Been born and raised in a village of Bankura district, West Bengal, Sikha has had a lifelong commitment to the rural women of India. Since young age, Sikha’s mother had a strong influence on her future direction. Her mother was unable to study & felt strongly that rural women had many talents & abilities but were disadvantaged relative to those in towns and cities. She pushed her daughter to become well educated & she finished school to fulfill her mother’s hopes went & on to obtain three university degrees and a postgraduate diploma. Sikha always felt the pull of the countryside, after finishing university in 1998, she knew that she needed to return. She found work as a fieldworker with the Service Centre, the largest rural development nongovernmental organization in Kolkata, involved in a variety of programs that took her to remote parts of the state. These experiences helped her gain the skills, personal contacts and confidence that together crystallized into her current work. As she traveled through more than 8 districts, she saw most women going long distances in search of jobs. Some would travel for hours each day, others would settle temporarily at farms, quarries or other places where they had managed to secure some daily employment. In the meantime, she promotes her ideas and experiences as widely as possible, writing for a range of local publications and in syndicated Bengali newspapers. She was elected for Ashoka Fellowship & received the prestigious award for Entrepreneurial Leadership in 2004. As a quantum leap, she came up with her own NGO in May, 2005 named as Society for Research & Rudimentary Education on Social & Health Issues – SRREOSHI and is now one of the most popular women led organization in Durgapur. She later on went on to work in the field of creating awareness & impart basic education Adolescent Reproductive & Sexual Health (ARSH) & Life Skill Management with more than 1500 school going, 500 drop-outs teenage girls & 1500 women.

Keeping in tune to the needs in the field of social changes & CSR officials requirements (projects) she & her organization have extended the work towards skill development mainly in the field of Handicrafts. A recent project she is working with 150 marginalized women covering three portals viz., Tailoring, Cloth & Jute Bags, Babui (Sabai) Grass items making funded as a CSR Project by Eastern Coalfields Limited – Bankola Area. The program is planned strategically for 2 years, where in 1^st year is focused upon imparting knowledge on hands on skills. In 2^nd year 1^st 6 months advanced skills (like quality & market oriented demands) followed by last 6 months to create CBOs for each portals & knowhow’s of entrepreneurship skills finally aiming that they start their own business successfully. Additionally she & her organization SRREOSHI, also works with CSR programs on Art & Craft, Cloth/Jute Bags Making, Allied Agriculture, Junk Jewellery making etc with IISCO – ISP Burnpur, ASP-Durgapur, NSPCL-Durgapur, India Power Corp. Ltd., ECL-Coal India. As of date Sikha & her organization SRREOSHI -Society for Research & Rudimentary Education on Social & Health Issues has successfully catered to more than 8000 women beneficiaries. She strive to upscale the employability & better financial capability of beneficiaries ranging meager household income of Rs.500 to Rs. 5000 per month. She is currently working on Incubation Centre setup for Micro-Entrepreneurship in association & mentoring by School of Social Enterprenuership – Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. An MOU is in place between SRREOSHI & TISS-Mumbai to strengthen & implement the idea.

Year last as an recognition initiative by India Power Corporation Limited – 5 women were nominated of which 4 of them received the Annaya Awards on the eve of International Womens’ Day. Another 4 women beneficiaries were nominated CII Foundation.

SRREOSHI’s CSR Partners –

1. Central Govt. Projects – 2012-14 (Adolescent Reproductive & Sexual Health ARSH) Innovative Challenge Fund (ICF)
2. India Power Corporation Limited – ARSH & Handicrafts (Since 2014 – ongoing)
3. Alloy Steel Plant (SAIL) – 2013-15Mother & Child Health, Hygiene and Sanitation Programme
4. IISCO Steel Plant (SAIL) – 2013 – ongoing (Women Empowerment & Handicrafts
5. Pinnacle Infotech, Durgapur – Livelihood & Income Generation
6. India Power Corporation Limited, Kolkata
7. Eastern Coalfields Limited, ECL a subsidiary of Coal India Limited
8. NTPC-SAIL Power Company Limited – NSPCL, Durgapur2016 & ongoing (Women Empowerment)
9. Durgapur Steel Plant, Durgapur
10. Rotary Club of Durgapur Central
11. NUVOCO Vistas Corporation Limited, Durlovpur, Bankura

SRREOSHI has created a space for women entrepreneurs to liberate them from the clutches of poverty. It also successfully oriented the target group to train the women who belong to an indigenous group for accessing freedom through capacity building. SRREOSHI team has made an attempt to provide sustainable wellbeing in terms of freedom.

SRREOSHI not only innovated the process of entrepreneurship creation, the team also innovated the business model to connect the rural women entrepreneurs to the market. So providing forward and backward linkages helped these entrepreneurs to enter the value chin of the products in the market.

A showcase venture named Varanda Crafts is an house shop to promote, upscale, source orders & sell the products being made by the beneficiaries & artisans aiming to make them economically empowered.