Sri Dharmendra Mewada, Vidya Bharati alumnus from Madhya Pradesh- Working towards Tribal Women Empowerment

In India, approximately more than 104 million people fall under ‘Tribal Population’, spread across the most of the states in our country. Since Independence the government of India has identified their special needs and put in place several  policies and projects for their development. Despite all the efforts this section of the population still faces several economic and social problems, which hinder their overall progress. Lack of education, poor health and lack of women empowerment are few of such difficulties that most tribal citizens have to navigate daily.

Recognizing the need to lend a helping hand, various Non Governmental Organisations and individuals have come forward and are working diligently towards the betterment of these people. Vidya Bharati alumnus from Madhya Pradesh, Sri Dharmendra Mewada is one such individual, who has been working in this sector.

Dharmendra is an alumni of Saraswati Vidhya Mandir Higher Secondary School, Kalapipal, Madhya Pradesh (2008 batch), where he had studied till class eight. After finishing his schooling , he completed his graduation in agriculture. For the past one year he has been working under National Smallholder Poultry Development Trust (NSPDT) as ‘Unit Manager’ in the Katni district of MP.

NSPDT is a Non Governmental organisation that helps rural women belonging to financially weak families to start their own small poultry business. The women are organised into cooperative, given training on the business model and helped to start their own small scale enterprises. They are also provided with round the clock farm support, technical help and veterinary services. Depending on the situation a woman can earn upto 30,000 a year or more.

Dharmendra has been working with mostly tribal women in Katni district. He is responsible for helping the women in bird rearing shed preparation, provide feed and medicine and marketing. In the past one year that he has been working, ,he has seen gradual improvement in the socio economic status of the beneficiaries. Their family income has increased, and they can now afford a better and healthier life for their families. The women are earning between  25 to 30 thousand per year and have to work about 3 to 4 hrs each day. According to Dharmendra, the satisfaction of making a positive contribution towards social welfare is one of the greatest achievements in his life. He hopes to continue with the work and plans to make a greater impact in the future.

Speaking about his school Dharmendra, pointed out that he has always been an outgoing child and his school had always encouraged him to participate in different activities and competitions. He has also participated in NSS. He feels that all these activities have helped him to gain essential soft skills and made him a confident and disciplined individual. The lessons learnt at school has also helped him to become more socially empathetic and develop a service oriented personality.

Lastly he thanked his teachers and school and hopes that in future Vidya Bharti would give more stress on modern and practical oriented education, that would enable the students to become better adjusted to their work life after completion of their education.

Vidya Bharati Purv Chatra Parishad thanks Sri Dharmendra Mewada for sharing his journey with the community.

If you are a Vidya Bharati Alumni and are associated with any kind of social/ community development work, kindly fill the details at https://www.vidyabharatialumni.org/social-service-survey

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