The story of the struggle of more than 750 Pak refugee Dalit women from Rajasthan’s Barmer district, situated on the Indo-Pak border, has become an example. None of these women even saw the face of the school, never even opened a book, but today these women run a company of their own. These women are also included in the board of directors of this company and so are the shareholders of the company. He has his own Purchasing Department and is also the Sales Executive of his company. These women do all the work from buying raw materials, making products and marketing them to negotiating.
Being from the Dalit community, these women were once a victim of social exploitation, then after the Indo-Pak partition, first in Pakistan and then after returning to India, they faced the pain of displacement. But even all these difficulties could not break him. On the basis of their skills, these women not only do household chores, but have also become a strong financial pillar to support their families.
The name of the company of these women is Thar Artisan Producer Company. 750 women members of this company are handicraft artisans. These women have migrated from Sindh region of Pakistan and settled in India. The distinctive style of handicrafts of Sindh is famous all over the world and the handicrafts of Sindh region of Pakistan are in great demand in the fashion world.
Earlier middlemen used to eat a large part of the hard work
Even after being so skilled, till some time ago these women were dependent on middlemen for wages. A large part of their labor was consumed by middlemen. The company’s executive director Zarina said that due to handicraft being an unorganized industry, its artisans did not get full remuneration. The middlemen used to take maximum benefit in this, but after forming the company, the role of middlemen ended and the goods have started reaching the people directly from the artisans. For example, earlier, artisans used to get five to six rupees per cover for making a cushion cover through a middleman. Now the artisan is getting 25 rupees as remuneration for the same cushion cover. Earlier, middlemen used to eat about twenty rupees, which are now available directly to the artisans. Apart from this, there is also a share in the profits.
‘Never thought I would become a director of the company’
65-year-old Safiyat, one of the company’s 10 directors, told that his family had settled in India from Pakistan in 1980. Safiat said that she never thought that one day she would become a director in a company. According to Safaiyat, she was just 14 years old when her family left Pakistan. His family migrated from Minau village of Sindh province of Pakistan to India. Initially, her family took refuge in refugee camps. Safiat tells that they were completely helpless after reaching India. They had neither a house to live in, nor any means of earning. Whatever they had was left in Pakistan. He came to India empty handed. The only thing he had in common was his skill, his craftsmanship.
‘Now you get the full price of hard work’
According to the Safiyat middlemen took full advantage of their condition, illiteracy and needs. “We didn’t get anything for our hard work,” he said. After doing household chores, we used to do handicraft work for 5 to 7 hours a day, but we hardly got 5 to 10 rupees as wages, whereas the middleman used to earn 20 to 25 rupees on our hard work. But now we get these 20 rupees also to women artisans. Apart from this, a share in the profits of the company is also available. Simply put, we now get the full price for our hard work.
NABARD cooperated
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is supporting and supporting this initiative of women. According to the local officials of NABARD, this is the first project of NABARD in the country. NABARD gave financial assistance of Rs 92 lakh to this company for three years, after which the company will have to become self-reliant. Officials said the company has been allotted the first installment of Rs 12 lakh. In addition, NABARD will help women artisans to upgrade their traditional skills, provide technical support and connect with the market.
Income increased five times after forming the company
A local NGO, Sure, gave an identity to the talent of these women. Over the years, Sure has been working to bring these women products to various platforms in the country and abroad, but now it has taken a big initiative towards making them self-reliant by forming their own company. Lata Kachhwah, Joint Secretary of Sure said that all the members of Thar Artisan Producer Company Limited are artisan women. Kachhwah said that these women are expert in handicraft work but they are not aware of other aspects of the market including marketing. For this, Sure Sanstha and NABARD took the initiative. Sure Implementation Agency and NABARD Financial Facilitator. To explain this entire strategy, so far 8 skill training and 6 designing training have been conducted for these women. It taught various aspects including marketing, booking as per the current demand.