“Prem Chand Sharma Padma Shri Awardee for His Excellent Work

AUTHOR BY: GAURI PAL.

Prem Chand Sharma, popularly known as AnarwaleSharmaji receives Padma Shri Award for focus on diversified farming in the state by growing high-quality crops organically.

Prem Chand Sharma, a 63-year-old farmer from Uttarakhand has been awarded Padma Shri for growing high yield fruits and vegetables organically. He introduced a Maharashtra variety of pomegranate, Bhaguna in Uttarakhand.

Sharma ji belongs to a tribal village, Hatal-Sainj in Tyuni tehsil of Chakrata block of Dehradun. Sharma ji said that he is a school drop and is interested in farming and agriculture since his childhood. He said, “I have been focusing to diversify farming in the state by growing high-quality fruits, vegetables, and grains by organic farming methods.”

His experiments with farming stated in early 2000s when he realized that the traditional way of farming is not that productive. And then, he turned his farms producing millet, maize and paddy into fruit orchards. And Sharma ji created a nursery to produce saplings of high yielding pomegranates and distributed them among 350 farmers in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.

Sharma ji says, “My work helped farmers of my village to move to the production of fruits and vegetables. In 2013, I formed the Fruits & Vegetables Committee by gathering near to 200 farmer families. And many youths of the village have also joined farming after seeing such progress and earning from fruits and vegetables”

Different Awards received by him :

In 2012 -Kisan Bhushan Award – By Government of Uttarakhand.

In 2014 -Kisan Samman – By. Indian Aassociation of soil and water conservation.

In 2015 –Krishak Samrat Samman.

In 2015 –Krishi Samman by Govid Vallab Pant University.

In 2016 –Uttarakahnd Nayak Samman By Swadeshi Jagran Manch.

In 2018 -Jagjivan Ram Kisan Award.