POOJA SHARMA |
"I was afraid
from inside but I knew my family was always there."
Women in India are
expected to be confined to domestic frontiers since a very long time, but they
are scuffling hard to get away from these retrograding
restrictions. From trying to break free from the shackles of social
discrimination, cultural bias, tags of being an inferior sex to fulfilling
their responsibility of maintaining a home and a family, Indian women are now
finally acknowledged, appreciated and admired for their new roles of
‘entrepreneurs’.
Success is no
accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most
of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do. This is the reason for
success of Pooja Sharma. She is the head at ZingnZest common facility
center(CFC) at Chandu village, Haryana. From an extremely weak financial
background, Pooja became a part of self-help group(SHG) in 2007. In 2013, she
became a part of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Shikhopur and got connected with HSRLM,
PUSA and different Government agencies. She was also trained in food processing
and packaging by KVK. Seeing this, in 2017, the project team of New Leaf
thought of strengthening her own initiatives and leveraging the same for the
benefit of other women in the village and started ZingnZest initiative there.
She brought change in the lives of many people.
She had to struggle a
lot before becoming a part of this organization. The patriarchal norms and
structures deeply rooted in the society restrict women from going and working
beyond their household limits which restricts them from contributing to the
family income and same happened with Pooja. She faced various obstacles, but it
was her determination and support of her husband and children that motivated
her to not stop and continue with her dream. She had always wanted to earn a
living and become independent and support her family. So it was ACCESS
Development Services that helped her to achieve it. She has influenced lives of
many by creating various independent groups to help the women to become
self-sustained.
For her great
resoluteness towards her work and improving life of others, she has achieved
various awards- Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Puruskar, National Krishi Puruskar,
facilitated by Chief Minister of Haryana in occasion of Republic Day, also by
Governor of Haryana, and others. It is her hard work that has made her reach to
this point.
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