Watch the film on Women Empowerment in Rajasthan...
Hindustan Zinc’s Rural Women Entrepreneurs in Rajasthan
.JPG)
When
Shahnaz Hussain lost her husband 15 years ago, her life had come to a
standstill. The thought of completing education of her 2 children and
sustaining respectable livelihood almost dragged her into depression.
This simple house-hold woman of village Bichhdi in Rajasthan had no financial
support and the future looked uncertain. Speaking to fellow women of her
village, for her sustainable livelihood, she came in touch with a
self-help-group ‘Jai Hind’ a women empowerment project by Vedanta Group in
rural India
Women
in rural and tribal India India
But
the large challenge was to convince them to spare time and join the groups. The
rural system has its own challenges and the biggest has been the social system.
The support of family members for the women becomes the vital point. The
Company’s representatives had to convince not just the women in question but
also the family members and make them understand as how her empowerment will
bring prosperity to the entire family as well.
.JPG)
“It
was never easy to bring rural women together as they had clash of interest or
rural beliefs and also difference of temperament. But once they came
together, they started working like a strong team where they extended helping
hand to each other and ensured their SHG comes out with best of products’, says
Pavan Kaushik , Head of Corporate
Communication.
Most
of these rural women were illiterate. Vedanta Hindustan Zinc arranged their
adult-education classes in the villages to make them maintain itinerary of
their own products. Initially the Company's team helped them in linkages
but a situation has come when these women have become independent and they
handle their ledger book and accounts with banks themselves.
Shahnaz
is one of the 6000 rural women who have been able to support their families by
joining Hindustan Zinc's SHGs.
Another
such story is of Dalla Soni from Rajsamand who was struggling to meet the
financial condition in her house, as the earning could not exceed Rs. 3,000 pm.
One day she joined 'Joganiya Mata' Self Help Group, which was engaged in
micro-enterprises. She says – "I now work as an active member of Joganiya
Mata Self Help Group. I with other 15 women learnt meenkari and tailoring, and
was exposed to bank so as to understand the loan schemes and procedures".
During the process, they started getting the good work and now they have a
tie-up with Exploration Department of Hindustan Zinc who has again given them
repeat order to make cotton bags - an order worth Rs. 75,000. “For me it’s just
the beginning”, she says proudly.
Similarly,
Jamuna from Chittorgarh district had no knowledge about as so how to support
her family during the financial crunch. But when Chanchal – Sarpanch of her
village, made her join Shiv Shankar Shayata Self Help Group, it changed her
life. She learned stitching and blocks printing and started getting orders from
the market. Now, every woman in her group, takes home Rs 4000 – 5000/- per
month giving financial support to their families.
.JPG)
Vedanta
has developed and organized self-help-groups in Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Goa,
and Orissa and even abroad in Zambia
A
number of NGOs across India
and banks like HDFC Bank, State Bank of Bikaner
Today, these women are business women of rural India and out to
make mark in Indian market with their art and craft with their skills in
handicraft, embroidery, terracotta & tailoring, saree decoration, jewelry
making, cultivation, poultry, goat husbandry, beauty parlor, to name a few.
"Sakhi" - Recognizing the Success of Rural and Tribal Women
Dear all,
"When you empower a rural women, you in-turn make a family socially and economically independent, thereby energizing a complete village and ultimately contributing towards progress of a nation..."
Rural women have always proved their metal and strength in every sphere of life. May it be house-hold work, agriculture, handicrafts, tailoring, traditional crafts or liberal art, rural women of India have always been in front and have even dominated the global fashion industry with their traditional art and skills.
Hindustan Zinc realized this much earlier and with stupendous CSR and Communication teams at every location, we have been able to bring together more than 6,000 rural and tribal women and weaved them into about 475 groups, popularly known as self-help-groups (SHG). Each group has been recognized for its success.
This has given Hindustan Zinc a unique opportunity and edge to further up-scale and strengthen this program and build a platform to motivate millions of other rural and tribal women, across the country, by sharing the success stories, important policies and decisions and key statistics etc. and encourage them to become socially and economically empowered.
Keeping this focus alive, we are launching today our yet another social media campaign, "SAKHI" - 'Recognizing the Success of Rural and Tribal Women'. Hindustan Zinc's campaign "SAKHI" will be a symbol of friendship, commitments, teamwork, associations, and progress with dignity and self-respect.
The campaign will be focusing women from age 14 and above.
Please make a visit to Sakhi Blog www.vedantasakhi.blogspot.in and also become part of Facebook campaign www.facebook.com/vedantasakhi .
Let us unite our all efforts and energy and make Hindustan Zinc's SAKHI campaign a grand success.
With my best wishes...
Pavan Kaushik
Head - Corporate Communication
Phone : +91 9928844499
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)