Ambuja Foundation is putting rural water at the top of its agenda, in a heightened effort to highlight the imperative of this issue for rural sustainability and overall national prosperity.

Apoorva Oza is one of those people you speak to who leaves you in awe of his experience, knowledge, and perspective on all things agriculture and rural development – the man’s depth of understanding on the subject, and humble, down-to-earth nature, is something to behold.

An independent impact measurement study initiated by Ambuja Foundation’s research team in 2021, highlighted that the land under Ambuja Foundation’s Wadi project in the tribal block of Bali, in the Pali district of Rajasthan, has doubled income for farmers, in comparison to the land area of other seasonal crops.

Chandrakant Sahu is one of our successful trainees from SEDI. Mr. Chandrakant Sahu is a resident of Paraspai Viilage in Dharsiwa. Belonging to an economically backward family, Chandrakant became very disappointed when he had to discontinue his studies due to financial constraints faced by his family. As part of a joint family with very small agricultural land holdings, Chandrakant started working as an electrical helper under a contractor. Despite having worked as an electrical helper for a year, he did not have an experience certificate, which restricted his professional growth.

The plug-and-play models support the students in understanding various science and maths concepts, so that they are not just ‘memorizing’ the concepts, but retaining them throughout their lives. Additionally, they are approved by 6 SCERT - Maharashtra, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Nagaland, and Jammu & Kashmir for their alignment with the curriculum.

Ranjana is the President of Kumkum Self Help Group, has two children, and her husband used to work as a laborer under a contractor. However, during the Covid-19 crisis, her husband lost his job, due to which the income of her family stopped – making it difficult to run the household and cover expenses.

Shivani Sahu from Khajari village is a hardworking girl who decided to buck the trend and join the male-dominated electrical course. After training, she was placed in Snyder Company, Hyderabad, where her salary was ₹ 11,000. However, due to poor health, she left the job and came back to Chhindwara – securing another job at Wire Harness Company Pithampur where her salary was ₹ 10000.

Priyanka Sahu was a goal-oriented girl, but due to her family background could not complete her schooling and was married off early. As a mother of 2 living in a joint family, she used to stitch her own clothes at home to earn extra money. She later came to know about the Sewing training program at SEDI and planned to build a career in sewing. During her 3 months of training, she learned a lot of new things like how to make a suit, blouse, and shirt. She also upgraded her public speaking skills through the soft skill classes and with newfound confidence, Priyanka is now an entrepreneur and has her own boutique.

Vaishnavi is a 2-year-old girl child from Deri skinner village, Manikpur. Her father is a driver and mostly stays outside the house due to the nature of his job. Vaishnavi's mother is a maid who works in various houses, due to which she is unable to pay attention to her child. In her absence, Ms.Rekha, a member of Jai Maa Bhawani SHG, takes care of Vaishnavi.

A 'neonatal death' is defined as a death during the first 28 days of life and globally, this period carries the highest risk of mortality, per day, than any other period during childhood.

"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.

Ambuja Foundation kick-started organic farming promotion in 2010 in Bhagwanpur block in Uttarakhand. Today, the district is home to the Bhu Amrit Farmer Producer Organisation, a collective of organic farmers who work across the entire value chain of organic production, certification, and marketing. With 667 farmer shareholders, the group produces a variety of products and has commenced marketing them in key markets such as Delhi, Gujarat & Punjab, and has even moved their products online, via Flipkart and Amazon.