Dedicated social worker Sunil Kumar Sharma’s life reflects the power of awareness and social participation through which real progress becomes possible. His story shows how awareness and collective effort can slowly transform villages and create lasting change.

Sunil Kumar Sharma is an active Social Worker, associated with the Railmagra Panchayati Raj Pariyojana.

He is involved in guiding the masses about Panchayats, adopting and putting into good practice the government schemes that stand to serve the people. He also engages in regular fieldwork and social programs to create awareness among the citizens and enhance the participation of the people on the ground in various government schemes.

Sunil Kumar Sharma has been operating with the NGO, Jatan Sansthan in various sectors in the last 18 years. His work in Hunarghar, the training centre, is aimed at creating awareness forums at the village levels and training communities on the election processes of Panchayati Raj. His work empowers the representatives of the locals to bring issues at a village level, to find responses in a pragmatic manner, and to make significant development in their Gram Panchayats.

With years of experience in the field of social work, his decision to devote his professional life to the social sphere is not random. He says that he is doing this because he believes that it is only through awareness that people can be empowered, particularly concerning their ability to take advantage of the government schemes developed to help in uplifting them.

Sharma says that he has also worked with women who were involved in agricultural labour throughout the Mewar area. Manual work could cause serious physical difficulties and health problems due to the long hours of work. He assisted in the introduction of practical tools in collaboration with a Home Science College and a technical research centre which greatly minimized manual labour and reduced the physical stress. At this time, he is actively operating in 14 Panchayats with a keen aim of promoting women’s development by creating awareness-oriented platforms.

Taking a look back on his childhood, Sunil Kumar Sharma shares that he was born in Railmagra and went to a local school. He subsequently went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts at Nathdwara. These early years influenced his perception of the reality of the grassroots and social responsibility.

Talking about his role models, Sharma says that Shri Kailash Brijwasi, who is the Director of Jatan Sansthan, has been one of his biggest inspirations and sources of support. He always pushed Sharma to make a difference in the social sector.

Sharma is also highly inspired by the President of the NGO, Late Shri Lal Ji who served as a motivational factor to him not to be restrained by past constraints and move on with life.

Social Worker Sunil Kumar Sharma reveals that when he was not in Jatan, he thought that the world around him was running well. His engagement with the organisation however changed his mind-set and he began to have the real picture of what the people are going through at the ground level. He has made active participation in the work of agriculture and environmental conservation, which interests him greatly, through Jatan. He now wishes to do more by joining governmental programs to improve on the greenery and environmental sustainability in the state of Rajasthan.

Recalling a very difficult period in his life, Sunil Sharma mentions that once he had gone to Chennai to explore business and create a venture there. Nonetheless, he came back in a year because of health reasons, inappropriate surroundings and with some valuable lessons in life.

Besides his social work, Sharma has always been a sports fan. He plays on a family based volleyball team, which consists of himself, his son, his nephew and six other family members. They have also attended volleyball tournaments at a state level where they have been champions in the last six years.

In his closing message, Jatan Sansthan Coordinator Sunil Kumar Sharma advises people to keep on training and educating themselves, no matter what age, or status they belong to. He is of the opinion that knowledge is the best asset and it is never late to start learning. He encourages people to keep track of the government's plans and policies, as many good plans are out there but people do not tend to use them because of ignorance. In his opinion, the most effective way of ensuring that these schemes reach the people they are actually for is by empowering them with the right information.