Tag: Honey

Rajveer Singh

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How working in Europe made a Rajasthan man, a Progressive Farmer

Rajveer, a resident of Ramnathpura, Rajasthan was always inclined towards agriculture from an early age and had this unending desire to know about the new technologies in this field. You will be surprised to know that he used drip irrigation in the year 2000. In 2003 he started organic farming of jojoba plant but then he went to explore Europe in 2006 and worked there in construction line but his heart always belonged to agriculture. He told us about his weekends when he used to drive past beautiful fields of crops in France and he used to miss his homeland. The inspiration behind organic farming came from Europe, he saw that the temperature was cold there but still all the vegetables were available irrespective of the weather conditions with the help of poly-houses. When in 2011 he came back from Europe he religiously started practising organic farming of fruits and vegetables. He then constructed a polyhouse on his farm in 2014 for which he also got a subsidy from the Rajasthan government.
The harmful effects of fertilisers on the human body are countless. People realised the value of health during the Corona Virus pandemic and switched to organic food. – Rajveer Singh
He established Prerna Organic Farmhouse in his village which is located in Jhunjhunu district and got his farm registered by Rajasthan State Organic Certification Agency (RSOCA). The total land under cultivation is 3 hectares out of which jojoba is cultivated for oil production in about 1 hectare, cucumber is cultivated inside the poly-house which is constructed in 4000 m2 and the rest of the area there are 152 plants of dates, 100 plants of red apple and 200 plants of guava.  In the summer season, watermelon is cultivated and in the rainy season, sweet corn is sown. Dates are sold in the raw stage as well as after drying as pind khajur.
My father, an ex-army man has always supported me in living my passions and always guided me in the right direction – Rajveer Singh.
He also sells organic honey at a lower price of ₹300/Kg to attract customers and organic Desi ghee of Sahiwal and Rathi breed at ₹1800/Kg. He takes orders from customers through a Facebook page named Prerna Organic Farmhouse and through WhatsApp groups. Only cucumber gets sold in mandi whereas all the other products like watermelon, Dates, ber, and guava are sold directly to customers. He also grows organic black wheat which has numerous health benefits and this too gets sold through direct orders by the customers. The customer who once buys always praises the product and becomes a permanent buyer, the reason behind this is the art of Rajveer’s seed selection and quality organic products. In the initial days when he switched to organic farming, he saw a little decline in land productivity but then as time passed by he started making profits by selling the produce at a more rate in comparison to the mandi.
Although he has 5-6 cows and makes organic manure on his own but the quantity is not enough and so he has to buy manure of ₹50,000 from nearby farmers. He has two labourers to help him on his farm. Rajveer’s father Devkaran Singh, wife Suman Singh and children Prerna and Pratik also help him in his daily chores.
Rajveer is the director of Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) named Chidawa Farmer Producer Company Ltd. which was registered in the year 2016. Lately, they have sold mustard after collecting it from the farmers.
He is not only saving the soil by not using harmful chemical fertilisers but also practices rainwater harvesting by constructing a tank in a hectare of land. Other than this he also uses solar panels for boring water through tubewell on his farm and uses the same electricity for his home. He has been implementing eco-friendly techniques in his since 2001in his village and has set an example for others by saving the environment. Other farmers in his village also get encouraged by seeing such practices and visit his organic farm to learn new techniques.

Achievements

•    He was awarded at the district level by KVK Abusar, under ATMA Scheme in the year 2016-17

Future plans

He will now move to kinnow farming, grading followed by processing of this fruit which is in great demand. He is also planning for agro-tourism where he plans to construct small cottages for the tourist who want to enjoy mother nature.

Message to farmers

There is a need to stop using chemical fertilizers as it has only negative effects on our body and leads to so many illnesses. Now there is a boom in organic products and farmers can also earn good profit from such products.

Pawandeep Singh Arora

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Leaving the dream of settling abroad, this Bee-Keeper engrossed himself in his father’s profession.

Now-a-days, our young generation is more eager to settle down overseas because they feel that in abroad, they can have more secure future. But if we do our job with hard work and devotion by staying at our own nation, then we can have secure future in India too and need not to go anywhere else.

One such young man is Pawandeep Singh Arora. After completing his MA, Pawandeep first tried to settle down in abroad, in light of the fact that, as other youth, he additionally feels that there are more chances to work abroad.

Pawan’s uncle lived in Spain, so only after completing his matriculation, Pawan tended to go there. But due to some reasons, this desire remained unfulfilled, nevertheless, he continued his studies. As time passed, he noticed that his dream of going abroad is not working out. After completing his graduation, he opened a coaching centre with his sister. He closed the coaching centre after 2 years, when his sister got married.

Pawandeep’s father, Mr. Shamsher Singh, is into beekeeping farming since 1990. Being educated, Pawan wished either to go abroad or to have some good job here, because he did not want to continue this beekeeping business. But then his father began falling sick. At that time, Mr. Shamsher Singh was working at his Bee farm in Madhya Pradesh. The doctor advised him to take rest, due to which Pawan himself had to go to Madhya Pradesh to handle the work. That time, Pawan did not had any information about extracting honey, but after being on the farm for 4 months in Madhya Pradesh, he got enlighted himself with knowledge on beekeeping. He benefited a lot in this work. Gradually, Pawan’s interest started growing in the beekeeping and he decided to adopt beekeeping as his business and concentrated all his attention on this. To gain more knowledge about this, he also took 7 days’ beekeeping training from Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Amritsar. After developing an understanding about the extraction of honey, now Pawan is focused on the marketing of honey. He saw that traders are buying honey for INR 70-80 per/kg from him, and selling it for INR 300 per/kg.

“Traders buy honey at a cheaper price from us and sell it at a higher price. I thought I would no longer depend on merchants for selling the honey. For this purpose I decided to sell honey myself” – Pawandeep Singh Arora

Pawandeep first had 500 boxes of honey bees, but he reduced the number of boxes from 500 to 200, so that he could focus more on the marketing for his beekeeping and he also shifted 3 workers to do the work of packaging. He profited a lot by packing and selling honey himself. He visited various farmers’ fairs too and sold honey himself, from where he got good results from the people.

Being young made, Pawan understands the importance of social media. So he created a website to sell honey and also promoted it online, in which he got succeeded.

Now-a-days, due to lack of knowledge about marketing, beekeepers tend to close their honey farming. If the business of beekeeping is done with a knowledge of marketing, then a lot of profit can be made in this work too.

There are various types of honey prepared by Pawandeep:
  • Mustard Honey
  • Eucalyptus honey
  • Akashiya Honey
  • Kashmiri Sawai honey
  • Shisham Honey
  • Litchi Honey
  • Multiflora Honey
  • Kher Honey
  • Jamun Honey
  • Java Plum Hone
  • Berry Honey
  • Ajwain Honey

Pawandeep extracts honey from different places such as river canals. He carries honey bees boxes on the sides of canals so that honey can be extracted, and then migrates them back so that they can be packed and made ready for selling. He prepares “A” grade honey, which completely freezes, which is the hallmark of real honey. People with low eyesight used honey prepared by his farm which improved their eyesight.

“We go to different places to extract honey, such as Jammu and Kashmir, Sirsa, Moradabad, Rajasthan, Rewari etc. Along with honey, we also extract Bee-Wax, Bee-pollen and Bee-Propolis which is sold at a very good price.” – Pawandeep Singh Arora

Along with honey, Pawan also processes turmeric. He takes raw turmeric from farmers and processes it and sells turmeric along with honey. Pawan’s father (Shamsher Singh), mother (Neelem Kumari) and wife (Ritika Saini) also helps him in this work. For this work, they get help from the girls in the village for packaging of honey.

Future Planning

After achieving success in the bee-keeping business, Pawan wants to take this business to a higher level and market different products.

Message
“A message for farmers who are a part of Bee-keeping business; they should not depend on merchants. The bee-keepers should extract, pack and market the honey themselves only then profits can be made in this work.”

Mukesh Devi

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Abuzz of sweet success: Meet leading lady in beekeeping world with an annual income of 70 lakhs from honey business

“It is believed that future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

Milakpur is a small village in the interior of Jhajjar district of Haryana, which is not even properly linked to the main road and has no direct bus service. It almost seems impossible for a person to think of starting any allied farming activity or business while living in such a place. But the successful endeavour of Mukesh Devi in beekeeping field has proved that anything is possible if you have the passion to do it. Even after suffering from painful toxic stings of bees, Mukesh Devi and her husband had never thought of stopping and they continued their passion of producing the best honey in Northern India.

In the year of 1999, Mukesh Devi’s husband – Jagpal Phogat started beekeeping after getting inspired by one of her relatives who was also doing beekeeping. With the help of training provided by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Mukesh Devi also joined his husband’s venture in 2001. The work which they began so early with few beehives, started growing gradually with the time and now it has been expanded in other areas of states as well- Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, and Delhi.

Seeing the health benefits and rising market demand for honey, now Mukesh Devi has started selling the honey under her own brand – Nature Fresh. Currently, she has 2000 honey bee boxes for honey collection.

Mukesh Devi has not only made her family status financially stable but she has also provided employment to more than 30 people. By sending honey bee boxes to 5 different states with the help of their employed workforce, Mukesh Devi and her husband collects around 600 to 700 quintals of honey annually, and by honey, it doesn’t just means the ordinary honey with same flavour and taste, they have honey in more than 7 different flavours which are collected from the plants of Tulsi, Ajwain, Coriander, Shisham, Eucalyptus, Lychee, Neem, Mustard, and Pigeon Pea. Tulsi honey is one of the best honey they have with great market value.

When it comes to honey collection then the couple pay special attention to the time and weather of different states and according to that they set up their beehives at different locations. For organic honey, boxes are sent to the jungles in different states, below are given some time spans of honey collection from different places:

• For Tulsi Honey – Boxes are sent to the jungles of Madhya Pradesh (October to November)
• For Ajwain Honey – Boxes are sent to the jungles of Rajasthan (December to January)
• For Ajwain – Boxes are sent to Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab (May to July in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab)
• And from Feb to April, boxes are set up at different locations in Haryana
Moreover, the income of this couple is not only limited to honey production and its selling, they also sell Comb Honey, Honey Amla Murraba, Honey Carrot Murraba, Bee Pollen, Bee Wax, Propolis, and Bee Venom, which have a good market price. Presently, Mukesh Devi and her husband are earning around 70 lakhs annually just from beekeeping.

Mukesh Devi and Jagpal Phogat efforts have been appreciated by many organizations and officials, some of them are given below:
• Received National Award from IARI, New Delhi, in Rashtriya Krishi Unnati Mela for beekeeping and producing different varieties of honey in 2016.
• Mukesh Devi & Jagpa Phogat honoured by Agri Leadership Award at Surajkund, Faridabad
• Awarded by Union Minister of Steel – Birender Singh for good honey production
• Awarded by Parshottam Khodabhai Rupala, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• Their achievements have been published in IARI progressive farmer magazine namely Adhyeta and Innovative Farmer Magazine with other 39 progressive farmers.
Mukesh Devi is a progressive beekeeper and her initiative has set an example for other women entrepreneurs that if the efforts are in the right direction than even beekeeping business can make you a millionaire.

Future Plan:
Mukesh Devi and her husband have bought a piece of land in their village where they are planning to set up the processing unit of their products according to the market demand.

Message
“Looking at the present status, farmers must pursue allied farming activities with conventional farming for better financial stability.”

Bhupinder Singh Sandha

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Meet Progressive Beekeeper Bhupinder Singh Sandha Who Is As Busy As Bees in Propagating Apiculture

By remembering the first bee sting, generally, most of the people just hate being around the bees, unaware from the fact that these little busy bees can help you make an unbelievable sum of money, not only from honey but from many other by-products of honeybees.

But it was never money for which Bhupinder Singh Sandha started beekeeping; it was the buzz, the art of bees, and the boons of beekeeping which fascinated Bhupinder Singh Sandha more towards it.

It was 1993 when Bhupinder Singh Sandha came to know about the process of apiculture during a visit to honeybee farm in Rajpura organized by Agriculture Department. Watching the bees at work inspired Bhupinder Singh so much that he decided to start beekeeping with mere 5 subsidize honeybee boxes.

To say, Bhupinder Singh Sandha had a diploma degree in pharmacy and he was a pharmacist, but his life was surrounded by the buzzing bees and sweetness of honey.

In 1994, Bhupinder Singh Sandha also opened a Pharma store and also use to sell processed honey at that store and steadily his beekeeping business was also expanding. His purpose of coming in the pharmacy line was to really help the people, but later he realized that he was just selling the prescribed medicines, which was not what he actually thought. He did market research in 1997 and analyzed that beekeeping is the line on which he needs to focus. So, after 5 years of running the pharma store, he finally dropped the medical line and decided to completely focus on the bees.

And it is said that – You feel the real happiness in life when you choose a job you love.

Same was with Bhupinder Singh Sandha, he found beekeeping the real pursuit of happiness. In 1999, he expanded his bee farm to 500 boxes and came up with 6 types of honey varieties like Himalayan, Ajwain, Tulsi, Jamun, Kashmiri, Eucalyptus, Litchi and many more. Other than honey, he also sells bee pollen, bee wax, and roasted flax-seeds powder. The brand name which he chose to represent his honeybee products is Amolak and currently, it has a very good market in Punjab. With the group of 10 workers, he manages his whole bee farm and his wife also supports him in his business.

For Bhupinder Singh Sandha beekeeping is a major part of his life, not only because it is the source of income, but also because he loves to see bees at work and it is one of the great ways to experience this nature’s wonder. Through beekeeping, he wants to rise along with other farmers in the different field. He also guides the farmers who visit his farm regarding practical training for honey harvesting, Queen Bee rearing and packaging the products. Through Radio programmes and print media, he tries his best to contribute to the society and propagate apiculture and its diversification.

Bhupinder Singh Sandha’s farm is situated in his village Tiwana, Patiala, where he has taken 10 acres on lease. He generally keeps 900-1000 honey boxes and sells the rest. His wife is his second business partner and supports him at every step. To make his work more successful, he has attended many training to improvise his skills and has also displayed his work in many national and international platforms across the globe. He is also the recipient of many appreciation letters by various departments of Punjab Agriculture University in the field of beekeeping. He has his own ATMA Kissan Hut by the name Amolak under ATMA scheme where he sells his processed products.


Future Plan:

In future, he is planning to come up with one more by-product of honey bees and that it propolis. Other than beekeeping he wants to introduce chemical free organic jaggery powder under the Amolak brand. He has many other great ideas on which he is still working and will disclose it later with the time.

Message

“For beekeepers marketing honey themselves is the best thing because in this way they can reduce the adulteration and the role of mediators who seize most of the profit.”

 

Bhupinder Singh Sandha has kick started his profession with his own passion for beekeeping and in the future also he will try to explore the potential hidden in apiculture field for the welfare of the society. If the story of Bhupinder Singh Sandha has kindled you to know more about beekeeping then you can contact him to know more.

Ravi Sharma

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Tailor Turned Beekeeper Creating a Medicinal Powerhouse by Expanding Apiculture

Apiculture is rising industry which is not only attracting the people of agrarian society but also people from other different communities because of the future gain. One such a person who is creating a medicinal powerhouse in his village by expanding apiculture is Ravi Sharma.

Starting from 1978, till 1992, Ravi Sharma used to tailor the clothes and also guide 10 other men under him, in the same profession in his small village Gudana of district Mohali. His tailoring business was going well in a small village shop until he visited Rajpura, Patiala and met Dr. Walia (Agri Inspector).

For Ravi Sharma, Dr. Walia acted as a pathfinder towards beekeeping; he was the one who inspired Ravi Sharma towards beekeeping and helped him in adopting it smoothly.

In the beginning, Mr. Sharma got 50% subsidy and himself he invested Rs. 5700 on 5 honeybee boxes, from which he obtained 1 ½ quintal honey and earned good profit. First earning encouraged Ravi Sharma to expand his work to 100 honeybee boxes and this is how he switched to beekeeping and dropped the profession of tailoring completely in 1994.

Visit to Rewari, Haryana in 1997 in an agricultural event, boosted up Mr. Sharma’s fascination towards beekeeping and then he decided to increase the number of honeybee boxes. Now, the bee boxes number varies from 350-400 in his farm.

In 2000, Mr. Ravi also gave a try to dairy farming with 15 cows, but it was not as successful as beekeeping. Due to labour problem, he has to end it. Now he has only 4 HF breed cows and one Murrah buffalo for home purpose and sometimes he also sells their milk in the market. In the meanwhile, beekeeping work was going smooth.

But the journey towards successful beekeeping was not that velvety. In 2007-08, a mite attacked was encountered in his beehives colonies due to which only 35 honeybee boxes were left unaffected and the rest were destroyed. This incident completely shattered the beekeeping business of Ravi Sharma.

But this fall made Mr. Ravi stronger and he rose more powerfully and established his honeybee farm successfully within a short span of time. After seeing his success many other people consulted him to start their own beekeeping business. He started distributing 20-30 honeybee boxes to his relatives and friends also and in this way he created a medicinal powerhouse.

“Once there also came a time when honeybee boxes count reached up-to 4000, and all those people who owned it, started beekeeping after seeing my success in beekeeping venture.”

Today, Ravi Madhu Makhi Farm has two workers for managing the bee farm work. Marketing is also smooth, as Ravi Sharma has a tie-up with a person who buys all the honey from him, and sometimes Ravi Sharma also sells 4-5 quintal of honey on the roadside shop near Anandpur Sahib from where he earns well.

Beekeeping is the only source of income for Ravi Sharma through which he is supporting his family of 6 members, which includes wife, mother, two daughters, and a son.

“My wife- Mrs. Gyan Devi, was the main supporting pillar in my beginning beekeeping years. Without her, I would not have reached this level in my life.”

Currently, honey and bee wax are the two main product of Ravi Madhumakhi Farm.

Future Plan:
Till now I have expanded the beekeeping work in my village and few relatives only, but in future, I want to expand beekeeping to a much larger area.

Message:
“A person should do his work with complete dedication and include these three words in his efforts “Imaandaari (Honesty), Gyan (Knowledge), Dhyan (Care)” then only he can achieve what he wants.”

Because of Mr. Ravi’s effort today Gudana village has become a powerhouse for honey production and he will keep his work in progress to make beekeeping more impactful business in the future also.

Harbir Singh Pandher

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HOW FATHER’S INVESTMENT IN APICULTURE, HELPED SON REAP RICH DIVIDENDS FROM IT IN THE FUTURE

The young scion of Pandher family – Harbir Singh Pandher not only took his father’s beekeeping business ahead but he also turns it into a profitable venture with his ideas and efforts.

Harbir Singh, a residence of Kuhli Khurd, Ludhiana is a young lad who even after holding an engineering degree in Civil, decided to continue his father’s occupation and give it a boost with his innovative ideas.

When Beekeeping Business was basically introduced to Pandher Family….
Gurmail Singh Pandher – Father of Harbir Singh, started beekeeping business almost 35 years ago without any training. In 80’s, when nobody ever thought that apiculture can also be a profitable source of income at that time the futuristic mind of Gurmail Singh ran in a different direction. At that time, he started his apiculture business with mere two honey-bee boxes, and today his son has turned his work into a flourishing endeavour of 700 honey-bee boxes.

Even though Harbir’s father beekeeping work was making a good profit but it was still lacking the marketing perspective, due to which they were not able to cover the ideal market. So, Harbir thought of giving his father local business a boost with his planning and thinking. Harbir just after completing his studies overtook his father’s business. Choosing father’s business was not a compulsion for Harbir, it was his passion to continue the work which he has seen his father doing all his childhood.

The first thing that Harbir did after he started managing his father’s work was to give a brand name to the business- “ROYAL HONEY”. Harbir was well aware that to promote a business on larger scale branding is very much important, so he got his business registered under this brand name. To give his work a more professional touch, Harbir especially visited PAU in 2011 for beekeeping training.

In the year 2013 he also gets his product registered under AGMARK and today from packaging to marketing, he does everything himself. He is mainly focusing on two products and that is honey and bee wax.

Harbir has mainly Italian Bees at his farm, and to maintain the higher quality of the honey yield they do season to season migration of honey-bee boxes from one place to another in nearby states of Punjab. He has employed 7 workers for this work. Mainly he leaves his boxes in Chittorgarh (Carrom Seeds fields), Quota (Mustard fields), Himachal Pradesh (Multi-flower), Malout (Sunflower fields) and another place in Rajasthan (Bajra & Tuar fields) by taking area on rent. By the method of manual processing, he extracts honey and then does the packaging and marketing of his products.

Other than beekeeping, Harbir and his family are also doing farming and dairy farming. They have 7 acres of land on which they grow rice and wheat for home purpose, and have 15 buffaloes, whose milk they sell in the village and also keep some of it for personal use.

Currently, Harbir is making a good profit from his family business and in the free time, he also helps other people by guiding them towards the beekeeping business. Harbir’s future plan is to expand his business to a larger extent and also become fully independent in terms of marketing.

Message for Farmers:
“
Nowadays farmers shouldn’t be dependent on farming only, they should adopt other agribusinesses also along with farming, so that if one option fails then they at least have other option to survive. Beekeeping is a very profitable business and farmers must give it a try to know about its benefits.
”

Gobinder Singh Randhawa (Jonty)

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Story of an Emerging Beekeeper Who Carved His Way to Successful Beekeeping Business

It is said that, if you have the opportunity to get better then don’t waste it, because things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out. One such a person who didn’t miss the opportunity and carved his own path to success in the field of beekeeping is Gobinder Singh Randhawa aka Jonty Randhawa.

Gobinder Singh Randhawa is a resident of Village Landa, District- Ludhiana. He chose apiculture at a young age while pursuing his college studies. The main inspiration which acts as a driving force behind his profession was Sardar Baldev Singh- the head of his village. Baldev Singh himself was a progressive farmer and had a great name in the field of beekeeping.

Gobinder Singh with his two friends attended beekeeping training for 8 days at PAU and just after that, he started with beekeeping. Today he is a successful beekeeper and has established a good business. He started beekeeping in 2003 with 114 honey bee boxes by taking a loan of Rs. 280000 and today he has around 1000 honey bee boxes. He never prefers using chemicals or supplements for beekeeping, he always gives natural feed to the bees like sugar or grinded jaggery and for pest attack, he uses the natural method to prevent it. Mainly he makes honey from marigold and mustard flowers and currently his yearly revenue is around 3 crores.

With the cooperation of his two friends, he has also made a group by the name “BIG B” in the year 2004 to help the people who are associated with beekeeping work. Gobinder Singh himself is the president of this group and till now, 310 members have joined this group. Whether it’s a lady who makes face net masks, body covers for beekeepers, or a man who make wooden bee hives boxes at a small level, Gobinder Singh had tried to gather everyone under his association to help him in their work.

While setting up his business, he made some goals and targets, and by completing them step-by-step he has made a good space for his products in the market. From the beginning, he was interested in exporting his products to foreign and currently he is exporting bee wax made by him to the US. In India, he sells his honey produce in bulk at Doraha, Ludhiana, GT Road Shop and is earning good money out of it. He is also a registered supplier of National Horticulture Department and sell his product through them.

One of the great personality, who helped him in marketing the products is Dr. Ramandeep Singh Agri Business Expert, Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana by sending necessary information through Whats App group about the events and fairs. Gobinder Singh also shared his views about the marketing problem that beekeepers and farmers are facing nowadays, according to him- today everything is available online, even the consumer also shop the basic things online. So the producers also need to move one step ahead and make their business online.

Currently, Gobinder Singh is living with his full-fledged happy family (mother, father, wife and two sons) in his village and is also supporting his BIG B Association. He is also a very supportive person and helps other emerging beekeepers by providing them the beehives boxes, and other necessary guidelines. He also helps the farmers in making them aware of the loan procedure to start up their business. His future plans are to make and introduce more honey products like bee venom, royal jelly, and honey bee pollen grains and export it in the international market, because of its high demand.

MESSAGE TO FARMERS
“Those youngsters who commit suicide after facing failure, shouldn’t do that and start recognizing their potential. Because if a person has the willpower to do anything then they can achieve it and can reach any stage in their life very easily. Committing suicide is not a solution.”

Paramjit Kaur

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How a Woman with the Zest of a Female Sikh Warrior Is Covering the Milestones to Become a Rising Entrepreneur

Women have contributed a lot in the past for the community along with men, but oftentimes women contribution is overlooked. In India, there were several women who ruled, taught and served the country, their community and their people in the past. They have managed organizations, guided communities and led revolts against the enemies. And all these accomplishments are admirable in their own right. These Female Warriors were great inspiration for women before and even today. One such woman who is inspired by a great female Sikh warrior- Mai Bhago, and is a rising entrepreneur is Paramjit Kaur.

Paramjit Kaur is a woman of strength and faith, who took the first step of establishing Mai Bhago group in her village Lohara (Ludhiana). She started this group in 2008 and since then she is devoting her most of the time in expanding the business and adding and refining the products. Well, there is no doubt that being a woman in the man’s world and establishing a business of their own is no cake walk. It was Paramjit Kaur’s willpower and her family support which helped her in forming the group.

Behind the startup of every good thing, there is a guiding force, similarly, behind the Paramjit Kaur’s motivation of starting her own group was a social activist Suman Bansal, who helped her in getting one-month free training in homemade food products in the Punjab University of Ludhiana. And after that, she never looked back. Today, she has 16 members under her and she guides everyone personally.

Products made by Mai Bhago group are seven types of squashes, perfumes, jal-jeera, phenyl, body moisturizing balm, sabzi tadka, honey, herbal shampoo and mango chutney. Paramjit Kaur herself visit the market to buy the raw material of all the products. Everything made by Mai Bhago is handmade and they use machines for extracting the fruit juice, packing and sealing the food products.

• All the squashes are made from very natural process using the fruit extracts and give the taste of real fruits;

• Perfumes are made from different types of roses and contain the natural essence of rose fragrance;

• Jal-jeera powder which will give you a refreshing taste;

• Pure honey extracted from a very natural process;

• Herbal shampoo which does not contain any type of chemicals;

Well, these are just a few to mention, in future, they are going to come up with more natural and herbal products.

Paramjit Kaur is just 10th passed but her achievements and determination to do something on her own, has won her award and prize money of Rs 50,000 from Captain Kawaljeet Singh on the 55th celebration of Cooperative Society. She has also won appreciation award from the Punjab Agriculture University of Ludhiana for her admirable work. Apart of this, she is actively involved in events, exhibitions, and committee that are for the welfare of farmers, self-help groups, and entrepreneurs. She and her husband are the secretary of Cooperative Society and make decisions in helping the needful people. She is also an active member of Kisan Club and attends monthly meeting and farmer fairs regularly to be updated about the new things and technology in the farming field.

Despite being involved in so many activities and her business, Paramjit Kaur never neglected her children and family responsibilities. She always took complete care of her kid’s education and wants them to go for higher education and do great in their life ahead. Currently, her son is pursuing diploma in electrical and her daughter has done BA and now she is pursuing MA. Her kids are interested in supporting her business in the future and whenever they get time from their studies and college, they assist her in attending events and exhibitions.

Apart from her busy world, she has some hobbies for which she is very much eager and excited, and that is the kitchen gardening and teaching religious music to kids. No matter how much busy she is, she always makes out time from her busy schedule to contribute to her hobbies. She loves to do gardening and she has a small kitchen garden for it, where she grows seasonal vegetables (lady finger, eggplant, bitter gourd, chili etc.) and herbal plants (Aloe Vera, tulsi, sage, thyme, mint etc.). She is also very passionate about teaching religious music, musical instrument and how to read Guru Granth Sahib to the kids. In the evening, nearby children visit her and learn from her very eagerly how to play harmonium, sitar, and tabla. And she provides all these lessons free of cost.

Paramjit Kaur is a great inspiration for the other ladies of her village. She always wanted to do something on her own, because according to her doing something on her own makes the woman confident and independent. Even she never stopped her daughter from doing anything which will lead her to be an individualistic and self-regulating personality in the future. Nowadays, she is promoting her group through different platforms and is planning to expand it to a huge level.

A very true line said by Shad Helmstetter-

“It is the big choices we make that set our direction. It is the smallest choices we make that get us to the destination.”

So it is totally up to your choice, what path you chose and where you reach. And Mrs. Paramjit Kaur has already chosen her path.


Message by Paramjit Kaur
“Today every woman need to be independent and self-assured in order to survive the world. Learning to support yourself is a major element of any success you hope to achieve. Females should recognize their skill and stand up on their feet to financially, mentally and emotionally support themselves, because in the end, you will have yourself to fall back on.”

Gurdev Kaur Deol

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Story of a Woman Who Is Leading a Change in the Women Society through Entrepreneurship

Over the years, women in India, have made a substantial impact and achieved success in most of the sectors, but still, there are many women who are way behind and are just confined to the household work. Today, we need to promote women to be a great part of the workforce and develop their skills. Because women have the power to accelerate the growth of country’s economy. And the best way to empower the women is by entrepreneurship not by charity. There are many people working voluntarily to promote women empowerment, but the best person who can empower a woman is a woman herself. One such woman who is working in the interest of womankind and encouraging them to be independent is Mrs. Gurdev Kaur Deol.

Gurdev Kaur Deol is a progressive farmer and president of Global Self-Help Group. Born and brought up on the land of Punjab, she was a strong-willed girl from the beginning. She was very active and enthusiastic, and always wanted to take initiative in helping her female counterpart and make them feel empowered.

Like other women, she was also married after completing her studies (MA- B.Ed. from G.H.G. Khalsa Colleges, Gurusar Sadhar, Ludhiana). But after her marriage, she realized that this is not all, for what she is meant for. In 1995 she started beekeeping with 5 boxes and 1999 she also started marketing self-made products like pickles, chutneys, etc.,

In 2004 she came in connection with PAU, and then she comprehended that, so far she had only theoretical knowledge, so she gained practical knowledge from PAU. She also became a member of Beekeeper Association of PAU. After doing this much on her own, she realized that she has to make other women of her society aware of their capabilities. So, in 2008, she formed a cooperative society by gathering 15 women of her village and named it Global Self-Help Group. She helped all the women of her group get enrolled in the PAU training program so that they can learn proper skills.

In the beginning her group started making pickle, chutney, jams, honey, sauces, squash juices and murraba. Soon her group started earning a good profit and after 6 months, the bank offered them the loan for their work. They expanded their work bit by bit and also started organic farming and added more products to their collection.

In 2012 she partnered with NABARD and got her group registered with them and turned it into an NGO, and after that, her group members started processing their work. After registering up with NABARD she was assigned a target to form 100 self-help groups more, to promote and encourage women to develop their skills and be independent. Till now she has made 25 groups and PAU is also helping her in making more groups. In 2015 she registered Global Self Help Group with Farmer Producer Organization. Till now she has connected more than 400 women and men and formed separate groups of them.

Today NABARD is also supporting her group by providing funds, so that she can provide practical training free of cost to unprivileged and needy women and make their groups. She always approaches a woman by telling her to start making recipes for her own family, children, and relatives. Because she thinks, if a housewife cannot meet the needs of her home, then how will she do the same thing outside.

Currently, Mrs. Gurdev Kaur Deol is living in Village Dasmesh Nagar, Ludhiana with her husband Mr. Gurdev Singh Deol, and is successfully running her group and guiding other women and farmers to do better.  Till now she has total 32 products including organic pulses, lentils, squashes, and spices. Beekeeping is one her favourite hobby and now her group has 450 boxes of honey bee boxes. She also does dairy farming and makes milk products for selling purpose. They also purchase organic pulses from the farmers, pack them and sell them. She sells all the products made by her group under the name of Global Agro-Food Products. She is earning good profits by Global Self Help Group.

In future, she is planning to open a shop in the name of her group, so that she can establish a proper platform to sell her products, and she also wants to connect the farmers from Himachal Pradesh for the trade of organic pulses, vegetables, and maize etc.,

Till now she has achieved many awards and achievements for her work. Some of them are listed below-

• Sardarni Jagbir Kaur Award in 2009
• State Award from Agriculture Department under ATMA Scheme in 2010
• National Award for Dairy Farming in 2011
• State Award To Global Self Help Group from NABARD in 2012


Message by Gurdev Kaur Deol
“Gurdev Kaur has a special message for the farmers who have less land. If a farmer has 3-4 acres of land, then they should start growing vegetables and pulses on it by following natural farming method, instead of wheat and paddy. Because organic farming can help them earn more profit in a safe way. And every woman should start using her skill and be productive.”