Kushalta ke Kadam: Aiming for Independence Through Stitching
Rebari girls grow up learning traditional embroidery, which along with their new found sewing skills developed at Usha Silai Schools, is helping them earn a living.
Usha Silai School has empowered many rural women to support their family and send their children to school.
The Usha Silai School, established in a small nondescript village that goes by the name of Kottai, is helping empower people from varied communities.
The all-inclusive Usha Silai School Programme covers the entire nation from hamlets tucked between hills to villages cast by the sea.
Vegetables farmers from the Mizoram hills earn very little given the topography of the area. Usha Silai Schools have played an important part in this region by skilling women to financially contribute towards their households.
Usha Silai School learner Lucy has trained seven other women in her community, helping them to become financially independent.
Women like Kaviben from the nomadic Rebari community are finally laying down their roots as they begin to gain financial independence and thereby stability through Usha Silai School.
Usha Silai School, located in the Gujarat's Bhuj village, is enabling rural women to earn as much as Rs. 2,500-4,000 each month.
Usha Silai School, in association with a Gujarat based NGO called Kala Raksha, is trying to bring about a Silai revolution in Bhuj.
Besides training other women from their community, many Usha Silai School learners have become entrepreneurs in their own right.
With sewing becoming easily accessible and lucrative, the silai schools are also helping revive traditional motifs and designs.
Team NDTV | Wednesday January 07, 2026From Madhya Pradesh's stigma to Bihar's child marriages, Usha Silai School's NDTV-backed Kushalta Ke Kadam empowers women like Kalpana and Shabnam to stitch dignity and self-reliance
- Written by Team NDTV | Friday January 02, 2026
Usha Silai Schools give second chances to women like Srinagar's Marifat, who rebuilt after widowhood; Madhya Pradesh's Jyoti, escaping abuse to run her own center; and Rajasthan's Vimla, rising from child marriage to tailor and teacher. Through nine-day training, they gain sewing skills, confidence, and income proving one stitch mends lives and inspires communities.
- Team NDTV | Friday December 26, 2025
A new wave of corporate-community partnerships is equipping rural women with skills, income and confidence
- Written by Team NDTV | Friday December 12, 2025
USHAs Silai School Programme empowers women across India by turning sewing into independence. Women become trainers and leaders, transforming their lives and communities through skills, confidence, and income
- Written by Team NDTV | Thursday December 11, 2025
USHA Silai School is empowering women across India by turning sewing skills into leadership and income. Women like Lalita, Yashira, and Pushpakala have become mentors, reviving traditions and building stronger communities. Their stories show how one skill can weave a brighter future.
- Written by Team NDTV | Wednesday December 10, 2025
From homemaker to celebrated teacher, Lakhi Debnath transformed her life via Usha Silai School, funding her daughters' education and buying land through tailoring
