The unsung hero is Shib Shankar Dasgupta, an engineer from Jadavpur University and later a PhD in social construction of technology. He worked with ‘Save the Children’ program in USA. 

But while working with an NGO in Bihar in 2016, Dasgupta smilingly remembers, that the word 'technology' was erased gradually and a new concept came into his mind that can be termed as social construction of sports. 

Dasgupta recalled describing, “In 2016, I was working with an NGO in Bihar, disseminating health information through mobile phones. One day, the NGO office received a phone call informing them that one of the women attending this program was beaten mercilessly by her husband, who assumed that her wife was speaking to another man on the phone. To me it was horrifying but to my NGO colleagues this was nothing unusual.”

He continued, “This unfortunate event prompted me to think differently. Young girls in rural India need a collaborative support system where they would meet regularly and should be trained to rise against such social evils.” 

According to Dasgupta, this concept could be materialized through team sports. He explained, “We had to bring these rural girls together and portray their collective strength. The concept of a football team was the solution. And Shreeja India was born in Rajnagar, Birbhum in 2017.”

Significantly, Dasgupta had a passion for sports since his early days. He was the captain of the Jadavpur University hockey team. 

Sreeja India started with 50 girls initially, all tribal girls from the remote village. The psychologist and the program manager Somasree Basu who played an instrumental role in convincing the parents of those girls to join Sreeja India’s training program revealed, "Some of the parents had objection over their daughters joining our training program. The key deficiency we had to face was that the parents were not involved in their children's everyday activities. They only thought about the daughters’ was early marriage.”

Somasree remembered, “After those girls won a local football tournament (it was Sidhu-Kanhu football tournament) for the first time they were rewarded with Rs 700 and 10 chickens. The girls gave us the money us and asked to spend it on them. But the most exciting part was that the parents of those girls came forward and admitted that they could not believe their daughters could earn prestige by playing football. Since then the scenario changed. The parents started sending their daughters to join our school to study and play football. You can say that was our first achievement.”

Shreeja India has now nearly 800 girls in its two centers in Rajnagar and East Burdwan. The organization has three experienced coaches, Kaji Gulam Murtaza, Tilak Debnath, and Shibam Paul. Statistics show Shreeja India already has gifted four girls who have succeeded in the mainstream of Indian football. 

Sonali Soren has played internationally for India U-20 at the SAFF Championship 2023. She is a regular attendee of AIFF training camps. She has also played in state-level tournaments. 

Swapna Tudu is another Shreeja girl to have played in under-17 Khelo India last year. Then Siuli Soren and Jaya Majhi played in the under-17 national football championship also last year. 

Rakhi Murmu, the 12-year-old girl from Shreeja India represented Bengal in the sub-junior girls’ national football championship last year in Punjab. 

Dasgupta explained, “We have a program named Football and Beyond. But our motive is not to produce footballers for the professional clubs only. It is a grassroots initiative that uses football to empower women. So, we instill hope in our participating girls and constantly guide them to take roads not yet taken for a fulfilling social order. The girls shape and reshape their imaginations through dialogues and solve their problems. In all the 85 villages that Shreeja India is present, there are hardly any early marriage or school dropouts now."

Shreeja India, in its journey to the empowerment of women, is also keen to nurture and help those girls who like Sonali Soren or Swapna Tudu are en route to settle their career through football. 

Dasgupta concluded, "Our effort is financially encouraged by a few renowned foundations like Shahrukh Khan Foundation, Sachin Tendulkar Foundation, Azim Premji Foundation, Haldia Petrochemicals, and a big company like Ever Ready. I am optimistic that we will be able to help those girls by providing modern training in the future to settle their careers with football."