As India moves towards making its cities more citizen friendly and sustainable, under its Smart Cities Mission, its rural counterparts are bracing for challenges of a different kind. In 2015, the government put forth the Smart Villages plan of converting a cluster of 300 villages into smart villages. But the issues faced in villages are very different from the urban stress points. Quality of life, education, healthcare, environment and employment are the most prominent challenges in the rural belt. The sleepy village of Mori has emerged as Andhra Pradesh's first smart village. Even as elsewhere people struggle with digital payments, Mori has a digital panchayat. Under the smart village initiative, focus has been on the underprivileged women to ensure that they are provided with resources to become self-reliant. It is here that partnerships with ventures like the Usha Silai School have helped. Today not just women but also some men have benefitted from the Silai school programme and instead of looking for livelihood outside the village or state, have created better job opportunities not just for themselves but also others in the community.
Kushalta Ke Kadam, an initiative undertaken in collaboration by NDTV and USHA, aims at empowering women from rural India and encourages to become financially independent. It motivates them to become entrepreneurs by taking up sewing and training others in their respective communities.
Since 2011, Usha Silai Campaign has trained more than 8 lakh women from rural areas, with over 26,878 Silai schools, spanning over 15,689 villages across India.
Kushalta Ke Kadam in Season 6 has returned with new goals, vision, and many new success stories. The new season will witness the establishment of the new partnerships with government, corporate and institutions.It celebrates the omen who sustained during the pandemic when the world economy was collapsing, when people were losing their jobs.
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.
USHA hopes they will be able to capitalise on this advantage and that their continued intervention will turn Puducherry into a strong contender in the silambam circuit of India
USHA has been persistently promoting local traditions and culture around the country, whether through traditional forms of art and craft or indigenous forms of spor
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USHA has been joining hands with like minded partners as well as individuals to bring the benefits to as many women beneficiaries as possible
The North Western Railway Womens Welfare Organisation (NWRWWO) has been committed to working for the welfare of railway employees and their families. In addition to this Silai school, they have donated RO water plants and promoted sports in various regions
With the plastic ban in the state, the Meghalaya State Rural Livelihoods Society (MSRLS) saw this as an opportunity to curb pollution and create employment for women who could stitch cloth bags