USHA And Public Sector Undertakings Come Together To Create A Pool Of Opportunities For Women In Need

The state of Jharkhand has one of the richest coal belts of the country. Popularly known as ‘Black Gold', the coal from Jharkhand feed power station across India to produce electricity that lights up millions of homes. However, many people living and working in the coalfields have been facing poverty and are struggling to put food on the table. With an aim to help these families overcome their day-to-day financial battles, a Public Sector Undertaking called Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI) has collaborated with USHA International Limited to set up 20 Silai Schools around the mining areas in Dhanbad district of Jharkhand.

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Sunita Devi, a tribal woman from Paduki village in Dhanbad, is one of the thousands of coal belt residents for whom getting two square meals a day is a daily fight. A widow, she has two children to look after as well as old parents. When an opportunity arose to sign up for USHA's first training centre in collaboration with CMPDI, she took it with a hope of changing her life for better.

My husband passed away a few years ago after which I started sewing to provide for my two children. I had a small machine and could not do much with it. The Silai School has helped me learn the skill of stitching. USHA and CMPDIL have not only given me a bigger machine but also better skills and confidence and has opened new opportunities for me.. We are now being trained so we can open our own schools and train other women to earn an income.

She further said that the new sewing machine has come as a blessing for her as she was facing difficulty in using an old machine because of the pain she suffers resulting from a fracture.

As Sunita takes up the journey of becoming an entrepreneur after being a struggling seamstress for long, she targets to double her income and help her children get a better education.

Not only Sunita, but the other women at the Silai School set up by USHA-CMPDI in Dhanbad also dream about giving their children a good education and a better life. The trainers at this centre understand this dream of their learners and are focused on teaching them to make things that are high in demand like masks during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Naveen Kumar, Assistant Manager, Community Development, Nodal Officer, CSR, CMPDI, the enterprise wishes to expand the outreach under this initiative. He said,

Women account for half of our population and one aim is to increase their social and financial contribution to our society ..We need to figure out how to engage women in business-related activities. USHA has been doing this for years but it's a pilot project for us ..We will do a follow-up and see what impact it has on villages in their localities. We will take an assessment of the ground situation and execute such models in other places too.

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Acknowledging the USHA Silai School initiative, Shekhar Sharan, chairman and MD, CMPDI said that with the help of USHA, 20 women from Govindpur block were given a machine and training. He said,

It was an effort to make these women independent and to help them. This was one initiative taken up in Govindpur area of Dhanbad, but such programs have also happened in CMPDI Ranchi campus. We will keep trying to take this initiative forward. We will keep trying to help more people and communicate our message across masses. This is a very small effort. Like every drop makes an ocean, similarly, we are doing whatever little we can. If every person and every organisation works towards this goal, we will definitely be able to leave a mark and will be successful in uplifting people from the lower-income groups.

Along with its partnership with a Public Sector Undertaking in Jharkhand, USHA collaborated with another PSU named National Building Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC) in the adjoining state of Odisha. The aim remains the same- to help women upgrade their skill and become financially independent.

A training centre was set up under this partnership in Rourkela, the industrial district of Odisha, known for its steel factory and, in the adjoining Saranda forest, the country's biggest iron ore deposits. Itwari Minsh, a resident of Dalposh village of Rourkela is a learner at NBCC-USHA's training centre. Even though she earlier had a difficult life, she never gave up hope. After joining the training along with other women, Itwari, a mother of two teenagers and a wife to daily wage labour, is an entrepreneur.

 Shanti Kholda is another woman who benefitted from this initiative. She said,

I come from Soldha block and I have two brothers and three sisters. I came here to learn to sew so that I can earn something for my family when I get back. The problem is that my father cannot do any work now so how will he run the house? That is why I am learning a new skill.

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All the learners in the sewing training centre will be supervised for about a year by trainers so that they make the most of their learnings. While sharing about the training programme, a trainer at this centre said,

This program spans over 12 days. We teach the learner the fundamentals of sewing and help them build confidence. With this program, they develop a pattern and learn something new. Under this collaboration, women are given machines that they can take home. We monitor these women and even visit them regularly. We see if the women have any other needs or need advanced training or if they want any guidance. We provide it to them.

According to MB Appa Rao, General Manager Incharge, CSR, Rourkela steel plant all the trainees, 45 people have been selected from the main impact area of the steel plant.

In this training, they are learning how to assemble the machine, how to fix the machine and after that, they are also given the training for teaching skills, for making ladies' garment, gents' garment and embroidery, he said.

Explaining further Paritosh Goyal, General Manager NBCC said,

A super speciality hospital is being constructed under the supervision of the Ministry of Steel and Steel Authority of India here in Rourkela. Under their CSR project, the government has decided to provide training in sewing to 90 women in total. This is being done to bring more employment in tribal villages, so women can learn and can do something in life. Not only will this project generate employment, but it will also help them improve their lifestyle and livelihood.

While talking about USHA's Silai School initiative, Rupa Tete, Vice President, USHA International Limited said that the organisation is looking after 10 states and one union territory of which they have made a breakthrough in the state of Odisha. She said,

Through government and USHA social service department's partnership, here we have done a partnership with NBCC and other stakeholder is Rourkela steel plant. What we are targeting here is skilling of 90 poor women from various villages and slums in and around Rourkela area. USHA's technical team will be intensively working with these poor women ensure they acquire all sewing skills and they're able to go back to their respective villages and earn through the skills they have acquired through this training.

Ms Tete signed off by saying that it was encouraging to see the positive response of Odisha government and public officials.

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