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Kushalta Ke Kadam, an initiative by USHA Silai School and NDTV has entered its eighth season. The aim is to empower more women across rural India by teaching them sewing skills and helping them open new doors of opportunities for themselves.
In Season 7, the campaign worked towards making rural women self-sufficient and financially independent by providing them with sewing skills. This included undertaking various initiatives including taking Silai schools to tribal areas, teaching upcycling to women and using solar energy in Silai schools.
The previous season, Season 6 witnessed the establishment of partnerships with government, corporate and institutions. During the unprecedented situation brought upon the country by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, season 6 saluted the Silai Heroes who have stepped up to not only help their own families sustain during a hard time but also provided their students with skills and inspiration to earn a livelihood.
Season 5 was an extension of the last year which witnessed the establishment of the new cluster in Kashmir, apart from the existing four clusters set-up in 2018. The women from volatile Kashmir worked with well-known fashion designer Rohit Bal and got a unique opportunity to learn from him and make clothes for him. The work done by the Silai School women was presented at Lakme Fashion Week 2019.
Season 4 also took the initiative beyond the mainland and ventured into the islands of Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep and Sundarbans. The campaign made an attempt to take the women’s journey beyond being upskilled and independent. Apart from sewing, a special focus was given to induce entrepreneurship culture in rural areas.
Kushalta Ke Kadam aims at empowering women from rural India and encourages them to become entrepreneurs by taking up sewing and training others in their respective communities. Since 2011, the USHA Silai School initiative has trained more than 12 lakh rural women through over 33,000 Silai schools, spanning over 20,751 villages across India.
USHA Silai School is a community-based initiative with the aim of empowering village women to become entrepreneurs and teach sewing in their respective communities. More than one per cent of the sale of every USHA Sewing Machine is invested into this programme, thereby enabling all Usha customers to share their love with rural women. More than one lakh women are being trained every day.
The women earn Rs. 4,000 – 5,000 per month on an average, with the highest recorded monthly earning being Rs. 84,000 in a month. This earning works as a catalyst towards building their self-confidence, reducing gender inequities, and raising their stature within their families and in society at large.
The initiative ties in with the Government’s vision that has placed special emphasis on prioritising skill training and creation of independent livelihoods in the 12th Five-Year-Plan.
We bring you these stories of transformation and empowerment from the length and breadth of India.
Do you want to be a part of the huge change that Usha Silai School is bringing about in the lives of millions of rural women? With just a simple click of a button, you can now contribute towards the opening of an Usha Silai School or support various other aspects of the school.
Team NDTV | Wednesday April 24, 2024By the end of 2022, for every Rs. 100 invested in the training of women, the Usha Silai School generated an average of Rs. 8,300, reported IIT-Delhi study
- Team NDTV | Wednesday January 31, 2024
The partnership between Usha and the Sewaj Neesim Foundation is empowering women and giving old uniforms a new identity, a new purpose, and a new pride
- Team NDTV | Tuesday January 30, 2024
Among the aims and objectives of the CRPF Family Welfare Association is to skill the CRPF wives and give them a sense of accomplishment
- Team NDTV | Monday January 29, 2024
Renowned for its skill development program in sewing and tailoring, Usha's training cum production centre is enabling the wives of Army personnel at the village level to become financially independent
Kushalta ke Kadam: Aiming for Independence Through Stitching
Rebari girls grow up learning traditional embroidery, which along with their new found sewing skills developed at Usha Silai Schools, is helping them earn a living.
Usha Silai School has empowered many rural women to support their family and send their children to school.
The Usha Silai School, established in a small nondescript village that goes by the name of Kottai, is helping empower people from varied communities.
The all-inclusive Usha Silai School Programme covers the entire nation from hamlets tucked between hills to villages cast by the sea.
Vegetables farmers from the Mizoram hills earn very little given the topography of the area. Usha Silai Schools have played an important part in this region by skilling women to financially contribute towards their households.
Usha Silai School learner Lucy has trained seven other women in her community, helping them to become financially independent.
Women like Kaviben from the nomadic Rebari community are finally laying down their roots as they begin to gain financial independence and thereby stability through Usha Silai School.
Usha Silai School, located in the Gujarat's Bhuj village, is enabling rural women to earn as much as Rs. 2,500-4,000 each month.
Usha Silai School, in association with a Gujarat based NGO called Kala Raksha, is trying to bring about a Silai revolution in Bhuj.
Besides training other women from their community, many Usha Silai School learners have become entrepreneurs in their own right.
With sewing becoming easily accessible and lucrative, the silai schools are also helping revive traditional motifs and designs.