Yamunanagar farmer-turned-entrepreneur awarded honorary diploma

Shiv Kumar Sharma

Yamunanagar, February 29

A farmer-turned-entrepreneur has been awarded honoris causa ‘Diploma in Entrepreneurship’ by Shri Vishwakarma Skill University, Palwal. The diploma was recently awarded to Dharambir Kamboj, a farmer of Damla village of Yamunanagar district, by Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya for his contribution in changing lives of over 20,000 farmers and women by making them self-employed.

A proud taxpayer

• Dharambir Kamboj, a farmer-turned entrepreneur, is now a taxpayer and his firm has an annual turnover of around Rs 2 crore
• After passing Class X in 1986, he went to Delhi and worked as a rickshaw puller to earn his livelihood
• Now, he gives training to farmers and women in food processing and has enabled over 20,000 of them to become self-employed

Dharambir, who owns just two acres of agricultural land, says he is now a taxpayer and his venture, Dharambir Food Technology Private Ltd., has a turnover of around Rs 2 crore per annum. According to information, after completing his Class X from Government High School, Damla, in 1984, he went to Delhi to earn his livelihood. But, when he could not get a job, he started working as a rickshaw puller. He returned to his village in 1986 after he met with an accident.

He started growing aloe vera on his land for livelihood. But that too did not fetch much money. His fortune changed when someone told him to prepare aloe vera juice. “I developed a multi-purpose food-processing machine in 2007. This machine changed my fortune and I have sold over 2,000 machines in India and abroad,” said Kamboj.

He said the machine developed by him was being used to process all kinds of fruits, herbs and seeds and could prepare over 100 products such as tomato ketchup, sauce, tomato water, tomato candy, tomato face pack, tomato soup, tomato toffee, tomato cold drink, tomato powder and tomato puree. He said one of the salient features of his machine was it made pulp or juice without breaking the seeds and the final product didn’t turn bitter or change taste.

“I provide training to farmers and women in food processing through my multi-purpose machines, which have enabled over 20,000 from rural background to become self-employed,” said Kamboj. He said he had exported his multi-purpose machines to 15 countries, including the US, Italy, Nepal, Australia, Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Uganda.

“My multi-purpose food processing machine, herbal products and processed food products are widely accepted in the country,” he said.

The President of India honoured Kamboj in 2013 for to his contribution to society and transforming the lives of needy people. In 2014, he was selected as a guest for the Scholar Residency Programme at the President’s residence for 20 days.