In this connection the Vocational Training Institute of Andhra Mahila Sabha, Luz Church Road, Mylapore, had organised an Exhibition cum Sale of Artifacts of rural women entrepreneurs from 22.1108 to 24.11.08 sponsored by NABARD.
NABARD: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development is an apex body of Government and its main objective is to help Bank fund for rural development. NABARD gives the refinance in those cases. One of the main innovations of NABARD is formation and funding scheme of Self Help Group.
What is Self Help Group (SHG) ? Rural women with expertise in different avocation join together to form a group and select a leader amongst themselves. The banks will finance the group through the leader, and the other members get money commensurate to their small business output, profit. The leader maintains the accounts of each member and the loan is repaid by collecting from the sale proceeds realised by members.
This is only a broad outline of SHG. However SHG is one scheme which is extremely successful in India since its inception during 1991-92. The growth is incomparable to any other scheme and that can be assessed by the fact that some groups have Chairman, Secretary, cashier, treasurer etc. SHGs mainly consist of women groups but nowadays the facility extended to men groups also.
The main motto of Andhra Mahila Sabha, as they quote, is "Building better lives for women"
So these two organisatons, NABARD & AMS together organised the Exhibition cum Sale of artifacts of women entrepreneurs belonging to SHGs from different districts.
Shall we visit the stalls now?
Jothi of Malligai, Arasu Suya Uthavi Kuzu from Kanakamma Chathiram, Thiruvallur dist. is engaged in making artificial jewellery with stones. She gets the raw material from Gujarat and does nice ear rings, chains, anklets, hip belt used in Dandiya dance etc. Her contact No. 9840645649.Vasantham Mooligai Marundu Shop from Namakkal: All herbal products to treat obesity, allergy, hair fall, diabetes, constipation besides hair oil, massage oil, shampoo etc., were displayed. As there is general awareness among public for alternate medicine nowadays, people thronged this counter. Contact person P.Selvamani 94435 73225/9442792995.
Nehru SHG from Namakkal: Real nice quality cotton towels and bed spread spinned in their own power loom were exhibited and sold for nominal rate. The sale was overwhelming and they have bagged bulk orders from visitors.
Taramani Women SHG, Dharapuram: Beautiful garlands made of flowers from spongy packing materials of sober colors like rose, pista green, lemon yellow were displayed. Also a small mantap made of ice-stick and match stick with a Saraswathy idol inside looked perfect and artistic.
P. Rajeswari can be contacted on 9442922663.
There were also other fashion jewellery and artificial flower making stalls. Ms. Kamala Dhanasekharan from Mandaveli, Chennai can be contacted on 9380162037. She has a jewellery polishing shop at 56, V.C. Garden Street and belongs to Thendral SHG.
C.S.I. Embroidery Industry Natural Fibre Craft are from Kanyakumari District. Cushion covers, sofa covers, table spread, bed sheets materials are procured from the market in Karur and hand embroidered at the industry at Marthandam. Contact person Hebsibai Dharmaraj at 04651 270147. Hand bags and other baskets are made of natural fibre, a thriving craft and very typical of Kanyakumari. C.Thanga Jothi can be contacted at 94865 50922.
Out of 15 stalls only 2 from other state i.e., Andhra Pradesh.
One unique stall from Dharmavaram had exquisite designs carved on coloured leather. The designed piece can either be framed or fixed at any place with a cello tape. The contact persons from Dharmavaram Mr. Raju can be contacted at 99495 52185.
The other stall is the famous Kondapalli Doll Shop where the dolls are made of light wood with very artistic and realistic workmanship.
Madurai, Nellai, Kancheepuram, Rajapalayaman and Sivaganga had their representations.
Food for the participants for all 3 days was sponsored by NABARD and the accommodation and venue provided by Andhra Mahila Sabha.
What made Andhra Mahila Sabha to organise an exhibition like this? "We are bent upon the upliftment of poor women in the society" says Ms. Bhuvaneswari, the coordinator with a flicker in her eyes. How NABARD came into the picture? Tells Bhuvana, NABARD already sponsors their vocational training activity for computer education, car driving course and tailoring unit for women.
The entire show for three days was simple and the participants left satisfied having grabbed lucrative orders for the festive season ahead.
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