Bhartiya Gramotthan Sanstha Works With Plant-Based Fibres, Makes Eco-Friendly Products

In 1989, P. M. Chandola founded Bhartiya Gramotthan Sanstha with employment generation as the core objective. To achieve its goal, the organisation emphasises on local raw material-based employment and gives opportunities to women. Bhartiya Gramotthan Sanstha promotes handicraft products with the local raw material available in the villages and also the use of plant-based fibres for textile fabrics. The reins of the organisation are now in the hands of Anil Chandola, son of P. M. Chandola. Talking to NDTV about the foundation, Anil Chandola, In-charge of Bhartiya Gramotthan Sanstha said,

This organisation has been working for the last 34 years and the main objective of our organisation was to provide employment. This is the module we are working on. Along with this, the organisation's motive was to focus on the natural fibres of Uttarakhand. There is a vast variety of natural fibres, and we are working with seven different fibres.

The organisation mainly works with sheep wool, Bhimal which comes from the bark of a specific tree, Nettle, industrial hemp, and other plant-based fibres found in Uttarakhand. But why did the organisation choose this material? Explaining the same, Mr Chandola said,

We worked with local resources in order to connect people with what is locally available. For example, we have sheep's wool here. It benefits the mountains. If the shepherds stop grazing sheep, it will affect our mountains. We are already facing climate change. So, our NGO considered this one way of preserving the mountains and also saving shepherds. If the sheep survive, the mountains will survive. So, this is all correlated.

The learning process never stopped for Bhartiya Gramotthan Sanstha. They realised the need to include everyone in their programmes and so they helped women form self-help groups in villages and opened counselling centres in their NGO.

Bina Pundhir, an Artisan, talked about creating employment for women and said,

We chose to work in the handicraft industry, but wanted to focus on something that was needed all year round, something that would create jobs for women. I was constantly thinking about it for at least 10 years. I kept working on designs, and kept wondering about what would be that one thing. Then the idea came to me; we live in a place that attracts a lot of tourists. Our slippers can be worn inside temples as well, or they can be worn at home too. So, this gave people employment. I have trained more than 3,000 people, and people are working from their homes. They have got a good job opportunity. Initially, when I came here, I knew nothing. I also belong to a village. I moved here after getting married. We have used our income to educate our children and build a home.

Shairng her experience of working with Bhartiya Gramotthan Sanstha, Parmila Bhatt, another Artisan said,

We enjoy working here, and we have earned a lot of money working here and this is a place that respects women. There is no fixed timing here. We come at a time that is convenient for us. They have helped us earn an income. Women need to ask their husbands for money but we don't. We can pay for ourselves. Even our families do not have any problem with us working here.

The organisation also offers fair trade to its women workforce. Explaining the term 'fair trade', Seema Chandola, President, Bhartiya Gramotthan Sanstha said,

What happens in fair trade is that the women who work should get a fair price for their labour. So, we try to give opportunities to the women in our local area, based on their scale of work and needs.

Despite a large variety of properties and uses that hemp can be put to, there is still a stigma attached to it. Talking about the same, Mr Chandola said,

Nettle and hemp are similar products. Yes, there is an angle related to narcotics and people were scared of working with hemp. But, we work with fibre. There is zero content in any material that comes in the form of fibre. The government of Uttarakhand supported the hemp policy, and became the first state to allow its legal cultivation. It was a good step. There is a stigma attached to it, but this natural fibre has potential, and demand in the market.

The journey from fibre to fabric is not an easy one. Once the organisation receives raw material from the farms, it goes through several processes to be finally turned into a usable form. Taking us through the process, Mr Chandola said,

Once it was dried, it would take on a bad form. So, we started making by-products from it. We carded it to create yarn. It is a complete process in itself. It goes through various stages including dusting, willowing, carding, gilling and twisting. Then it passes through a binder, and eventually emerges as yarn. We didn't have to do very much to get to this fabric. The hemp was growing all around us. We had to collect it, and that also provided employment to the locals.

While the material is completely biodegradable and sustainable, the process of making the fabric is eco-friendly too. And not just that, it is reviving a cultural heritage that's almost extinct. Explaining the procedure, Mr Chandola said,

Nature provides us with the raw material which is then manually processed, without using any chemicals. Fiber is extracted in a traditional manner. We are still following the same techniques. We use handlooms to weave fabric with the warp and weft technique. We don't even use dyes. The best part is that traditional weavers have got a new platform. The handloom sector has also suffered over the years, so we are trying to uplift the weavers.

Aslee, a brand practicing and promoting sustainable fashion by converting hemp, bamboo and nettle into fabric, sources most of its materials from Bhartiya Gramotthan Sanstha. Zoya Wahi, co-founder of Aslee talked about climate change and the need to go sustainable. She said,

Sustainability for us is no longer an option, it is no longer a luxury, it is a survival thing. Both, I and my co-founder, have had some sort of climate anxiety for a very long time, way before we started on this journey with Aslee. The signs of climate change are very clear. We live in urban settings where you see this issue every second day whether it is in terms of water shortage or garbage piling up. The most weakest, vulnerable, and most poor part of society gets hurt the most by these day-to-day changes in the climate. So, there is for us to do something and whatever it is we happen to be in the space of a parallel lifestyle but even if we were doing something else there would be no reason to not have it be sustainable and climate-conscious.

Further talking about the benefits of switching to natural products, Mr Chandola said,

We try to explain to young people that wearing synthetic materials will make them uncomfortable. I can bet that once you start wearing clothes made out of natural fiber, you would never want to wear anything else. You'll switch to sustainable products in your daily life.

These plants have always been valued for their medicinal properties, but now they're providing fibre to make textile fabric. They are healing not just the body, but can also heal the planet.