2017 – Present
From rainwater tanks in the Pir Panjal to smart sanitation nationwide.
Eight years of the same discipline: identify a real, local problem; build a simple, technology-enabled solution; train and employ the community to run it; and measure the outcome honestly.
2017 – 18
The foundation year
Gramonnati Trust was born when its co-founders left their corporate careers at Cisco Systems in 2017, setting themselves the goal of developing 10,000 rural entrepreneurs within five years. The Trust based itself in Puducherry and chose to begin its grassroots work in the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch, Jammu & Kashmir.
The Udyam Programme
Udyam — the flagship path-to-entrepreneurship programme for youth, women and ex-soldiers — launched on 26 January 2018 with the opening of the Jabalpur Gramonnati Kendra at LS Jha Model School. Twenty aspirational NCC cadets from nearby villages were shortlisted for foundational training in digital literacy, financial literacy and self-employment skills, supported by broadband internet, video-conferencing and trainers from Prep My Skills.
Sumita and Sunmeet
Two trainees were groomed as Spoken English instructors and went on to design and deliver a 50-hour Spoken English course — first for local children, and later for soldiers of the 1 Signal Training Centre, Jabalpur.
Key learning
What we learned
Changing the mindset of youth and their families toward entrepreneurship — and giving young people clearer guidance on their future options — emerged as the programme's central, ongoing challenge.
2018 – 19
Deepening impact in Jammu & Kashmir
In its second year, Gramonnati expanded from a single Kendra into a multi-programme presence across the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch, working closely with the Indian Army.
Vidya-Jyoti — transforming rural education
Technology-enabled learning for rural schools in J&K's border districts — high-quality video content in Maths, Science and English, live digital classes over video-conference, and structured teacher training. The programme launched in September 2018 as a pilot in four Army-run schools, with two fully adopting the multimodal content into daily teaching. Six teachers from three border-district schools were sent on a training tour to the Agastya International Foundation, organised with the Indian Army's support.
Jal Sanchaya — solving the water problem
Chronic water scarcity in the upper reaches of the Rajouri-Poonch hills, tackled through low-cost rainwater harvesting — and designed to build local rural entrepreneurs in water solutions along the way. After identifying five priority locations with local Army units, the first rooftop system was completed in October 2018 at Model Academy, Sagra, Poonch district — built in three days and filled to capacity within five days of monsoon rain. Four more systems followed, training 6–8 local people in installation at each site.
Sarpanch Yatra — Mission Samriddhi
In consultation with the Indian Army's Sadbhavana programme and the civil authorities of Rajouri and Poonch, Gramonnati and Mission Samriddhi jointly designed an educational and experiential tour for sarpanches to India's model villages — with sessions on design thinking, grassroots leadership, and profitable organic farming on small landholdings.
2022 – 23
Project Ravi Kiran
A CSR-funded solar dehydration initiative, backed by NIIF through its implementation partner Athaang, that gave rural women in Jammu & Kashmir and Telangana a dignified, zero-energy-cost livelihood — while rescuing tonnes of fruit and vegetables that would otherwise have gone to waste.
Two sites, one model
Facilities at Qazigund in Anantnag district, Jammu & Kashmir, and Dichpally in Nizamabad district, Telangana — both running the same end-to-end value chain, from sourcing surplus harvest through solar drying to packaging under the Gratitude Farms brand.
Zero energy cost
Solar dryers remove 80–90% of moisture at 55–65°C using nothing but sunlight — roughly 1,367 watts per square metre on an average day. No electricity, no fuel, no emissions, and produce that would otherwise rot turned into shelf-stable food.
2022 – Present
The smart sanitation pivot
Building on eight years of rural development experience, Gramonnati extended its mission into smart sanitation and circular-waste infrastructure — partnering with Woloo and launching Clean & Divine India. The same workforce philosophy that powered the Udyam Programme now anchors the Woloo Programme's staffing model of ex-servicemen families, war widows and women's Self-Help Groups.
The Woloo Programme
A partnership with Woloo — India's only integrated smart-hygiene platform, featured on Shark Tank India 2022 — to deploy and operate women-run Powder Rooms. Bengaluru is the first city of deployment; Puducherry and Tamil Nadu's temple towns follow.
Clean & Divine India
A travel-industry partnership that builds Woloo Powder Rooms and Waste-to-Pellet units at India's highest-footfall destinations — operated by war widows and ex-servicemen.
Looking back, looking forward
Things that last are built slowly, then all at once.
From a single Kendra in Jabalpur and rainwater tanks in the hills of Poonch, to a nationally scaling smart-sanitation movement — that discipline is the foundation for everything that follows.