Awdhesh Soni, who sacrificed his plump salary and secured prospects with Axis Bank, is working on the promotion of animal husbandry as a means of livelihood in the villages of Nandurbar district.
Ten young people from different walks of life, who are helping the rural community enhance their quality of life in various villages of Maharashtra, have been selected as “ICICI Fellows”, an initiative by the ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth (IFIG) to create socially responsible leaders.
The young people were selected through a psychometric test, group discussion and personal interview conducted by the IFIG.
Awdhesh Soni, who sacrificed his plump salary and secured prospects with Axis Bank, is working on the promotion of animal husbandry as a means of livelihood in the villages of Nandurbar district. He is also developing employment models for the women of self-help groups (SHG).
“I am concentrating into papad-making as a means of livelihood for women belonging to SHGs and exploring market linkages for the product. I recently organised a very successful exhibition of these products at the nearby Suzlon factory, which might open new marketing avenues for women,” Soni told DNA.
Most of these young people feel that the basic problem with the rural masses is that they are not made aware of the government policies that they can avail of for their development.
Sombodhi Ghosh, after leaving his job with Accenture, is working on identifying feasible livelihood options for the rural communities in Chandrapuli in Sangamner taluka, Ahmednagar district.
“The problem lays with the panchayat system and the village dynamics. The panchayat seizes to give information to the masses. The government policies aren’t implemented efficiently, and hence the rural masses are exploited,” he said.
Speaking about his project with the villagers of Chandrapuli, Ghosh said that he is designing the training programme and manufacturing of gunny bags as a means to provide employment for SHG women.
“This belt produces a lot of onions which is transported in gunny bags. I am helping these women to generate their own gunny bags and thus save the cost of buying them from third parties,” Ghosh told DNA.
The ICICI Fellows programme was launched with the aim to groom talented young people with inherent leadership.
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