Rashmi Sharma
Nominations: 2020
Category: Agriculture
Location: New Delhi, Delhi, India
About Rashmi: Rashmi Sharma is extremely enthusiastic and passionate about her work and is always looking for scope of expanding her horizons and constantly impr... Read More
Work Description
Dr Rashmi Sharma graduated in Biochemistry from Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi, followed by Masters in Biotechnology from University of Roorkee (now Indian Institute of Technology-Roorkee) and Doctorate in Agriculture Science from University of Tsukuba, Japan. She was awarded Japan... Read More
- Awarded Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Post doctoral... Read More
- Honoured as ‘S-HERO’ by Biostandups in January 2018 (http://www.bio... Read More
- Honoured with ‘Amity Outstanding Women Award’ on National Science D... Read More
- Honoured with ‘Women Scientist Empowerment Award’ for her remarkabl... Read More
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Project Details
Panchmahal is an economically backward district in State of Gujarat, dominated by tribal population. Agricultural activities and resultant production in this area is low due to dependence on rainfall, less green water (in-situ) and blue water (runoff) use; poor recharge capacity of aquifers, les... Read More
- Enhancing crop productivity through effective blue and green water harvesting...
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Project Details
Kandi region of Punjab State face several challenges pertaining to land & water management and crop cultivation. Therefore, an integrated approach for empowerment & livelihood security of small and marginal farmers/farmwomen in Kandi region was done by the nominee through Panjab Agricultural Univ... Read More
- Integrated farming practices for empowerment and livelihood security of smal...
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Project Details
Holistic and sustainable development through appropriate S&T interventions targeting local natural resources, skills, traditional crafts, etc. to enhance quality-of-life of farmers in clusters of contiguous villages in four districts of Hilly State of Uttarakhand was taken up with the nominee in... Read More
- Holistic development of village clusters for farming community
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Project Details
In villages women contribute to the farming system directly or indirectly. Therefore, it is extremely important to make them aware of their health and nutritional requirements. Such awareness prevents loss of farm/household related work due to diseased condition which effects the entire family. ... Read More
- Science and Technology Through Community Radio
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Project Details
In March 2020 when World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID 19 as pandemic and India initiated lockdown procedures there were several challenges pertaining to the availability of Personal Protective Equipments (PPE) and products for frontline workers. Against several odds, constant efforts ... Read More
- Scientific social responsibility during COVID-19
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Work Description X Close
Dr Rashmi Sharma graduated in Biochemistry from Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi, followed by Masters in Biotechnology from University of Roorkee (now Indian Institute of Technology-Roorkee) and Doctorate in Agriculture Science from University of Tsukuba, Japan. She was awarded Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Post-Doctoral Fellowship from 2002-2004 to work at National Institute of Agro-Biological Sciences, Tsukuba, Japan.
Later she came back to India aspiring to serve people of the country. She joined the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India in 2012 and has been conceptualising, designing, implementing and monitoring multifarious as well as muti-locational Science and Technology (S&T) projects pertaining to social relevance through mentoring, nurturing and evolving appropriate solutions to not just persisting challenges but also burning issues.
She spearheads two flagship programmes namely Scheme for Young Scientists and Technologists (SYST) and Augmenting Writing Skills for Articulating Research (AWSAR), which are designed to encourage, empower and endow young researchers. She has been actively engaged towards motivating young innovative minds working in the realm of S&T towards providing technology driven solutions to address societal challenges under SYST and further engaging them to communicate science even to layman through AWSAR-a new & novel science communication initiative to create scientifically aware society. She has revived, reenergized and rejuvenated many other existing schemes & programmes through her focussed & concerted efforts and recently integrated the programme for young researchers to create curiosity through application of new & innovative technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Robotics, and so on to harness their benefit for societal application primarily in Agriculture, Rural Development, Nutrition, Disaster Management and Health & Hygiene sectors
She also manages ‘Technological Intervention for Addressing Societal Needs (TIASN)’ another prominent scheme primarily aimed at technology development and adaptive R&D in the area of Agriculture, Health, Nutrition and activities related to Non-Farm sector. She has evolved various location-specific S&T interventions for Arid and Semi-Arid Regions (ASAR) and Cold Desert Regions (CODER) besides Sustainable Agriculture for Rural Transformation through Holistic Initiatives (SARTHI) for Shivalik Himalayas. These programs are designed to have direct impact on the socio-economic up-liftment of people inhabiting in these difficult terrains through local resource management involving scientific interventions.She also utilized Community Radio as a tool to address challenges pertaining Health and Nutrition of women and adolescent girls in rural and peri-urban areas.
She has recently also been assigned responsibility to revitalize the State Science and Technology Programme (SSTP) to channelize the knowledge and resources available with Indian States to achieve National Goals and Mission since April 2020 onwards. As States are operating at grassroots level, they are better informed about the challenges being faced by masses, particularly those working in the agriculture sector, that still being the mainstay of Indian economy.
She has several technical and popular science articles to her credit besides book chapters. In addition, she has garnered rich cross- cultural experience in USA, Canada, Japan and Europe. She is a Lifetime Member of Indian Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Alumni Association, National Academy of Biological Science (NABS), Society of Pharmacognosy and represents Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India (GoI) on several Inter-ministerial Advisory Committees of Union Ministries of Women & Child Development, Information & Broadcasting, Social Justice & Empowerment, Departments of Biotechnology, etc.
She is an active member of various inter and intra Ministerial Committees and participates in dialogues regularly and thus making recommendations towards Sustainable Development Goals, National Goals and Missions. She has been a member of various Expert Committees and also Chaired sessions in several Conferences pertaining to Science Film Festival, Technology-driven Entrepreneurship, Travel Grant Support to Researchers, Community Radio Awards, Science Communication, Gender Budgeting, Livelihood and Sexual Harassment at Workplace. She has been invited to talk about diverse topics such as S&T for Equality, S&T for Women, Artificial Intelligence, Science for Breaking Shackles, among others on All India Radio (AIR), and Science Communication of DST on DD Science.
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Awarded Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Post doctoral Fellowship (PDF) during 2002-2004.
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Honoured as ‘S-HERO’ by Biostandups in January 2018 (http://www.biostandups.com/face-of-the-month/).
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Honoured with ‘Amity Outstanding Women Award’ on National Science Day- 28 February 2019.
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Honoured with ‘Women Scientist Empowerment Award’ for her remarkable contribution for Empowerment of women in Science and Technology during National Conference on Expanding Women’s Role in Developing Technology, Increasing Productivity, Improving Lives
About Rashmi X Close
Rashmi Sharma is extremely enthusiastic and passionate about her work and is always looking for scope of expanding her horizons and constantly improving on her performance within the existing system. She is easily accessible to public and is sensitive towards different strata of people, particularly those at the bottom-of-the-pyramid like small & marginal farmers, physically challenged and women. She is a great motivator and persuader for her co-workers & associates and her opinion & views are well sought after by them. As a Scientist, she feels vindicated when appropriate S&T interventions including innovative interventions that are developed through her initiatives are transferred from lab to land for the benefit of the society especially to farmers, women and underprivileged. In the process of serving the society through S&T, she does not hesitate to breaks the barriers in interacting with experts in different areas and solicit the feedback of the stakeholders as well. During the current unprecedented situation of COVID-19, she has been able to mobilize many of the S&T organisations working on projects sponsored by Department of Science and Technology (DST) through her domain to take up Scientific Social Responsibility (SSR) and be part of India Fights Corona campaign. Against several odds, her constant efforts led to delivery of thousands of gallons of sanitizer and numerous face masks to the frontline workers at All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi besides field staff of Sulabh International, Central Security personnel, Police officials of States of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh and migratory population who got stuck due to lockdown and were put up in shelter homes.
She also ensured that the pressing need of Antenatal Care (ANC) under COVID 19 was addressed through ongoing project supported by DST to Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, AIIMS, New Delhi. As during the lockdown it was not feasible for pregnant women to visit the hospital therefore, information related to COVID-19 was regularly updated to a group of 85 pregnant women enrolled under the project through push notifications; voice recordings and videos.
Enhancing crop productivity through effective blue and green water harvesting techniques in Panchmahal Dist. of Gujarat X Close
Panchmahal is an economically backward district in State of Gujarat, dominated by tribal population. Agricultural activities and resultant production in this area is low due to dependence on rainfall, less green water (in-situ) and blue water (runoff) use; poor recharge capacity of aquifers, lesser groundwater availability and near absence of irrigation facilities. Adoptability of check dams/recharge structures in this area is also low due to their higher cost of construction and less durability. Several masonry check dams have failed in the very first year or in two years after construction due to non-availability of trained manpower, improper material of construction, faulty execution, inadequate curing, and so on. This critical challenge in the identified area emphasized the need to develop cost effective and easily adoptable water harvesting techniques/structures for poor farmers in this rain-fed region.
The challenges, led to the nominee's association with ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation Research Centre (ISWCRC), Vasad, Gujarat to develop efficient in-situ (green water) and ex-situ (blue water) water harvesting techniques to improve farm productivity.
Conservation furrow technique increased the crop yields and net returns up to 29% and the cost of innovative check dams using polymers was decreased by 4 times under the project. Checkdams and recharge filters faciliated saving of irrigation water and enhanced water availability thus increasing the area cultivation, income generation and employment creation two folds.
Integrated farming practices for empowerment and livelihood security of small and marginal farmers/ farm women in Kandi region of Punjab X Close
Kandi region of Punjab State face several challenges pertaining to land & water management and crop cultivation. Therefore, an integrated approach for empowerment & livelihood security of small and marginal farmers/farmwomen in Kandi region was done by the nominee through Panjab Agricultural University. Farmers from Hoshiarpur and Pathankot districts were imparted training in establishing nutritional garden and off-season production of vegetables under low tunnel structure built for the first time in this region.
In order to strengthen the local economy and fulfil the mantra of 'vocal for local', a Self Help Group (SHG) called “Sandhiya” with 14 women as Core members of the community in village Maili, District Hoshiarpur, was facilitated with various value-added nutritional products from vegetables and desi (local) flowers through training in food processing. Product range includes Mixed Pickles, Tomato Sauce & Puree, Rose Sharbat and Gulkand (preserve) and especially Black Carrot (Punjab Black Beauty variety) 'Kanji' which was losing ground to bottled/canned beverages. Kanji is a traditional beverage rich in iron, calcium and antioxidants like anthocyanins was introduced as new product. Parliamentarians and their families were treated to Sandhiya’s Rose Sharbat (Syrup) in March 2017 in an exhibition. This caught the eye of Media and the SHG got attention in the State leading to sale of Rose Sharbat shooting up 20 times. At present, Sandhiya has annual income of about INR 2400000 and net profit exceeding INR 500000. It now also has 250 members associated directly or indirectly in the value chain.
Holistic development of village clusters for farming community X Close
Holistic and sustainable development through appropriate S&T interventions targeting local natural resources, skills, traditional crafts, etc. to enhance quality-of-life of farmers in clusters of contiguous villages in four districts of Hilly State of Uttarakhand was taken up with the nominee in the lead. The need and challenges were identified by extensive field visit in association with Uttrakhand Council of S&T (UCOST) to undertake areas of interventions for processing and value addition of indegenous produce such as , honey, mushroom, herbal tea, forest produce, native crops, medicinal & aromatic plants and strengthening traditional crafts, handloom, etc. Intial results are very encouraging and the project is expected to provide gainful benefits for more than 500 farmers directly through Farmer Producer Groups/Self Help Groups (SHGs).
Science and Technology Through Community Radio X Close
In villages women contribute to the farming system directly or indirectly. Therefore, it is extremely important to make them aware of their health and nutritional requirements. Such awareness prevents loss of farm/household related work due to diseased condition which effects the entire family. Community Radio, which is an extremely powerful communication tool, was utilized to transmit information related to the health, hygiene and nutrition of women & adolescent girls, primarily living in rural, farflung or difficult terrains. Audio content in various Indian languages and even local dialects has been created to empower women mostly from underprivileged communities either having small or marginal farmland holding and/or engaged as farm labour. More than 10,000 women were associated with this programme in 2016-17. The programme not only created one-year full time and part time job opportunities for 140 women, skilled through this initiative, but it also provided a common platform for discussion and decision-making at different locations across India.
Scientific social responsibility during COVID-19 X Close
In March 2020 when World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID 19 as pandemic and India initiated lockdown procedures there were several challenges pertaining to the availability of Personal Protective Equipments (PPE) and products for frontline workers. Against several odds, constant efforts of nominee during this perplexing phase led to delivery of thousands of gallons of alcohol-based 'sanitizer' in laboratories of institutes that were otherwise closed and also numerous 'face masks' to the frontline workers at All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi besides field staff of Sulabh International, para-military personnel, Police officials of States of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh and migratory population who got stuck due to lockdown and were put up in shelter homes.
