Tag: Biscuits

Jyoti Gambhir

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A woman who not only dreamed about her goals but also dared to pursue them and achieve success — Jyoti Gambhir 

Jyoti Gambhir is a lady who not only had ambitions but also had the courage to pursue them and succeed.
If directed in the right direction at the right moment, your passion can help you reach the sky. Each and every one of us has goals and desires, but not everybody has the courage to pursue them. A person is hindered from achieving their goals by their fear of failing. Nevertheless, there are some who never give up.
One such woman, Jyoti Gambhir from Ludhiana, not only succeeded in turning her pastime into a business and achieving her goals, but also established herself as a role model for others.
Jyoti was always fond of cooking and thoroughly enjoyed it, but she exclusively did it in her kitchen at home. But there always comes a point when it’s time to start afresh.

Cooking was my hobby, and I tried cooking different food items at home for my family— Jyoti Gambhir

As they say, ”Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Jyoti’s daughter suffered from lactose intolerance and would often fall sick after she consumed outside food. Her daughter’s sickness made her resilient, and she started baking fresh biscuits for her daughter, as her biscuits were gluten free and delicious. They were well-liked by her daughter and family, who complimented her.
She became inspired and started working towards her lifelong quest of starting something of her own.  She made the decision to prepare additional biscuits to distribute to her family and friends. After an overwhelming response, Jyoti gave her a ray of hope and a pair of wings to fly. She felt motivated and thought she could provide quality biscuits and bakery items for those who suffer from gluten allergies, lactose intolerance or those who prefer organic food items.

I was overwhelmed & excited to see my family’s response to my new venture— Jyoti

Her husband gave his full support to her decision. She was on cloud seven after receiving the go-ahead signal. She was optimistic about it. She thought she had overcome all the challenges and she could see her path steered clear.
Then she considered taking culinary classes. As she began her research, she made the choice to start labelling her products under the name “Delicious Bites”. The ideal choice for her, given that she resided in Ludhiana City, was to get training from Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). She didn’t waste a second in starting her training at PAU.

I started my training at PAU and then, later on, worked from home to prepare fresh batter for cakes & cookies. —Jyoti Gambhir

After completing her course, she started working part-time. Meanwhile, she came across Dr. Ramandeep Singh, Marketing Head at PAU, who has guided numerous farmers in finding success and is always willing to assist them in prospering. Dr. Singh was greatly impressed with Jyoti’s work when she gave him a detailed overview of her ambition and her lifelong quest to start something of her own. He saw the determination in her. So, then he introduced Jyoti to the PAU social media team and gave her strategic marketing ideas.
Dr. Ramandeep then considered promoting Jyoti’s initiative on the Apni Kheti app and then the Apni Kheti team crafted Jyoti’s story to highlight her for better reach and support.
Jyoti had countless responses to this, and she soon began to receive calls from customers all over the city who wanted to place orders.
She started expanding her business as she garnered more marketing knowledge, using resources from Punjab Agricultural University amidst this process. After a few weeks, when her business of baking cakes and cookies was well established, she took the decision to produce more products.  .

I started my Training at PAU and then, later on, worked from home- Jyoti Gambhir

As Delicious Bites began a new phase of growth, Jyoti began to package and label her products.
She makes 14–15 different kinds of bakery products out of these listed products:

  • Biscuits
  • Cakes
  • Bread
  • Jaggery
  • Sugarcane
  • Jam
  • Squash
The ingredients required to make biscuits are completely organic. Other goods that include jaggery are cakes, bread, and a variety of biscuits. She took a step forward, then built connections with other organic farmers and started purchasing the required ingredients directly from them.
Dr. Ramandeep made all of this possible by assisting Jyoti in establishing her career.
Currently, Jyoti manages all marketing and promotion of ‘Delicious Bites’ on Instagram and Facebook pages, which she also owns.
In 2019, she was rewarded with Rs. 16 lakhs from The Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana-Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR) for taking up a great initiative of preservative free products.
Jyoti Gambhir then became a partner with Celebrating Farmers Edge International (C.F.E.I.) PVT LTD in 2021, where she is assisting many farmers in the processing of naturally grown sugarcane into healthy products such as cane jam and alkaline cane juice tea. C.F.E.I. has already established two Farmer Interest Groups (F.I. G) through this company, and their goal is to establish 100 F.I. Gs by the end of the year with the assistance of SBI Coimbatore and IIT Mumbai, their technology partners. These farmer groups support, educate, and help them learn how to market their own products.

“Do not follow where the path may lead.” “Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

We all have dreams, but not many fulfil them. Mrs. Jyoti Gambhir is the proud owner of Delicious Bites and has managed to fulfil the quest of her lifelong dream by opening her first outlet in Maharashtra under the partnership with C.F.E.I. She plans on expanding her business further this year and is opening another outlet in her hometown, Ludhiana.
It all started with a home bakery, baking cakes and cookies and delivering orders. She gradually learnt about the various types of preferences people have and began baking vegan and gluten-free products. She went from selling 15 units per day to selling 1,000 units per day and launched her own brand. As they say,
“Dreams don’t work unless you do.”
In 2021, Delicious Bites, a preservative and chemical-free bakery, was the only bakery from Punjab selected by the Govt. of India to showcase their products in the Dubai Expo India Pavilion.

FUTURE PLANS

She wants to grow her business to the extent where she can afford to package and be able to market her own products under one roof.

MESSAGE

Every woman should chase her dreams; there are no limits to fulfilling those goals if a person is fully determined and passionate. 

Paramjit Singh

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A farmer who conquered high ground at an early age- Paramjit Singh

Living according to nature is a big thing in itself. Whatever we eat or drink today is all given to us by Mother Nature. It is upon us to keep it this way only. If we follow its fundamental rules, we will never get sick and lead a healthy life.

A farmer, Paramjit Singh, residing in Katahri village near Ludhiana, tends to preserve the gift of nature and nourish it. It is not easy to connect with nature, but it is essential to protect it for the future.

He fell in love with nature so much that he quit his job to serve it in the right way. He used this to cure a lot of diseases such as Blood Pressure, Diabetes, etc.

A person, who truly loves his work and is passionate enough, starts doing it in a fun way to enjoy himself. Therefore, he got training in various courses and decided to work with Indigenous (Desi) seeds. Working with indigenous seeds such as Ragi, Kangani, etc., took him to a platform where he became an inspiration for others.

While I was working in a Millet research centre, I came to know about the seeds of Ragi and Kangani. I then started doing research on these seeds- Paramjit Singh

He started growing Ragi and Kangani on the fields as an experiment. Later, he was so impressed by the results that he decided to grow indigenous seeds at his own level and pursue business in the same.

As the business started to grow, we started visiting Mela, and from there, we got a lot of recognition- Paramjit Singh

His friends helped him in the process; they worked in a group and visited different places for marketing. He had 3 acres of land near his village, where he also grew vegetable seedlings. He has a Pannu Natural Farm named business there and various farmers visit it for buying the seedlings.

The problem arose when Paramjit had to make people aware of the indigenous seeds and organic farming. Most of the people from his village had the mindset that they are doing cultivation for a very long time, and Paramjit is not capable enough to tell them anything about the farming culture. Even after such obstacles, he never gave up and started to grow his business and promote it to a higher level.

He imported the seeds and a Ragi plant when he started the business, and now that plant is being grown on several acres. Paramjit went to Hyderabad for training and, after that, started working on seeds in Punjab. He did research on the seeds and started to produce new seeds, making new products out of them. Starting from the production to the packaging, everything is done by him alone. While Paramjit does this work, his friend has his own machine for making designs for his products.

When we started producing various items, we made a group and registered it through ATMA- Paramjit Singh

He made the following products:-

  • Pearl Millet flour (Bajre da atta)
  • Pearl Millet biscuits (Bajre de biscuits)
  • Pearl Millet porridge (Bajre da dahlia)
  • Finger Millet flour (Ragi da atta)
  • Finger Millet flour (Ragi de biscuit)
  • Biscuits of Green Ragi (Hari Ragi de biscuit)
  • Beetroot Powder (Chukandar da powder)
  • Desi shakar
  • Jaggery
  • Suhajana da powder
  • Desi kanak diya seviya, etc.

Paramjit does everything with his own hands, from sowing seeds to selling the products. He believes that the work done by ourselves gives us more satisfaction than relying on others. He can do marketing from his home through social media platforms, but he chooses not to and goes outside and does everything on his own.

Today, Paramjit Singh is on such a stage that everyone comes to him to get information about the indigenous seeds. Apart from that, he guides people about natural farming also. People know him by his work more than his name.

He is awarded various awards, such as the Young Farmer award on district-level and more, from different universities for his work and passion. Paramjit Singh also gets multiple opportunities to visit exhibitions and is more prevalent in South India as he is the only farmer in Punjab who started indigenous seed cultivation and also educates others.

The plants get the natural fertilizers from the soil itself. I have never used chemical fertilizers- Paramjit Singh 

He has proved that we should not waste the gifts of nature. If you eat organic food, you will never need to have medicines. The people who have bought products organically farmed by Paramjit cured diseases like diabetes, blood pressure, etc.

FUTURE PLANS

He wants to grow his business to the next level and have a processing machine in the field. Additionally, he wants to make everyone aware of the benefits of organic farming; this would conserve nature and make people healthy.

MESSAGE

To become successful in agriculture, one should be more focused on organic farming. To practice organic farming, one should always start with a small scale of land. The young farmers should be well educated about organic farming so that the cultivation could be done chemical-free and health issues can be prevented.

Harjinder Kaur Randhawa

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How this 60-Year-Old Woman Established the Foundation of a Mushroom Farming Business in Amritsar and Her Sons made it Successful

Where people in Punjab are still stuck in the cycle of conventional farming, there are some farmers who are breaking this cycle and are bringing innovative farming trends which are helping in saving the nature’s essential resource like water.

This is a story of a family’s effort! Randhawa Family is from the holy city of Punjab- Amritsar, which is known for its amazing cuisine, culture and serene Golden Temple surrounded by Amrit Sarovar (holy water pond). This family is not only bringing revolution in mushroom farming but also encouraging other farmers toward modern and profitable farming trends.

Harjinder Kaur Randhawa is the famous mushroom lady of Amritsar. She started mushroom cultivation just as a side work or we can say it was her hobby, but who knew that Mrs. Harjinder’s hobby will be transformed into a successful business by her sons in the coming future.

So how it get started…
As being the wife of Rajinder Singh Randhawa who was serving in Punjab Police in eighties-nineties, there was no shortage in the house that would have made Mrs. Harjinder Kaur insecure to look for an alternate money earning source.

How a housewife’s interest laid the foundation for the family’s future…
But in 1989, Harjinder Kaur thought of doing something different and utilize her free time in an efficient manner, so she started mushroom cultivation in the veranda of her house. She had no training before starting mushroom cultivation, but her dedication brings the true colors to her work. Slowly she expanded her mushroom cultivation work and started making processed food items of mushroom.

When the sons became the mother’s support….
When her sons grew up and were done with their studies, then three (Manjeet, Mandeep and Harpreet) out of four sons decided of helping their mother and become helping hand in the mushroom farming business. All the three sons especially went to Directorate of Mushroom Research, Solan for training. From there they learn about growing different varieties of mushroom like button, milky, and oyster. They also attended other vocational training given by Punjab Agriculture University on Mushroom Farming. While the third son (Jagdeep Singh) was more interested towards farming other crops and later on he went to Australia and started sugarcane and banana farming.

As time passed, Harjinder Kaur’s sons keep on expanding the mushroom farming work and they also started preparing processed mushroom products like Pickles, Papad, Powder, Vadiyaan, Namkeen and Biscuit for commercial purpose. On the other hand, Mr. Rajinder Singh Randhawa also joined the mushroom farming business along with other family members after retirement.

Today Randhawa family is a successful mushroom producer and mushroom products, manufacturers. From seed preparation to marketing, the family members do everything themselves. After Harjinder Kaur, the other member who took the business more seriously and worked towards expanding is Mandeep Singh (2nd son) he especially manages all the manufacturing and marketing part. Mainly he functions through their shop (Randhawa Mushroom Farm) which is situated at Batala-Jalandhar Road.

The other two son (Manjeet Singh & Harpreet Singh) also plays a very important role in running the Randhawa Mushroom Farm, they manage the mushroom farming, harvesting and other work related to the business.

Although the sons of the family are now managing all the work, still Harjinder Kaur participates very actively and personally visit the farming and manufacturing location and guide the other people working on it. She is the main person who takes cares of the hygiene and quality of the product manufactured by them.

How Harjinder Kaur wants to see her third generation in the coming future…

“I want my third generation (grandchildren) should also be the part of our business. Some of them who are  big enough to understand what is going on, has already started showing interest in the mushroom cultivation business. We are also planning to send our grandson (SO- Manjeet Singh, currently studying in 10th) to go for higher studies in mushroom research and do Ph.D. in it.”

Setting mark in the market…
Randhawa Mushroom Farm has already marked their presence on a large scale in the market with their quality produce. Currently, 70% of the produce (fresh mushrooms and processed mushroom food items) are sold through their shop and the rest of the 30% are sent to vegetable markets of nearby big cities like Jalandhar, Amritsar, Batala, and Gurdaspur.

As they are growing three varieties of mushroom Milky, Button and oyster so the revenue is pretty good. On all the three variety the investment is less and income is between Rs 70 to 80 per kg (raw mushrooms). Button mushroom crops take 20 to 50 days to get ready for harvesting, whereas Oyster (Nov-April) and Milky (May-Oct) takes 6 months to get ready for harvesting. Due to their crops readying and harvesting time their business is never out of season.

Randhawa Family…
The whole family including daughter-in-laws are very much involved in the business and they prepare all the products themselves at home. The second son – Mandeep Singh is serving one more profession other than handling the marketing department of their family business, he is working as a reporter in Jagbani Newspaper since 2007 and covers the Amritsar district. Sometimes in his absence, Mr Rajinder Singh Randhawa takes care of the shop.

Nowadays, the government and agriculture department is encouraging farmers towards farming crop that requires less water, and mushroom is one of those crops which doesn’t need water is the huge quantity for irrigation. So by seeing their effort in the mushroom cultivation, Randhawa family has been awarded district level award two times and tehsil level awards many times in events and fairs. Recently (10th September 2017) Randhawa family efforts have also been appreciated nationwide by Directorate of Mushroom Research, Solan, where they were awarded National Award.


MESSAGE FOR FARMERS

Randhawa family believes in being together and their message is the most unique and inspirational message for farmers.

 “The family which stays together achieves success very easily. Nowadays farmer should understand the power of unity and instead of dividing their land and property among the family members they should live and work in unity. One more thing that farmer should start is self-marketing because it is the easiest way to earn confidence and earn the right price of your harvest.

 

”

Anita Goyal

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Journey of a Passionate Woman from a Common Housewife to Renowned Personality- Zaika Ma’am

Earlier in India, after marriages, most of the women never have the confidence to pursue their hobbies and interest as their career and they just use to sit at home and do their house chores. The reasons which come in support of not pursuing their interests was societal pressure, family pressure, conservative society, financial crisis, family responsibilities and much more. But there were still some women who could not be stopped by anyone. And for those women this line natch the best – Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.

Such a woman who has always been an inspiration for women’s society is Anita Goel. Anita Goyal is a successful entrepreneur from a town in Ludhiana called Jagraon. She is very popular in her hometown for her cooking classes and is leading her business under the brand name called Zaika Cooking Classes. She also teaches painting and embroidery to her students, and all her students are from young age girls in their teens to elderly ladies. Her passion for cooking has led to spread her name so far that she is known as ZAIKA MA’AM in her city. She also became a member of Kisan Club in PAU in 2009 and till then she is conducting cooking classes in PAU regularly. All her students are very passionate about taking cooking lessons from her and listens to her very calmly whenever she start taking her lesson.

Well, all this success, prosperity and name is not achieved so easily. It all started in 1986 after her marriage. She was married in a family, where till now no woman has put a step outside the house and done any kind of work outside the house. But she was the first one. Her husband was an advocate by profession, so basically, their family was financially sound and there was no need for her to lay hands and work. But it was her passion, which led her to this level of achievement, she has gained today. She is currently living with her happy and complete family (husband, two sons, one daughter, two daughter-in-laws, and grandchildren) in Jagraon and also managing her daily business and teaching schedules along with her younger son. For her, her family is the greatest strength who supported her all this way and never discourage her from what she was doing.

It is said that to be great you need to start from the small and same did Mrs. Anita Goyal. She earned Rs. 750 per month from her first job, to which her husband objected in the beginning and for her also it was very difficult to manage everything (cost of cooking ingredients, convenience, personal use) in that little amount. She faced many hurdles and hitches in starting her own business. Even though she has lost a lot in life, but she never gets demotivated and always kept her zeal and enthusiasm alive. After working very hard, she finally got her break through and she officially opened her cooking classes and today she is successfully running her own business.

For her, cooking is like dispensing happiness, and the thing that makes her cooking skills unique and special from others is healthiness and wellness quotient of the food products made by her. She makes every type of bakery products, pickles, chutneys, 17 types of spices, 3 types of instant mix spices and also 3 types of instant sweet dishes mix (thandai, phirni and kheer) . She use flour (flour is made from hard wheat) instead of refined flour (cake flour or Maida in Hindi) while baking bread, muffins, pizza base, cakes of different flavor, coconut castle, cupcakes, biscuits and other bakery products. And in her pickles, she never adds any kind of added preservatives except salt, sugar, and oil; because according to her, salt, sugar and oil are natural preservatives in themselves. Everything made by her is very healthy and natural. She makes so delicious pickles that, even demands comes from abroad for her pickles. She says that, if you are giving the best then you will definitely stand out from the rest.

She also has a little kitchen garden in her backyard, where she grows turmeric, green chili, and other seasonal vegetables for her home use. She is in her sixties, but from her active participation and involvement in different events, exhibitions, and business, it seems that she is going to prosper more and achieve greatly in future. Mrs. Anita Goyal’s hobby and passion for cooking has helped her in making her own identity in the society and earn well. Currently, she is planning to take her business to the next level and open an official shop where she can sell all her products easily.

Message by Mrs. Anita Goyal-
“According to her- No work is small or big, if you really want to make a change, all you need is immense determination and willpower to push through. You have to be strong-willed, only then you can achieve what you want. A woman can only bring change in her life with her own strength and not excuses. Women should make their own identity in the society and get recognized for their skill and talent, not just their husband’s name because it feels very proud when your family gets recognized because of you.”

Ashok Vashist

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Encouraging Story of a Farmer Making Money from Organic mushroom Farming and Mushroom Products

The science of agriculture has been refined and perfected overtimes to fulfill the demands of the ever increasing population. And with advancement, farming techniques has also been changed. Nowadays most of the farmers are dependent on conventional farming (industrial farming) techniques, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, GMO and other industrial product to maximize the potential yield of their crops; very few are doing farming without using chemicals. Today, we are going to introduce you to a personality, who also use to do conventional farming earlier, but after getting the insight and knowing the benefits of using natural ways in farming, he started using natural farming methods.

Ashok Vashist is an ordinary farmer of village Haryana, who breached the stereotypical thinking of using conventional farming techniques and started using organic farming methods for mushroom cultivation. He got the inspiration of doing mushroom cultivation by using natural farming method after his visit to Research Center of Mushroom, where Chief Scientist Dr. Ajay Singh Yadav make him aware of the beneficial properties of mushroom and motivated him to start doing it.

In the beginning, when he started mushroom farming, the person other than Scientist Ajay Singh Yadav, who always encouraged and assisted him in farming was his wife. All the other six members of his family also helped and supported him a lot.

Ashok Vashist mainly follows three important steps of mushroom cultivation.

First Step: In the first step, he prepares compost by using paddy straw, wheat straw, millet straw, etc. He cut the straws in 3 to 4 cm and soak them in water.

Second Step: In the second step, he leaves the straw for 28 days in the compost made at home.

Third Step: In the third step, when the compost is prepared, he sows the mushroom seeds which are specially prepared in the lab.

He always follows these three steps while doing mushroom farming and other than mushroom he also cultivates wheat and rice in his farm. By qualification, he is just 10th passed, but this thing never dispirited him in learning and exploring new things. With his innovative thinking and enthusiasm, he tries to create different product out of mushroom, and till now he has created products like honey muraba, mushroom achaar, mushroom muraba, mushroom bhujia, mushroom biscuits, and even mushroom jalebi and ladoo also. One thing that he especially cares about while making different food products is health. So, he uses Stevia powder made from the plant species stevia to sweeten the sweet recipes. Stevia is an ideal healthy sweetener and is also nutritious; diabetic patients can consume sweet products containing stevia without any worries.

Ashok Vashist journey started from a very small platform, almost from zero, and today he has setup up his own business from his hard work, where he sold his homemade products which have been passed by FSSAI. Maharishi Vashist Mushroom is the brand name under which he is selling his products, and many experts, officers, leaders, and media house visit his farm, time to time, to know his innovative way and the idea behind mushroom cultivation and creating delicious mushroom products.

Ashok Vashist wall of achievement includes:

• Certificate for mushroom production technology training programme from HAIC Agro Research and Development Centre.

• Training Certificate by Chaudhry Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar.

• Award and Certificate of Achievement in 2nd Agri Leadership Summit 2017

• Appreciation award from DC Amna Tarneem Jind.

Mushroom Seed:
Ashok Kumar is the first farmer of India who recently developed the seed of mushroom, which can be used as spawn.

Well these are just few awards and achievements to mention about Ashok Vashist, even his buffalo also won the competition by giving 23 kg of milk, which gave him a cash prize of Rs 21 thousand. He only owns 4.5 acres of land and 6 Murrah Buffaloes from which he tries to make out the best earning and profit. He is also an active participant of various exhibitions and events which help him in showcasing his products and making awareness of his farming techniques. And with the hard work and passion with which he is working, in future he will definitely going to achieve much more successes and praises in the field of farming.

Ashok Vashist has a special message for the farmers
“Mushrooms are highly nutritious and beneficial to human health. I have generated great profit from mushroom cultivation by growing them in a natural way. As, we know that, food processing is going to be a big thing in the future, so try to take advantage of the opportunity. In the coming time I’m planning to expand my mushroom cultivation to produce products in huge quantity for selling purpose. My message to other farmers is that they should also take up mushroom farming and process them to make different products for selling in the market. Even landless farmers can also make great earning from mushroom farming and they should also choose this field for farming.”