Alpna Sharma, Guna, Madhya Pradesh lives in a family of six people including herself. She had a tough life full of challenges till now. Her most daunting challenge is that she had been diagnosed with polio since childhood which led to her facing a lot of problems.
For her education as well, since her village didn’t have any college, she had to travel to Biaora town which is 100 kms away to continue her studies after the 12th. Her family supported her and helped her overcome this challenge. Another subsequent challenge she faced was that she couldn’t find work. Since she had now completed college, the next step was to get a job and support her family but this came with problems of its own.
Digital Sarthak Programme has played a crucial role in her life. Using the printer and mobile, I am able to provide services to the people which also helps in covering my monthly costs. For example, she is connected to the Digital Sarthak programme. There are many women entrepreneurs who are unaware of the use of digital technology and its advantages. Alpna said, “Through this Digital Sarthak programme, I am able to provide digital skilling to 100 women entrepreneurs in my community and teach them about various things like uses of a smartphone, PhonePay, Google Pay mobile wallets, social media and others which is creating more awareness among the women as well as access to information.”
“Even though differently-abled, now I don’t feel like I am a burden to my family,” she added.
Alpna believes that there are many women in her village who have some skills and talent and always live by the limited boundary of their life. She wants to activate the inner potential of these women entrepreneurs by providing them training on digital technology which is very useful in today’s time.
Through this Digital Sarthak Centre; Alpna provides services such as photocopies, printouts, online information regarding government to her community. And also, she is conducting training for 100 women entrepreneurs from in and around the village and educating them about the online medium, smartphone skills useful for earning money, and various applications which will help them run their business and such others. This programme has added a new chapter to her life that will assist her a lot despite her disability. She is very thankful for this opportunity and is making the best out of it.
