It is in our hands to make a difference.
It is in our hands to make a difference.
Shobha Sharma is the Secretary of an NGO named Student Relief Society based in Jaipur, Rajasthan. She has helped create 130 Self-Help Groups with 2000 women in Bagru where she and her team members used to travel by any means possible.
Shobha started her journey with Rajput women standing against the purdah system and for permitting them to come to the Panchayat Raj School. Thereafter, she provided education to the women so that they could at least learn how to put their signatures and open their own bank accounts. Gradually, Shobha was successful in getting employment for those women who are now into making iron toys, dairy products, spices, supplying seeds etc.
Shobha shares that the pandemic has had an impact on the functioning of SHGs and women employment.
Shobha has done her MA and Bachelors in Education. She was once a school teacher but seeing the status of women in society, she and her husband got together to help them make a life.
Shobha shares that her NGO also focuses on marine life and has two successful pilot projects in Jaipur and Bhilwara. She currently has projects running in UP and Rajasthan as well making hers a pan-India NGO.
Shobha shares that it was not an easy task to convince the village women to stand against the purdah system due to the fear of their husbands. Then she approached the senior citizens of the villages and now she has been able to reach her goals to a certain extent.
Thereafter, she connected with the youth with the intention of providing them employment opportunities. She adds that since she runs a non-profit business, they rely on outside sources for funds. Then Shobha got in communication with the government owing to which she has her Jal Jeevan Mission running successfully in Uttar Pradesh in which the youth have been offered employment.
Shobha has the vision to work with the unemployed youth who resort to thievery by making them understand and providing employment to them through FCRA and CSR funding.
Seeing the present condition of people dying owing to inadequate hospital facilities, Shobha, if given an option to time travel, would have opened medical colleges and established oxygen plants to save more lives if she had adequate funds. She would have opened a school for children who lost their parents in the pandemic and fund their education too.
In her leisure time, Shobha likes to write diaries and watch the news.