“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,” said Rekhamoni Bora, a 45-year-old resident of a village is in Dibrugarh district of Assam. 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.
With an aim to help the women like Rekhamoni Bora 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.
It was when NEEPCO in partnership with USHA came forward to support her family as part of their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) programme that Ms. Bora got to know about the silai school. She appeared for the interview and got selected. While speaking to NDTV she said,
I was always interested in tailoring. I took lessons but couldn't complete my course as commuting was a problem. After my marriage in 2016, I trained under the USHA Silai programme. I undertook a seven-day course. I learnt a lot. I also received a certificate and a banner to open my own Silai school which I opened in my house. I have 15-20 students. We charge a fee of Rs. 300 from every student. I also get a lot of orders so I am able to earn a decent income.
Manorama Deka Sonowal, a resident of Kathalguri village in Dibrugarh district of Assam is another beneficiary of NEEPCO-USHA partnership. Ms. Sonowal had to discontinue her studies during the second year of her graduation and was married off. Her husband, who is a driver by profession was not earning much and the situation became stressful after the birth of their daughter. Ms. Sonowal started tutoring some children in the village from which she was able to earn only Rs. 1,000. On a fateful day, she met a member of the panchayat of her village and expressed her willingness to set up a tailoring unit. So when NEEPCO approached the village to train women stitching, the panchayat member submitted her name as one of the beneficiaries. After taking the residential training for seven days at NEEPCO auditorium, she not started her own Silai School but also took stitching as her profession. Robin Sonowal, Husband Of Manorama Sonowal, husband of Ms. Sonowal said,
Earlier I was the only earning member in the family. My meagre income could only feed us, and we could manage to save. Ever since my wife took sewing lessons, she has been contributing to the family income. She earns half. I earn the rest. We are doing well now. She uses her income to build our house, I use mine to feed our family. One person's earnings were not enough to meet our financial needs.
Along with women in Dibrugarh district, USHA Silai School is also training women in Morigaon district of Assam. In Morigaon, USHA had partnered with Dalima Bharat Foundation. This partnership aims to open 20 silai schools across the district. Benefitting from this 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. This training and production centre has become a source of livelihood and hopes for women in this remote village as they did not have any other source of livelihood before USHA Silai School started its initiative. Women, at this centre, are being provided with training on stitching clothes for men, women and children along with uniforms for schools and corporations. Nishant Shrivastava, Vice President, Alfa Laval said,
Alfa Laval and USHA have tried to set up a sustainable model so that these women can learn and earn their living from here otherwise they were just doing paddy cultivation here.
For some women like Ashwini Hemant Gore, the centre is almost an hour's walk from her home but she makes it to the place, in time, everyday to learn and earn. He said,
Living in this village causes a lot of problems for my children. They face difficulties with their studies. I decided that if I do something then my children will benefit from it. I have spent my life in this area but at least I can provide my children an education and send them to city. I can make dresses. I used to stitch blouses but I didn't know how to stitch dresses nor pants and shirts. I learned all that after joining the training programme. I earn around Rs. 8,000-Rs. 9,000 per month. USHA and Alfa Laval have helped me a lot.
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