Haryana: Dharmveer Kamboj used to work as an auto rickshaw driver in Delhi. His earnings were not enough to make the ends meet. He would drive all day around in the heat and would look for an empty spot on the footpaths to spend the nights. He did not have a shelter and lacked money to even buy himself meals and proper clothing. Despite all the problems, he had to save up some money to send back to his family. 

Today, his circumstances have drastically changed, and his patented machines are sold in 15 countries. He is a farmer and a business entrepreneur who operates an empire of crores. 

Who is Dharmveer?

Dharmveer Kamboj was born in 1963 in Yamuna Nagar, Haryana. His mother used to work as an herbalist. He passed his class 10th but had to discontinue his studies due to lack of financial backup. In 1987, boarded a bus and came to Delhi in search of work; he only had Rs 70 at the time. For five years, he worked as an auto rickshaw driver in Delhi. The daily rent of an autorickshaw was Rs 6. 

Despite working in the capital, he did not observe any changes in his financial condition. He would sleep on empty stomach on most days in winters he had to borrow money to buy blankets. The monsoon season posed more difficulties, as he would sleep in completely wet clothes. These overwhelming circumstances prompted him to return back to his village. 

Building his own machines

Dharmveer ventured into agriculture after returning back to his village. His mother’s interest in herbs inspired him to expand his knowledge about agriculture. He enrolled in a six-month training programme at the Gram Vikas Society. In the year 2004, he went to Rajasthan to learn about cultivating medicinal crops. 

He implemented all the methods he had learned in his fields. He thought of expanding his business to medicine processing machines. But they were extremely expensive to afford. He used his extensive knowledge to sketch a design for a processing machine and sought the assistance of a local mechanic. He paid Rs 20,000 to mechanic and commenced on the work of constructing the machine. It took 8 whole months to see the final results; he named his machine ‘Multiprocessing Machine’. 

The efficiency of machines

Dharmveer recently designed a garlic peeling machine with the capacity of peeling 200 kilograms of garlic per hour. In addition to this, he has made a maize milk extraction machine. It is truly amazing how capable Dharmveer is. 

Furthermore, he has manufactured machines that produce basil oil, turmeric extracts, soybean milk, rose water, cumin water and aloe vera juice. To attest to his marvellous efforts, his machines are exported in over 20 countries. 

President’s guest

In the year 2009, the then President of India, Pratibha Patil honoured Dharmveer Kamboj with an award. In 2012, he was given the Farmer Scientist Award by the Union Minister Sharad Pawar. In 2013, he received the prestigious National Award for his food processing machine. In 2014, he was invited as the President’s special guest. Zimbabwe’s President honoured Dharmveer for making his multipurpose machine in the year 2015. A dream that was fostered while spending nights on the footpath, really turned into reality.