Mrs. Jasper, a 31-year-old woman from Parivakkam village in Tiruvallur District of Tamil Nadu, lives with her family comprising of four members. Driven by a passion for the beauty and wellness sector, she completed a beautician course three years ago with the aspiration of becoming a professional makeup artist and operating her own enterprise. After completing the course, she established a small beauty parlour near her house.

However, due to financial constraints, she was unable to invest in quality beauty products or advanced equipment. This limited her services resulting in a modest monthly income of Rs. 5,000–7,000, much of which was absorbed by shop rent and electricity expenses. Despite her skills and dedication, sustaining the business remained a challenge.

In July 2025, BISLD Tamil Nadu recognised Mrs. Jasper’s entrepreneurial potential and extended support under its women empowerment initiatives, with support from the Hyundai Motor India Foundation (HMIF) through the Sustainable Livelihood Empowerment Project (SLEP). The intervention included advanced beauty equipment, refresher training, and exposure visits, strengthening her technical skills, basic record keeping, and marketing skills. This support proved to be a turning point in her life, enabling her to expand services, attract more customers, and increase her monthly income to Rs. 15,000–17,000. Encouraged by this success, she now plans to introduce advanced makeup services. This is an excellent example of how timely support can convert small enterprises into sustainable livelihoods and spread happiness all around.

BISLD Odisha and Chattisgarh

With proper shelter, Devanti successfully restarted goat rearing. The birth of a healthy kid restored her confidence and livelihood prospects. She now plans to expand her herd, explore artificial insemination, and aims to earn around ₹20,000 through goat sales. Her journey highlights how timely technical support and simple innovations can rebuild rural livelihoods.

 BISLD Bihar

Ms. Meena Devi, a smallholder farmer from Lalganj village in Vaishali district, Bihar, was facing declining soil fertility and poor vegetable yields. Her crops showed yellowing leaves, stunted growth, and low productivity, which affected both her family’s nutrition and household income.

Under the Holistic Rural Development Programme (HRDP), supported by HDFC Bank’s Parivartan initiative and implemented by BAIF, she received training on preparing and using Jeevamrut, a low-cost organic bio-input prepared from locally available materials. Jeevamrut helps revitalize soil by increasing microbial activity and improving nutrient availability.

After applying Jeevamrut three times over 45 days on her 3 kattha vegetable plot, Meena Devi noticed visible improvement in crop health and vigor. She harvested around 250 bottle gourds, 30 kg bitter gourd, 40 kg sponge gourd, 12 kg ridge gourd, and 15 kg ivy gourd. Within a week, she earned approximately ₹3,900 from local sales. In addition, part of the produce was consumed by her family, improving nutrition and reducing household expenses. The intervention restored her confidence in sustainable farming and strengthenedher livelihood.

BISLD Odisha

BISLD Jharkhand

In Ghaghra block of Gumla district, Jharkhand, many farmers owned upland (tanr) land that remained uncultivated due to lack of irrigation. Despite the presence of the Kera Jharia river, water could not be utilized, forcing families to depend on rainfed agriculture and seasonal migration.

Once barren lands now support orchards and intercrops, generating a total income of ₹23.55 lakh, averaging ₹0.76 lakh per farmer. Food security improved, migration reduced, and a water user group was formed to manage and maintain the system, ensuring long-term sustainability.

Women centric solar dryer enterprise is a livelihood model, focusing on the livelihoods of rural women of Haveli and Daund Taluka in Pune district of Maharashtra. Before understanding the model, one must understand the meaning of livelihood, which basically refers to securing the basic needs for human survival.  Livelihood is defined and factored into a set of activities in which an individual is involved to fulfil his or her needs for existence.  This covers the economic and social wellbeing of the individual. Securing livelihood opportunities for women is one of the many goals of the model. As women in rural areas are deprived of opportunities and chances of improving their living conditions and livelihoods.

In this case study, the major focus is to understand the importance of building capacities and giving opportunities to women in improving their livelihood. The beneficiaries of the case study are women of Self-help groups, who prior to the project intervention, engaged in minimal or no entrepreneurial activities Read more…

Nov. 1, 2022: The first day of November 2022 brought good news for Mavanji Pawar from Chowk, Valvenda in Jawhar, Palghar district of Maharashtra. His true breeder “Kamal” non-scented variety of rice (Oryza sativa L.), received the Plant Varieties Certificate of Registration from the Protection of Plant Varieties & Farmers Rights Authority, Government of India.

He is one of the many plant breeders of this tribal belt who due to their tribal antecedents, have grown up with an affinity towards cultivation, promotion and conservation of indigenous crops. Mavanji is quick to also acknowledge the contribution of his parents in enriching his native wisdom.  However, life for him was not smooth as he abruptly abandoned his studies and thereafter struggled as a shop floor operator at a factory in Silvassa, night-time watchman, a daily wages worker at the BAIF Field Station on research, demonstration and training at Jawhar till lady luck smiled on him and he landed himself the dream job of a Field Assistant to the Agro-biodiversity Conservation Programme being implemented by BAIF in 142 villages in nine clusters of four agro-climatic zones of Maharashtra. He has been associated with this programme since the last 14 years.

Establishment of a Community Seed Bank, registering with the Seed Savers’ Group at Jawhar, adoption of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method of paddy cultivation, establishment of a paddy nursery, functioning as a Resource Person for 400 tribal students, conservation of more than 50 indigenous crop cultivars, purification and characterisation of paddy landraces, developing “Sadhana” and “Kirti” varieties of rice which are under registration process, attaining a production of about 1.9 tons of quality seeds of rice, millets and beans in the last three years and training more than 2000 farmers in rice cultivation techniques have been some of his achievements.

Featured in “Krishi Sutra”- Profiles of 100 Agricultural Innovators of India” published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Government of India, Mavanji is also a recipient of the National Genome Saviour Farmers Award 2011 and the Best Farmer Innovator associated with BAIF Award 2013. His wife “Kamal” after whom he has registered his rice variety, is an active member of the Self Help Group of their village and also a much sought after E-Dost. This barefoot scientist who has shared his experiences at various state and national forums, Agricultural Universities and Krishi Vigyan Kendras, is truly an innovative farmer with an inventive mind.