A social worker and champion of women empowerment, Alka considers it the sole aim of her life to work for the betterment and upliftment of women.

Alka hails from the tribal area of Gogunda village in Udaipur. She is the founder of Jandaksha Trust- an NGO of women by women for women. The NGO was founded in 2006 to uplift the women of tribal areas.

Alka was born in Gogunda in a family of government servants. Growing up, she would look at the plight of the tribal women in her area and always wanted to do something for them. After passing her 10th std. examinations, she enrolled herself as a private student for her further school education and worked for the education and development of tribal girls in her area.

Alka shares that she lived with her husband in the Kotra area of Udaipur which was infamous for dacoity and burglary. And owing to that she would be wary of interacting with locals and unknown people. But she shares that on one occasion when her husband went to the city for a longer duration for his work, some local women happened to come to her and express their problems. She went with those women and solved some of their problems. She felt good being able to work for them and kept working in the field to solve the problems of women in the area.

Later, she came to Udaipur city and collaborated with Vidya Bhawan Krishi Kendra for the income generation of tribal women. She also worked for the women health workers in the Udaipur division, gave them health training and also arranged for their vaccination. She started giving independent consultancy to provide training to health workers in the panchayats, she also worked with UNICEF. She also strived for the empowerment of the elected women of Vidya Bhawan Panchayati Raj Institute in Udaipur.

In 2006, with an aim to empower women, Alka formed Jandaksha Trust. Under the aegis of the trust, she worked for the health, education and rights of women. She also provided legal help to the day workers and labourers whose payments were withheld by their contractors. Besides, she also provides help to the victims of domestic violence, connects women and widows to the government policies and programmes designed for them to enable them to benefit from them. She also provides on-the-job training to women to train them as domestic help, gardener etc.

Talking about challenges in her life, Alka says that she was diagnosed with Uterus Cancer but even it couldn’t lower her spirit to work for women. She beat cancer and worked to educate men and women about cancer and also provided the necessary medical aid.

Alka says that the Covid pandemic affected everyone but she thinks that it affected women the most. As the women who were employed as domestic-helps or in micro and small industries were rendered unemployed by the pandemic. Some women even fell victim to physical and mental abuse by their husbands. During the pandemic, she worked with the Municipal Council in the city to extend help to the needy women with regard to their food, sanitation, and domestic problems etc.

Alka believes that to work in the social sector, one must be compassionate toward others as social service is about understanding the emotions and problems of people. Besides, she says that the inner satisfaction that one gets by working for others is unparalleled.

Alka advises people to serve others in their best capacities.

Alka shares that she was born in a family where women’s education was not given much importance. Her mother was a teacher but had to stay at home to fulfil her household duties. Her mother always encouraged her and wanted her to do what she couldn’t do in her life. Her mother even fought for her education. With great effort, she completed her school education and then BA and MA in Political Science.

Alka acknowledges the fact that her husband always supported her in all her endeavours and supported her to work in the social sector.

Alka is an inquisitive person and likes to keep learning. If she could go back in time, then she would want to spend more time with her daughter when she was growing up.