Fifth-grader Mobina shares life lessons with IAS trainees

By Sundeep Pouranik Bhopal, Nov 30 : Mobina, a fifth-grade student hailing from the Pandola village in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh has been sharing life lessons with trainees of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). This may come as a surprise for many people but it is true that Mobina has been working to light up the lives of women from poor and economically weaker sections in her village.
Most of the members of Mobina’s family earn their livelihood as daily-wage workers but she, along with her family, started a campaign to transform the lives of the disadvantaged under the Bismillah self-help group in 2005. Through this self-help group, 10 women joined this initiative which brought about a dramatic transformation in the lives of their families.
Mobina says that she, along with 10 women, had collected a small amount to begin with and started helping each other. Gradually, they began getting support at the government level and from banks. As a result, today the lives of these women have changed and each of them is engaged in different businesses.
Mobina says that her husband Mohammad Salim used to work as a daily wager. With a meagre income, she could barely grow one crop. As she started earning more, she bought a pump for irrigation and now has started growing two crops. Along with this the income is increasing steadily. Now she has also started giving employment to other people as well.
Jugal Soni of the National Livelihood Mission says that Mobina along with her fellow colleagues, has carried out many new innovations that have earned accolades. They are also becoming economically independent. This is why Mobina and her fellow women were invited to Mussoorie to share their experience with those training for the Indian Administrative Service.
Mobina says that there were many questions in her mind before going to Mussoorie and she was wondering how she would share her experiences with the people from big cities. She further said that she benefited immensely from this experience.