Mango Chutney Archives - Progressive Farmers

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.”

Story of a Young Girl with Budding Skills Trying to Stand on Her Own Feet & Make Her Identity in the Society with Her Culinary Skills

It is said that those who want to achieve something in their life, for them only a small motivation or inspiration is enough. God has sent everyone with a gift box, only a few of them open their package and identify their hidden talent, and most of the people never dare to do that due to lack of confidence. But a girl from Moga dared to recognized her talent and stand on her own feet to become independent.

Amandeep Kaur a 25 year old girl from Lande ke Moga is a budding entrepreneur, who is trying to make her own identity in the society. As we know that behind every leader, there is a struggling experience which provokes them to reach that spot, same is with Amandeep. She is a young and enthusiastic soul similar to other girls, but her determination is what makes her stand out from others. Currently, she lives with her brother and mother, her father passed away quite a long time ago. And due to the financial crisis, she stopped studying after 10th. But as we all might have heard, those who are meant to do something great and stand out from all the crowd, they cannot be stopped by any kind of difficulties.

Today, Amandeep is leading a group of 7 girls known as Swati Women Cooperative Society, and under this brand name she is taking little steps towards success. Behind the formation of this group, there is hand of female philanthropist Mrs. Sundara, she only gave a small inspiration and that was enough for Amandeep to gather the rest of the girls and start up with their own business of homemade pickles and chutneys.

Amandeep Kaur explained that how Mrs. Sundara herself visited their village (village name) in 2003, gathered them (group members) and make them aware that what capabilities they have and how they can make their skills useful to themselves, instead of sitting idle. She also help Amandeep and other girls by enrolling them in the training of making homemade products like pickles, chutney and many other food products and also motivated them to study further.

Amandeep is not only working to earn and support her family but also to make her own identity in the society. She is very passionate about the work she is doing and she has also planned to pursue her education in the field of home culinary so that she can come up with different food products to sell it in the market. Name of the other girls’ are- Parminder, Baljeet, Ranjit, Gurpreet, Channi, Manjit, Pawandeep; these girls are very young, in their early twenties or below, but due to some circumstantial situation, they all have dropped out of their education in the middle. But they still have the zeal and enthusiasm to continue their study, explore new things, earn their own livelihood and be independent. All the girls are very fervent about their work and are interested in continuing their study along with SWCS business.

Amandeep and all her group members are very hard working and know how to manage their work efficiently. They buy all their raw material from the market (sabzi mandi) themselves for making pickles, chutney and fragrant waters. They make more than 10 variety of pickles, 2 types of chutney, 3 types of fragrant water and candies also.

Everything is handmade by them and is purely natural without any preservative. Pickles, chutneys, and candies made by them are very delicious and original in flavor and will remind you the taste of your grandmother’s hand.

Some of the most selling products are Mango Chutney, Lachha Nimbu Pickle, Ginger Pickle and Garlic Pickle. They visit as many exhibitions and events as they can to sell their handmade natural products; and other than that they personally visit different societies and committees of different districts to sell their product. Till now they have covered Fategarh, Firozpur, Ludhiana, and Moga, and in the coming time, there will be more cities. Usually, they use to make nearly 100 boxes of each pickle containing 1 kg each per day.

Currently, the group total income in only 20000 per month and it is very difficult for them to manage in such a tight cash flow. The reason behind this problem is they don’t have any proper platform to sell their product and also very few people know about Swati Women Cooperative Society. Well, according to them this is just the beginning and these types of hardships are never going to demotivate them or stop them from what they are doing.

Message by Amandeep Kaur (PRESIDENT OF SWATI WOMEN COOPERATIVE SOCIETY)
“Every girl should recognize their skill and use them wisely to be independent on their own. Today, women should not be dependent on others, they should be self-determining and self-regulating. Because it feels good when you have power in your hand to fulfil your own wishes. And education is very much necessary in enlightening and guiding the correct path. Working and being independent makes you feel special and confident of what you are. So, every girl should complete their education and choose the path which interests them and can help them to earn a good living.”