OUTLOOK I AUGUST 2015
Mention of rural Rajasthan brings
the memories of traditionally dressed rural women following each other to fetch
water. Catering to the cattle and helping in agriculture has been the synonym
for these rural women. The culture and practices in Rajasthan for many years
never allowed most of these women to get exposed to the other side of the
world.
It is also true that many creative
arts developed in India, and now globally making bench-mark, are driven by
these rural women of Rajasthan.
Hindustan Zinc, a company that was
dis-invested in 2002, and now run by Anil Agarwal the Chairman of Vedanta Group,
was expanding its base in Rajasthan and besides business, getting involved into
the community engagement through welfare schemes. Most of the social
schemes were developed taking forward the vision of the State Government and
the visionary Chairman of Vedanta Group.
“Whatever
you have earned, a portion of it should go back to the society. Before I start
the business, I should know the welfare of the community residing near our
business locations”, Anil Agarwal has been seen quoted many times.
It is said, when you empower a rural
women, you in-turn make a complete family socially and economically
independent, thereby energizing the whole village and ultimately contributing
towards the progress of a nation.
It was year 2006 when Hindustan Zinc
started formation of self-help-groups to give social and economic stability to
rural and tribal women residing near its business locations.
The rural
system has its own customs, traditions and social implications and thus
formation of self-help-groups was never an easy task. It was never easy to
convince these rural women to spare 4-5 hours daily and spend time with women
of different temperaments. The support of family members was also imperative.
With initial
hiccups the formation of self-help-groups started. These women were first
engaged in thrift savings and then linked with banks. Once they were through
with the process, these women were encouraged to get training in their areas of
interest.
Most of the women wanted to learn stitching and
tailoring and the company organized the same. With the time and growing demand
Hindustan Zinc has been engaging these women in different product making
Today, all these
women are known as “Sakhees” and their self-help-groups are known as “Sakhi” self-help-groups.
Training to these
women is not just a regular training. During the training, the trainers are
required to get the products developed by them. Most of the produced by these “Sakhees”
are on pre-order basis so they bring instant finances in the “Sakhi” Group.
“Sakhi” is at current engaged in formation of product clusters. The “Sakhi”
self-help-groups women, located in Udaipur, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh,
Rajsamand, Ajmer and Ringus in Rajasthan are now being trained in different
products. The company has already formed cluster of spices, papad, paper
crafts, pickle, home furnishing, candle making, darees, school uniform and
fashion garments. The vision is to draw at least 20 product clusters
amongst these women to further improve their economic status.
Hindustan Zinc
being a large corporate also has large consumption of these products. The
company has 10 locations spread across Rajasthan and each location has its
canteen that consumes spices, papad, pickle and other products. The related
clusters have assured orders coming from these business locations.
Similarly,
recently, Hindustan Zinc has adopted 3055 Anganwadis under a tri-party
agreement with the Rajasthan Government and Vedanta Foundation. Under this
project, facelift and infrastructure change would happen in 1000 Anganwadis in
phase manner. About 80,000 children which are to be benefited from this project
will wear school uniforms and sit on mats made by “Sakhi” group
women.
The company is also
working to make perfume candles seeing the upcoming Diwali. Though
in this case also the consumption would be large within the organization, it
would also make for the market.
“Sakhi” has brought
a significant change in their confidence and in their families. These women now
want their children to go to school regularly, care for health & hygiene
and follow good sanitation practices, says Akhilesh Joshi, CEO of Hindustan
Zinc.
Pavan Kaushik, the spokesperson of Hindustan Zinc
informed that our effort is to first cater to assured market for the “Sakhi” rural
women and be open for outside market as it comes. We are more into product
oriented workshops for these women and these workshops are conducted by
different professionals who have been associated with the campaign “Sakhi” with
their interest in doing something for the up-liftment and empowerment of these
rural women.
While speaking to one of the beneficiary, Shama
Banu from Chittorgarh, she informed that she is a mother of 2 children and her
husband is working as a tailor. As he is not that specialized in stitching
ladies’ clothes as per customer’s demand, he was unable to earn substantially
and sustain the family livelihood. Shama Banu came to know about the “Sakhi” that
provided skill based training to rural women. She instantly joined the “Sakhi”
and after some time received training in tailoring. After training she is
able to help her husband and her financial condition has improved.
Another
beneficiary, Asha married in a joint family. Her husband runs a grocery shop
but was not able to earn more than Rs 1000 per month. Asha too joined “Sakhi”
self-help-group and received fashion bag making training.
We reached out to
another beneficiary of “Sakhi” who was living in a remote village
Gudwa in Debari, Udaipur, were we met Kaise Bai. She was staying at a place
where going on a vehicle was not possible. Kaise Bai has a small house, which
has a gate of dry bushes and no doors. Though she might not have looked after
the infrastructure of her house, but she has brought economic stability to her
family. Kaise Bai now has few cows and goats that are providing her
family economic stability.
The rural women in
India have been proving their mettle and strength in every sphere of life; be
it house-hold work, agriculture, traditional crafts or liberal arts, rural
women of India have always been in forefront and have even dominated the global
fashion industry with their creativity and understanding of traditional art
& craft skills. These rural and tribal women are now more confident and determined
to manage their finances through banks while educating their children and
supporting families.
“Sakhi” campaign
has given Hindustan Zinc a unique opportunity and edge to further scale-up and
strengthen self-help-groups and encourage millions of other rural and tribal
women to come forward towards their socio-economic empowerment.
“Sakhi” is a
voice of these rural and tribal women and the campaign is destined to improve
their social and economic life.
