"Globally, cotton farming has had a bad reputation. For its overuse of pesticides. For child labor. On all fronts, cotton has had a lot of cleaning up to do. As a cotton-growing country, the situation in India was no different - at Ambuja Foundation, we struggled to change the ingrained practices of farmers - who were damaging the environment and barely surviving, in the process.

“When you visit a village in Rajasthan, you are bound to find a pond close by. One of the most ancient and traditional structures for rainwater harvesting, there are about 83,000 ponds in Rajasthan.

“In Darlaghat, Himachal Pradesh, livestock are a major source of income for families. A big challenge however, was access to timely, good quality veterinary care.

My husband and mother in law never used to let me do anything – my existence was limited to home! But I wanted more for my life.

“When Ambuja Foundation approached me to implement the internet saathi project, I was not very sure. Forget the internet - women, including me, didn’t even own a smartphone!

“A special invitation for 'loans' went out to SHGs from the Women's Federation of Chandrapur in 2015. Usually provided for small businesses, weddings or for buying a house/vehicle, this was the first time loans were being offered for toilets.

“No one would have dreamt that Harbinder Kumar would one day be working in the Ropar District Court House. But that’s exactly what this 24 year old, mildly intellectually challenged young man is doing - and he is loving it!

"I used to despair about my life. I’m not like everyone else, and what are the chances in life for a disabled guy like me? I soon started drinking and even began selling liquor like everyone else in my village. The only respectable thing I did was shoe polishing, which did not earn me enough money.

“Shamsher was our first child and you won’t believe how I was dancing with joy at his birth. But we could sense something was not right while he was growing up. Finally, my wife and I accepted that Shamsher was different.

“I love working for myself. Every day I open my shop and stand with pride, looking at my sign board and the business I’ve created – It’s hard to believe it’s mine! See, I was a high school dropout – as an only son I felt a huge pressure to help my parents in some way.

“I got polio when I was a child and struggled to walk – forced to walk on my knee which made everyone treat me differently. I felt I was a burden in the family as I couldn’t help my father in our field and wondered how I’d ever get any other opportunity in life with this condition.

‘We are goat people – we’ve always had goats, long as I can remember. My son was volunteering with Ambuja Foundation and learned a lot of new things about the goat business so he could support others in the community. He would come home and tell me all about it, so while I started out with 25 goats, I built up the herd to 50 in just 12months by giving timely vaccination and deworming them.