Inspirational Stories: Through their intellect and invention, women have made substantial contributions to a multitude of industries, including business and technology. Agriculture is the industry that gives the nation the biggest advantages. Between 2004 and 2006, there were alarmingly more farmer suicides, particularly in Maharashtra. 17,060 farmers killed themselves in 2006, according to NCRB data, 1,427 of whom were from Maharashtra. At the time, Canadian resident Sharmila Jain Oswal was inspired to assist the neighbourhood.
Sharmila Oswal’s Journey to Founding the Green Energy Foundation
Due to her background in a rural, Sharmila was aware of the struggle of farmers. She asserted that various government programmes had failed to help them, leaving them with mounting debt and poor living conditions. Sharmila decided to quit her work and move back to Pune in 2008. To find out more about the problems farmers were actually having, she then began a two-year survey across Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. Soon after, she established the Green Energy Foundation, an NGO that provides assistance to farming communities. The foundation’s objectives include empowering women in agriculture, water resource restoration, and the adoption of cutting-edge farming methods.
From Rural Roots to Legal Career Abroad
Oswal was motivated by her father, who had ran a tiny mill in the Maharashtrian village of Alibaug. After hearing about harassment and domestic abuse from friends, family, and classmates, she decided to pursue a career in law. She completed her elementary schooling in a Marathi-language institution. She travelled to England to complete her master’s degree in agricultural and environmental law after getting married. She worked as a practitioner in the UK from 1997 to 1999 before coming to Canada, where she continued to practise until 2007.
Sharmila Oswal’s Impactful Journey
In 2010, Sharmila announced her first sustainable water management plan in Buchkewadi, Maharashtra, following her return to Pune and the founding of the NGO in 2008. Sharmila continued her work in Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Rajasthan. She helped farmers in Dungarpur, Rajasthan, make the switch from cultivating a single crop to cultivating others. Sharmila claims that over the past 20 years, they have helped over 1.5 lakh farmers in five states through water management programmes, millet and vegetable growing, and efficiency measures, which has given them a steady income. The idea for their business, “Gud Mom,” was born out of a conversation about millets and the scarcity of nutritious food options. Millet noodles, spaghetti, biscuits, crackers and herb sticks are just a few of the items that ‘Gud Mom’ sells on their website, on Amazon and in other shops. The firm now has more than 5,000 millet farmers working for it nationwide, and it makes more over Rs 16 crore in income each year.
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