Nirupama Deshpande

Deshpande is a trained social worker. She and Sunil Deshpande settled in Lawada, in the Dharni block of Amravati district, in the belief that local materials and local skills could form the basis of rural employment in Melghat, a predominantly Korku tribal area that had been declared a severe malnutrition zone in 1993. Sampoorna Bamboo Kendra began work in the Dharni and Chikhaldara blocks in 1995 and was registered as a society in 1997.

The organisation runs training and production in bamboo craft, low-cost bamboo housing and design, and promoted an artisans' co-operative for marketing bamboo products. Its training arm, Vishwakarma Vidyalaya, provides skills training in the region. The centre reports having trained more than 4,500 young people in bamboo craft.

Deshpande's work has focused particularly on women. She helped organise bachat gat, or savings and self-help groups, in the surrounding villages; around 2,000 women in 252 groups have been linked to the organisation's work, with bank accounts and access to credit that reduced dependence on moneylenders. Women's groups linked to the centre run small enterprises making utility baskets and decorative bamboo items.

In March 2020 Deshpande received the Amhi Udyogini Gaurav Award, presented by Amhi Udyogini Pratishthan in Mumbai. In 2021 she received the Sant Eshwer Vishist Sewa Samman for Maharashtra, given for her work on the economic self-sufficiency of women.[2][3][4]