Mahila Umang is Community owned Enterprise by Small Scale Women Farmers, to promote Ecology, Equity, Fair Trade Economics for Himalayan Farmers. Founder, Ruchi Jain -Taru Naturals, conducted Natural Farming Training for Umang Women Farmers. We, at Taru, source chamomile flowers, red chilli flakes, tulsi leaves, black bhatt beans, mustard seeds, amaranth and corn flour from them.
Pan Himalayan Grassroots Development Foundation is a voluntary organization engaged in spearheading holistic mountain development in central and western Himalayas since 1992. The degradation of the ecosystems in the Himalayas has had a negative impact on mountain and tribal farming systems, which in turn has led to issues like - traditional food security, resulting in economic insecurity, out-migration and increasing numbers of women headed households.
Various efforts were made which led to the creation of a network of women, involved with various viable business activities, providing small yet significant incomes on a sustainable basis.
This network of hill women in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand state was largely possible due to the efforts of women spearhead team members of Grassroots who branched out to establish a collective of several self-help groups as a non-profit called Mahila Umang Samiti in the year 2001. However, based on the success of these pilot initiatives as well as future plans for further growth, efforts were made to transform the business ventures into a profit Producers Company, which was formally registered on 9 January 2009, under section 9A of the Companies Act,1956.
(Information from the Mahila Umang website)