With Usha Silai School's Support, Women From The Northeast Make It To The East India Fashion Week

Kushalta Ke Kadam, an initiative by NDTV and Usha, has entered its eight year, with the aim of empowering women from rural India by enabling them on the path of self-sufficiency. This time it is going to villages near border areas, villages tucked away in remote regions, to give the power of livelihood to women through a sewing machine. One of the women empowered by the initiative is Durgarani, an Usha Silai School entrepreneur from a small village in the Pakyong district of East Sikkim. Durgarani's transformative journey began when a sewing machine entered her home, at the time when the country was hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Like others, Durgarani and her family were compelled to stay home as per the lockdown rules. But she utilised this time watching tutorial videos on YouTube on how to make masks at home.

At that time, I did not have a sewing machine. So, I started by cutting the cloth and sewing it by hand. This is how I got associated with sewing and created several masks.

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In 2022, Durgarani got an opportunity to turn her sewing skills into a livelihood. At the time, Usha and SIDBI organised a nine-day special master sewing and stitching training programme, at the Viswa Vinayaka Temple in the Rhenock Block. The members of the panchayat gave Durgarani's name, as they were aware of her interest in sewing. Her simple experiment of learning to stitch through YouTube videos, took her into the world of sewing and the Usha Silai School programme. Talking about her experience, Durgarani said,

We all stayed at the training centre. We used to stitch till late at night as we were so interested in learning the skills as much as we could in those nine days. It was Shukla and Renuka ma'am who taught us sewing and stitching.

Now, in her journey of becoming an entrepreneur, Durgarani will travel to Gangtok, where she will open doors to the world of garment designing and craftsmanship. Another beneficiary of the Usha Silai School is Lalita Rai, a native of the Agrigaon village in Pakyong district. She was also selected for the special sewing training programme when a team from Usha Silai School visited her village. She is now an Usha Silai School entrepreneur. Ms Rai was one of the 25 women from her ward to be selected for the special training programme. But she was sceptical of joining the programme while handling the house chores. But it was her daughter, Sarika, who gave her confidence to attend the Usha training. Later, Ms Rai and other women signed a contract with the government to make school uniforms, on which they worked for two months.

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This not only increased the confidence of Ms Rai and other women, but it also led to the opportunity to take part in East India Fashion Week in Guwahati, Assam in April 2023. The fashion week was curated by the Northeast India Fashion and Design Council. It showcased the craftsmanship of women who trained in the Usha Silai School centre. Durgarani and Lalita Rai were among the 10 women, from Sikkim, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, and Mizoram, to collaborate with five renowned designers to create garments which were showcased at the fashion week. Talking about the partnership, Rakesh Sharma, Chief Executive Officer of East India Fashion Week 2023, said,

We wanted to give these women tailors from Usha Silai School an opportunity to understand not just tailoring, but the whole business of garment. We recognised top five designers from North-East India, including Tersing Dolma from Sikkim, and Nandini Barua from Assam, among others and collaborated with the tailors of Usha Silai School to create a collection to show in the Fashion Week.

Talking about her experience at the fashion week, Durgarani said,

I never imagined that I would come this far. We got to participate in this event because of Usha Silai School, which made something out of nothing with us.

The journey Durgani and Lalita Rai have undertaken to get to the fashion week from their district of Pakyong goes beyond a simple trip of 500 kilometres. Salam Thoibi Devi, from the Moirang Village of Manipur is another beneficiary of the Usha Silai School. She was one of the 10 women, who participated in the fashion week, Talking about her experience, she said,

Usha Silai School is the reason why I am standing here today. The fashion week helped me to show the world my creativity through my products.

Medha Saikia, Founder and President of North East India Fashion and Design Council, said,

This year we have partnered with Usha  Silai School, and it's really working for us because Usha promotes working with rural women, providing them sustainable livelihood, training them, giving them the push to start their own venture.

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Talking about the significance of such associations, Saikat Naskar, Regional Manager, North East Usha International Limited, said,

The importance of such association is that the women have shared their desire that in future they want to open their own brands, their own labels and they have a dream to have their own collections which they want to launch and they have that kind of energy and that kind of creative talent with them. So this is a platform through which they can showcase their talent and the learnings which they have taken up through the Usha Silai School training, this is the opportunity through which they can show that they can take their learnings to the next level.

Alok Shukla, Senior General Manager, Usha Silai Services, said,

This exposure will help the women to earn their way better through sewing and stitching. And with this kind of association, they are getting engagement with designers. As part of the Silai School program, they are actually sewing and stitching input but this kind of association, they are actually getting designing input as well.

The East India Fashion Week not only provided a strong platform for women from the Usha Silai School, but going forward, it will also extend the reach of Usha's programme in the Northeast region. Mary Rupa Tete, Vice President, Usha Silai School Services, said,

The idea was for women to gain the understanding of what fashion is, what design and quality is all about and work closely with the best designers of the country. The main object was to create a platform where women just don't stay at the livelihood level, but also get the opportunity to design and make their own collections. That is the future of Silai School and it has already started unfolding.

The East India Fashion Week featured more than 30 designers, which gave the women of the Usha Silai school a great opportunity to connect with industry experts, helping them get a sense of the fashion industry and market trends to these budding women entrepreneurs.

Fashion Designer Nandini Baruah, one of the designers to collaborate with the women of Usha Silai School, said that she was glad to be associated with the cause that works towards the upliftment of women.

Meghna Rai, another designer, said,

It was quite interesting for me to work with these ladies who had come over and they tried to understand what I was trying to explain to them. They took a deep interest in learning so I felt nice working with them. It was a good experience and overall till now it is good and yeah we are looking for more.

The partnership between Usha Silai School and East India Fashion Week has created an opportunity for Silai School Women entrepreneurs to gain hands-on industry experience, and expand their work opportunities. These women are writing their story not with a paper and a pen but with a simple piece of cloth, a needle and some thread. They are amongst the thousands of women who have gained financial independence and opportunities all because they learned how to stitch and sew. Truly Kushalta Ke Kadam.

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