Family Rajendra Gurjar in India

Gasum is donating a biogas plant to five Indian families. Thanks to the biogas plant, the women of the families will spend much less time gathering firewood, since gas will replace wood for cooking. The air they breathe will also improve, because there will no longer be flue gases inside from burning wood and manure.

Rajendra Gurjar, aged 35, is a resident of Gaddarwada village in Bandikuin block of Dausa district in Rajasthan. He has been raised in a family of 4 members, where his father used to work on 1.25 hectare land, as agriculture was the sole source of livelihood for the family. The financial condition was tough to support the education of the two sons, hence they could not study after 12th class. Rajender, being the elder one, was the first to start doing part-time jobs to support the finances of the family.

Today, Rajendra heads his family of seven members, comprising his wife, two kids, younger brother, his wife and a kid. The two brothers work part-time to earn money for the family, in addition to taking care of their fields. Rajendra works at a Motor winding shop and his brother is also engaged in a small contractual job in the village. The family also has 7 cattle, which provides financial support to the family, by selling milk. Their wages, clubbed with proceeds from selling milk, form a monthly income of Rs. 13,000 for the family. They own 2.5 heactare land today (additional 1.25 hectare allotted by Government), but half the portion of land is barren. Additionally, the scarcity of water in the area, is also a stumbling block when it comes to full utilization of the assets for agriculture. Hence, the agricultural produce is just sufficient to serve the family’s needs of wheat and other crops, with fluctuating marginal gains from selling additional produce.

The project staff met the women of the family at Umed Singh’s house (another beneficiary linked with the project), as they were on their way to fetch firewood. On speaking to them, the staff was directed to Mr. Rajendra Gurjar, and that is how the story of a beautiful transformation begun. On visiting their house, the staff could see soot soaked walls of the kitchen where the women cooked on Chulhas. Mr. Rajendra shared that limited financial means prohibits him from getting LPG and stove for the women, who keep suffering a lot due to smoke. The staff explained Mr. Rajendra about the various benefits of Biogas plants, which help in financial savings and lead to betterment in the health status of the women, due to its smokeless nature. In addition, the slurry from the plant will be a healthier replacement of DAP used in the fields, accruing financial savings. On discussing with his family, Mr. Rajendra gave the staff the final nod for the construction of the Biogas plant.

Mr. Rajendra has arranged for the construction material and has started off with the pit digging of the plant and the construction of the plant as recently started. He is thankful to Humana People to People India and Gasum for the invaluable contribution for the betterment of their lives.