With an aim to help the women from low-income families overcome their struggles, USHA Silai School partnered with NEEPCO (North Eastern Electric Power Corporation) - a power generation company in the North-Eastern region of the country, Dalmia Bharat Foundation- a not-for-profit organization under Dalmia Bharat Group and Alfa Laval- a Swedish Company found in 1883.
NEEPCO and USHA joined hands in the North East region of the country to build new livelihood opportunities for women in rural areas. As part of their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) programme, NEEPCO has helped many women by developing their skills in various techniques of stitching and encouraged them to become entrepreneurs.
Rekhamoni Bora, a 45-year-old resident of a village is in Dibrugarh district of Assam is one of the beneficiaries of -NEEPCO-USHA partnership. She said to NDTV, 'We are a five-member family that was completely dependent on farming for a livelihood. But farming is not reliable and we struggled a lot. But I got a ray of hope when I got selected for USHA Silai School programme. The course was very helpful and now I am contributing to the household income with the help of the skill of stitching I leant at the silai school.'
Ms. Bora who lives with her husband, two children and mother-in-law, is now able to earn Rs. 3500 per month on an average which is helping the family meet their livelihood expense to a great extent. She now passing on her learnings to her daughter with a hope of securing her future by teaching her a skill that she could use as a means of livelihood.
Benefitting from Dalmia-USHA collaboration is Binu Deka Doloi, who opened her own silai school in March 2018. This has changed the life of Ms Doloi who is married to a farmer. She said, 'Farming is not a fixed, steady source of income. We have recurring floods and dry seasons in the area. We lose crops in the extremely wet and extremely dry seasons because of which we struggled to meet our expenses when our crops fail which made it hard to feed the family and pay my daughter's school fee. Even if I cannot compensate entirely for crop losses, I earn enough to feed my family and pay my daughter's school fee.'
After developing skills of women of Assam in the Northeast, USHA Silai School initiative went to Maharashtra in the western peninsular region of the country. In Maharashtra, USHA collaborated with Alfa Laval and started a Training cum Production Centre' for the women of Velvand village in Pune district.
Kushalta Ke Kadam, an initiative by NDTV and USHA, 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 Usha Silai Campaign has trained more than 3.95 lakh rural women within five years, with 17,000 Silai schools, spanning over 9272 Indian villages in India.
Kushalta Ke Kadam in Season 4 has returned with new goals and vision. The new season will witness the establishment of the new cluster in Kashmir, apart from the existing four clusters setup last year. The women from volatile Kashmir will work with well-known fashion designer Rohit Bal and get an unique opportunity to learn from him and make clothes for him. The work done by the Silai School women will be presented at Lakme Fashion week 2019.
USHA hopes they will be able to capitalise on this advantage and that their continued intervention will turn Puducherry into a strong contender in the silambam circuit of India
USHA has been persistently promoting local traditions and culture around the country, whether through traditional forms of art and craft or indigenous forms of spor
Yoga is practised worldwide by millions of people in many forms and variations. At its core, it is a mind-body practise combining physical posture, breathing techniques, and meditation for both health and relaxation
USHA has been joining hands with like minded partners as well as individuals to bring the benefits to as many women beneficiaries as possible
The North Western Railway Womens Welfare Organisation (NWRWWO) has been committed to working for the welfare of railway employees and their families. In addition to this Silai school, they have donated RO water plants and promoted sports in various regions
With the plastic ban in the state, the Meghalaya State Rural Livelihoods Society (MSRLS) saw this as an opportunity to curb pollution and create employment for women who could stitch cloth bags