Developing skills among women that can help them become financially independent is a common objective of both the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) family Welfare Association (CWA) and the USHA Silai school program. Therefore, CWA and USHA have collaborated to skill and generate income prospects for the families of CRPF personnel. India's largest paramilitary force the CRPF has CWA (CRPF family welfare association) came into existence in 1995 to look after the welfare of these families as the men being away on duty cannot pay enough attention to their home front. The USHA-CWA partnership aims to help in their socio-economic empowerment. Under this partnership, USHA Silai training centres are being established in 12 locations of CRPF for the wives and widows of CRPF jawans.
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Sharmishta Mohanty, President, CRPF family Welfare Center said,
We work for the welfare of women. Our group, the CRPF Wives Welfare Association, or CAWA organises a lot of programmes for the wives. Since their husbands are mostly on field postings, the women get a lot of free time at home. When they get training, they are capable of earning an income of their own, they become independent. It also keeps them busy. We also provide computer training in CAWA. We organise stress relief programmes as well by calling guests. We also provide banking information. We organised training for senior citizens on digital banking, which was very beneficial for them.
Mary Rupa Tete, Vice President, USHA Social Services said that India is all about the masses and to reach the masses one needs to have support from the government agencies. She added,
In today's scenario also we have a lot of government agencies who are willing to and are looking for opportunities to work with women in rural areas, they are looking at skilling opportunities, and they are also looking at self-sustaining let's say micro-enterprises so that the women or the rural masses can sustain on their own. Which would also help to check migration to a great extent. I think on that front USHA Silai School platform offers a very customised solution for that. Women have been able to open Silai Schools and then we have also helped many government agencies set up production cum training centres we have customised the models as per their needs. Some corporates even wanted some government agencies also wanted uniforms to be made for the school children as well as their own employees, that is also being done.
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According to Rajeev Rai, DIG, CRPF, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, the CWA has been running several projects and now they have tied up with USHA International as well for giving specialised training to the women family members who are staying in the campus. He said,
We will be giving specialised training in designing of women clothing, children clothing. So that they can get themself trained and in future, they can train others also. In this way, they can get empowered and have an additional income of their own.
Currently, 15 ladies are being trained, according to Ms Mohanty. She added that there are many women who are interested in the training, but they will be trained later. These 15 women will be given advanced training. After that, three women will be selected to be trained as master trainers. After getting trained, they can start training other women and earn money for themselves.
This skill development program is now a rewarding partnership at 12 locations, one of them the CRPF's base in Bhuvaneshwar, Odisha. 40- 50 women were thoroughly assessed and of these only 15 women were selected to enhance their sewing skills. USHA has provided one of its best trainers to further train these 15 women. Pravati Khuntia, Sewing School Inspectress said,
There were 40 to 50 ladies, of whom we have chosen 15. They already have some knowledge of stitching, and will be given advanced training. The course material has been designed accordingly for them. This training will be on advanced machines, like the RSM machine and UJ machine. We are starting a Training and Production centre here. We will focus more on uniforms, and also on ladies' garments, designer blouses, frocks and salwar suits. So, we will focus on these and also teach the other basic items. They will also be taught how to make items of home furnishing, like cushion covers, bags. Everything will be taught to them. We start today, it is our first day. We will start with petticoats and lehengas, and we will also teach them how to make masks. Theory, drafting, paper cutting and then stitching will be taught.
CRPF welfare association in partnership with USHA has provided a sewing machine to each woman. This is an advanced level production training of the selected Silai Heroes and for 15 days they will follow a set syllabus that has targets and goals to be achieved and a level of proficiency to be attained. Ms Khuntia said.
Our journey with the CRPF has been really good, right from the start. The women who are coming here for training seem very interested, and it feels good to see that. We have a fixed target, that we want to make these women perfect in making ladies' garments and stitching uniforms. Most of our training is around school uniforms, but this is a CRPF base, so here we will teach them how to stitch those uniforms. Our target is to teach them how to stitch these perfectly.
The women of CRPF are learning a new thing each day. For some, the training is the utilisation of spare time while for others it is a chance to make name for themselves. Nirupama Parida, Silai Hero said,
Whenever I get free time, I stitch. I get a lot of free time. When the men are not at home, we are idle, and it gets very boring. So, I thought of stitching. My children have grown up, so in my free time, I thought of stitching. There is no point wasting one's time with mobile phones or chatting here and there. It's better to stitch something.
This is not the only centre, CRPF-Central Reserve Police Force in partnership with USHA established training and production centres in 12 different locations of CRPF bases for the wives and widows of CRPF personal. So far 90 women in total have been trained and certified from six centres in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. And the women of other centres will soon get the same exposure because the partnership is getting stronger day by day and there will be more stories of hope and empowerment that will continue to unfold here.
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