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Founder's Biography
 

An economist, farmer, and activist, Chetna Gala-Sinha works for social change in some of the poorest and most drought-stricken areas of rural India. She founded and is currently the president of the Mann Deshi Mahila micro-enterprise development bank and Mann Vikas Samajik Sanstha NGO, which strive to enhance the economic empowerment and advancement of rural women through savings and lending, education, property rights, and social security initiatives.  Through the initiatives of the Bank and NGO, Chetna has promoted a holistic approach to helping women in rural areas – one that combines economic activity with the educational tools and health care which are necessary for leading a productive life.  Each success story has inspired new innovation and creativity, and Chetna credits the rural women she is serving as her consistent inspiration to expand the services and capabilities of the Bank in order to better meet their needs.

Chetna has been honored with the 2005 Jankidevi Bajaj Puraskar award for rural entrepreneurship.  This national award honors a woman who has made an outstanding contribution to the uplift and welfare of women and children, particularly in rural areas.  She has also been awarded lifetime membership with Ashoka Innovators for the Public, and was selected for the first class of Yale University’s World Fellows program in 2002-3.  In addition, she has participated in Harvard University’s 2003 Bridge Builders’ Conference.  The Mann Deshi Mahila Bank has also recently won first prize in social sector of the international 2005 Ashoka Changemakers Innovation award, which promotes market-based strategies that benefit low-income communities.

Chetna is the mother of three sons and lives in Mhaswad, where Mann Deshi Mahila Bank has its headquarters.  Born in Mumbai, she earned her Masters degree in Commerce and Economics from Mumbai University in 1982.  Chetna was a leader in the Jayprakash Narayan student activist movement at the end of the 1970s, which fought for the democratic and basic human rights of the rural and marginalized communities during the Indira Gandhi’s Emergency.  She was also actively involved in the landless labor movement carried out by the Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini in Bihar. Since 1996, she has been organizing women in rural areas of Maharashtra in the fight for their property rights.

Designations she has obtained :

World Fellow 2002: Yale University, New Haven USA.
http://www.yale.edu/worldfellows/fellows/alum_2002.html

Bridge Builder 2003: Harvard University, Cambridge, USA.
http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2005/02.24/12-bridge.html

Ashoka Fellow: Ashoka Innovators for Social Entrepreneurship, Washington DC, USA.
http://www.ashoka.org/node/3559