Digital Swaraj Fellowship: Revisiting the Journey of DEF’s Flagship Programme
DEF’s foot soldiers take on multiple roles based on the need and the situation to serve their communities and here are some narratives of the crucial role they plan.
The success stories of SoochnaPreneurs, Digital Sarthaks and Samarth SoochnaPreneurs continue to grow in quantity and quality as they are making the best use of the support system, resources and skills to improve their living.
Nisha Tuti is a woman entrepreneur from Jharkhand and she is well acquainted with grocery business. She is part of a joint family; her husband is a farmer and occasionally works as a laborer in the off season, for his livelihood. She has two kids, both are minors, and they are studying in the government school. In the outer part of her house, she runs a grocery shop to financially support her family members.
At present she is capable of handling a smartphone well and even her other family members are aware of different tricks of the smartphone. She is now running her grocery business on a larger scale with the help of different networks of entrepreneurs. With the proper use of WhatsApp for business and use of “Google Pay” for money transactions, her monthly income surprisingly increased. She is now a major contributor of income in her family.
Businesses can easily be uplifted using social media platforms and Nisha Tuti’s story is an example of the potential it carries. Business from home has allowed women entrepreneurs to look for alternative options to continue their business, while they are engaged in other household work. Other family members always help her to run the business in order to uplift the living standards of their family.
Pramila Devi is a hard-working lady with many years of experience in cultivating farms, often lending a helping hand to her husband to take up lands to farm. She is from Jharkhand and has two small kids. She belongs to a poor family and came to DEF seeking support to help in better cultivation practices.
Digital Sarthak of her area suggested that she register her name through “Gram Sabha ” and then she applied online for ‘Coop Nirmaan Scheme’ with related documents. After a few months, her application was approved and an agreement was signed with Rojgaar Sevak/Panchayat Sevak and 375,000 rupees was sanctioned for the completion of the well which would take nearly three months. Currently, her irrigation requirements to grow any crop that she desires is met by the well and hence made her independent of rain. Now she is able to produce more crops and vegetables to supply vendors and earn a reasonable amount of money for her livelihood.
Previously, her husband had to work as a laborer in the town for half of the year to earn money for his family members but now he is busy cultivating in his own field as the irrigation system improved and their living standard became better.
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