When we say technology has brought people together, it¡¯s not just the communication, but also the power it has brought with it. Who would have thought that somewhere in a remote village in Maharashtra, a model of the international show ¡®Shark Tank¡¯ would be followed in order to empower the rural population, especially the teenagers?
19-year-old Simran Talwar has been handling the social initiative ¡®Gazab Maharashtra¡¯ for about four years now and has been visiting villages for two years now to educate the villagers about business management. Talwar is a part of the Rotaract club of HR College in Mumbai that encourages students to participate in social causes.
¡°¡¯Gazab Maharashtra¡¯ is about educating the young villagers, helping them with getting water and electricity. However, this project has turned out to be a life-changing experience for all of us who visited these villages,¡± Simran tells us.
Talwar has visited of Khambe, Warpe Wasti, and Maizgaon in the last two years in Ahmednagar district.
¡®Gazab Maharashtra¡¯, which was started about five years ago, focuses on teaching 16-17 year olds in villages about the economy and managing accounts. Talwar informs us that the students in 11th and 12th grade are taught subjects like Economics and Business Management, ¡°Where we enact the subjects rather than forcing bookish knowledge on them. For seven days, all of us volunteers live in the village like them and interact with them making their lifestyle our own.¡±
The project has now adopted a model of the international show ¡®Shark Tank¡¯ in which aspiring entrepreneurs approach investors to begin or kick start their business.
¡°After we teach the basics of economics, like the concept of demand and supply, and managing accounts of their family, they are given assignments that actually demands application of this knowledge. By the end of it, they come to us with their ideas, which if we think are executable, grant them with funds to start their own business at the young age,¡± Simran explains.
The eight volunteers this year, divided themselves into two groups and taught in two different colleges and even divided subjects among themselves.
Simran and her fellow volunteers fundraise on their own via an online campaign called gazabmaharashtraketto.org and also spreading the word among their families and friends.
She says that the power of changing and shaping young lives is a lot and ¡°It is touching to know how fond the people there became of us. Even now, we get calls from the students there if they need advice on studies or even family issues.¡±
According to Talwar, the changes that the villagers have gone through are quite drastic, as the students began having an ambition and direction.
¡°A girl from the college in Khambe village, Vithabai Jori, has begun her own shop that sells sweets. The special quality of this shop is that it sells ¡®Sewaiya¡¯, for which the villagers had to go to another village and travel for hours. Now that they have it there itself,¡± she shared.
Talwar was delighted to also share that Vithabai got married lavishly, spending the money she earned on her own and not her parents.
Talwar says that this has created a difference in their lives as well because ¡°We ask urban teenagers take things for granted. After living in a village for seven days where my fellow volunteers and I had to cook, clean and teach all on our own, in a place which has electricity for only 12 hours and water for limited hours, I have really become aware of my responsibilities,¡± she says.
¡°When we saw that the villagers would not eat until we finished eating, I learnt humility and kindness. They would give us all they cooked and eat the minimal food themselves. If that does not make anyone feel special I do not know what will,¡± Simran concludes.