Urmul Seemant Samiti community work in Rajasthan
Building resilient communities across the Thar Desert
Urmul Seemant Samiti field programme
Field programmes that strengthen rural livelihoods
Urmul Seemant Samiti community outreach
Nirmala Sitharaman visiting Urmul Seemant Samiti

About Us

We are co-creating empowered and sustainable communities.

Urmul Seemant is a values-driven and professionally managed organisation dedicated to innovation and implementation in community development. Established in 1994 near Indo Pak Border, With a legacy spanning over three decades, we have built a vast stakeholder network and pioneered systems-based solutions that integrate sustainability, resilience, and equity. Guided by systems thinking and ecosystem approach, our interventions span Agroecology, Pastoralism, Crafts, Education, Health, Energy, Livelihoods, and Climate resilience—making us a trusted partner in community-driven change and sustainable development.

Through our work, we engage with over 30,000 households, including farmers, pastoralists, and artisans, who are integral to our food and textile production systems and other development initiatives. Our approach is rooted in inclusivity and co-creation, ensuring that marginalized communities not only overcome immediate challenges but also build long-term resilience. By leveraging local knowledge, forging partnerships, harnessing appropriate technologies, and optimizing resources, we work towards scalable, impactful, and sustainable solutions across some of India’s most challenging geographies - the Thar Desert and Ladakh.

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Tari Bai

Vision

Breaking barriers for promoting desert centric social innovations

Mission

To design and implement package of sustainable development services leading to direct benefits for communities of desert

Our Focus Areas

Urmul Seemant focuses on children, organizing collectives of women and other community groups to oversee and actively participate in implementing various focussed programmes

Livelihoods Education Climate Action Health Sustainable Agriculture Natural Resource Management
Pond

Water Conservation Initiative

Ponds of the Thar Desert — Live Data Portal

Explore geo-tagged water body data from Bikaner, Phalodi & Jaisalmer districts — surveyed by local communities, updated in real time.

Explore Ponds Data →

OUR PROGRAMMES

Income Generation Programme

Income Generation Programme →

Urmul Model Farm

Urmul Model Farm →

The Camel Partnership

The Camel Partnership →

OUR IMPACT

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Villages Reached
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Provided With Better Health Services
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Children Educated
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Women Formed SHGs
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Camel Herders Turned Entrepreneurs
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Awareness On Child Rights

Founder Chair of Urmul Seemant Samiti

Shri Arvind Ojha

Shri Arvind Ojha Ji was the Founder Secretary of Urmul Seemant Samiti, Bajju (Bikaner), Chief Executive, Urmul Trust, and Chairman of Girls Not Brides, Rajasthan. Often referred to as Guruji by his colleagues and staff, Shri Ojha dedicated over four decades of his life for the empowerment and sustainable growth of disadvantaged vulnerable groups, women and children in Rajasthan and other parts of the country. During his journey, he was involved as an active member in all the 14 organisations of the Urmul Family. A strong advocate of women empowerment, girl child education and aborgation of child marriage in Rajasthan, he was a humanitarian of the highest order. Urmul Group of Organisations continue to march on the path of growth and innovation with kindness and integrity as set by him.

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Shri Arvind Ojha
Stories of Change
A Flight of Hope

A Flight of Hope

Saamu Bai was not always this brave, the situation got her to become so. A Pakistani migrant of the 1971 war, Saamu had experienced poverty and struggle in the Thar to a point where most would give up but she fought her way out. The art of Kashida ran in her family. She was no exception to it ever since her childhood. All she needed was an opportunity to finesse her art. Urmul helped her with this and now its been 21 years of her association with the Income Generation Programme at the organisation

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Learn More → Stories of Change

Our Partners

We have been working with a range of national and international organisations and government departments that help us reach our mission of co-creating empowered communities.