The Geeta Devi Poddar. National Skill Training center is dedicated to the memory of the mother of Ajay Poddar, the donor whose generous support helped shape the center. Ajay Poddar has also supported the Gramothan Resource Center in Hoshangabad, MP.  The inauguration was a hybrid presentation with the ground level workers present in person and the donors and supporters joining in via Zoom. 

At the inaugural address, Ajay Poddar spoke very fondly about his mother who said was “his greatest inspiration”. He then recalled the great experience he had when he visited the skill training center in Hoshangabad which is named after his father. The entire family including Ajay ji’s father and siblings attended the inaugural program. Ajay Poddar is the grand-son-in-law of the founder, Madanlal Agarwala and took it upon himself to provide strong support to the Gramothan efforts of Ekal.”India’s development cannot happen unless the villages become a significant part of the development”. He applauded  the importance  Ekal has placed on making women at the center of its development efforts and he could see the difference this has made in the villages. 

Several other leading lights in the Ekal movement from India including Laxmi Goyal, Arun Bajaj, Bajrang Bagra, Naresh Jain and others were present and spoke at the event.  Several team members from Ekal USA were also present. The highlight of the event was the virtual tour of the center presented by Lalan Sharma who leads the efforts for Gramothan. 

These centers hold enormous potential for the transformation of rural India and Ekal is working steadily to realize that potential .