Jhoomi Devi

Jhoomi Devi

Jhoomi Devi, a shy village woman, belongs to the Nibukia Ki Dhani village in Ajmer district of Rajasthan. Not too long ago, both Jhoomi and her husband travelled a distance of 50 kms to earn a meager sum of Rs 100, a quarter of which was spent on their commute daily. With this limited income, getting two meals a day was becoming a challenge for her and her family. Her family could not manage to get necessities and it became extremely difficult for Jhoomi to make ends meet. She desperately needed more money to support her family. Things started looking up for Jhoomi Devi when ‘Gramin Mahila Vikas Sansthan’ (GMVS), an initiative by the Rajasthan Society to provide women living below the poverty line with self-employment opportunities through self-help groups. In the beginning, many women resisted the new process calling it too complicated. However, Jhoomi decided to give it a go in the hope she could provide a better living for her family. With support from GMVS, Jhoomi learnt more about farming, access to basic rights, pre & post natal care for women and became confident about expressing her opinions in front of men. She also secured a small loan to start a goat-rearing business with her husband. Today, Jhoomi Devi fondly addressed as “Sarpanch Sahib” by her community proactively addresses developmental and social issues of the village. Simultaneously, she is busy setting up her goat rearing business and hopes to employ people in her village, too.

Jhoomi Devi is also passionate about empowering the women in her village and represents them before the men and senior members in the village. With the bank loan, she has bought four goats with the help of a bank loan and they plan to develop a goat rearing business to engage and employ people in her village.