In India carrying cloth bags is considered old fashioned.

Small Steps is yet another of Upasana’s project to give contemporary looks to an age-old practice: an example of conscious business.

Upasana aims to make 10 million bags, this in turn creates the possibility of 1000 jobs in the villages.