5000+ Mahindra and Swaraj employees walk 8 Lakh km together in just 50 days to raise Rs. 1.4 Crores for Mahila Kisan (woman farmers)
Mahindra and Swaraj employees and their friends and families together took 10000 Lakh Steps in 50 days to raise Rs. 1.4 Crores for women farmers through a unique initiative called ‘The Prerna Walkathon’.
What comes to your mind when you think of an Indian farmer?
I am sure your imagination will be somewhat similar to this picture below.
However, this is just 1/4th of the story. Did you know, that only 1 in every 4 Indian farmers are men?
The rest 75% are women! A whopping 100 million women work in India’s agriculture.
If you think you were alone to think this way about ‘the Indian farmer’, don’t worry. Almost everyone thinks the same way! (Watch the 2-min video to know)
The frightening fact is that this 75% is the most deprived, under-represented, yet most pivotal part in India’s agriculture.
They toil the most and expect the least. They have to do as much work on the fields as men, at times even more. With it, they are also expected to make the meals, clean the homes, take care of the elderly, children and cattle.
And the best part is that they do all of it with a smile on their face. India’s women farmers are indeed the invisible force behind our nation’s agricultural prowess. They are the silent, unknown, most valuable contributor to our lives.
It is time we recognize the woman farmer as a dominant force in Indian agriculture.
‘Project Prerna’ by Mahindra & Mahindra is an ambitious program specially created to honor the superwomen who work super hard for our food.
Prerna’s primary purpose is to empower the woman farmer by conducting a series of transformational experiences in her life like self-help groups and entrepreneurship groups, tractor-trainings, teaching technology insights about soil strategy, crop rotation, fertilizers, pesticides, and their optimal use.
Its secondary aim is to sensitize the world at large about the lifestyle of India’s women farmers, the scale of their efforts, and the hardships they face with the hope of restoring respect and pride in the minds of our fellow countrymen and women towards their AnnaDaata (m: food giver).
‘The Prerna Walkathon’ was a 52-day long walkathon with Impact App, from October 15th, 2019 i.e. Mahila Kisan Diwas to December 5th, 2019 i.e. World Soil Day, where every step Mahindra employees and their families took raised money for the empowerment of women farmers and welfare of their families funded by Mahindra’s CSR!
#DeshKiShan #MahilaKisan #MahindraMarchesForMahilaKisan
And, we over-achieved!
5000+ Mahindra and Swaraj employees; and including friends and family, a whopping 10000+ people; together raised ₹ 1.4 Crore for women farmers in just 50 days (2 days early) by contributing more than 10000 Lakh steps for ‘Prerna For Women’.
Their steps matched by Mahindra & Mahindra’s generosity (CSR funds), made The Prerna Walkathon, the Largest People’s Movement at Mahindra!
Not only was there mass awareness created among all stakeholders including employees, dealers, and their families, but they also got to contribute through action — making Mahatma Gandhiji’s quote, ‘Be the change you wish to see’, a living reality.
All in all, a massive 8 Lakh kilometers were covered for the cause across the country in less than 50 days.
It’s fitting to say that, Mahindra took a Round Trip to the Moon for India’s Women Farmers. An out of this world performance indeed!
What is Project ‘Prerna for Women’?
Prerna — A Mahindra initiative is aimed to support and empower Indian women in agriculture.
There is a hidden need that Mahindra has realized; the need to acknowledge their contribution, and provide them with the necessary opportunities, training, and equipment to help them become better farmers and improve their lives — Prerna is the result of this thinking and aspiration.
At Mahindra, ‘doing good’ goes beyond philanthropy and CSR. It is more than just random acts of kindness. ‘Doing good’ is a purpose, an attitude, and a way of life.
Mahindra’s four-point action-strategy is aimed at transforming the lives of women farmers by delivering them prosperity, enabling them to Rise.
- Reduce farm drudgery by introducing gender-neutral farm tools
- Build knowledge and capability to increase farm productivity
- Create new income streams to make them independent
- Improve their social status and respect
Why is Prerna for Women important for the women farmer?
Any worker or a working professional in today’s world seeks for these three things from his or her job — good pay, community respect and a feeling of having created Impact. These three things ensure stability, self-respect and a sense of accomplishment in their lives. I’m sure we all look for the same in our own jobs. So do our women farmers.
For her; an equal wage that pays for her family’s food and her children’s education, appreciation by her local community, and knowing the fact that her mightly efforts mean many meals for millions; is sufficient.
Prerna for Women directly addresses all these three things by pushing for equal-pay-opportunities, creating additional work-opportunities, holding tractor training sessions, managing self-help groups, and creating awareness in urban as well as rural India about her work and her wishes.
What is Mahindra & Mahindra FES currently doing for women under the Prerna initiative to uplift the lives of women farmers?
Mahindra FES is currently working on 3 major interventions under the Project Prerna
- Tractor training sessions to empower them and reduce their labor (Riding a tractor to independence — The Hindu)
- Self-help groups to boost peer-peer learning and entrepreneurship
- Skilling them on crop rotation, fertilizers, pesticides and their optimal use.
Where did these activities take place? What are its outcomes so far?
The first phase of Prerna was executed over the last 18 months, in over 40 villages in Odisha positively impacting the lives of over 2,000 women farmers, with the introduction of 14 farm implements, reducing drudgery in farming operations.
Here are its outcomes!
- Joint learning sessions on various women friendly farm tools have been instrumental in reducing the tough manual work-load of a farm woman.
- 40 CHCs (Customer Hiring Centres), were run and maintained by women farmers of two tribal dominated blocks of Odisha adding to their self-worth and community-respect.
- This project largely introduced a variety of farm tools for women farmers, that helped to change the picture of access and control of farm women over farm tools rather only control of men
“Earlier it took 2 months to carry out weeding in our ginger plot of 1-acre land, however, this year after using a Power Weeder it took me hardly 3 hours in a seven days gap” — Chanchala Malik, Orissa
What are the next steps for Prerna?
In phase two, Prerna has further forayed into 60 villages across the key states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Karnataka with the aim of empowering & reaching out to over 6,000 women farmers. And this is just the start.
To quote wisdom from an age-old African,
“If you educate a man, you educate an individual. If you empower a woman, you empower a nation.”
It’s time to Rise and empower India, one woman farmer at a time!
Let’s do it.
