Raipur, 31 July 2020. The National Rural Livelihood Mission (Bihan) is changing the socio-economic life of rural women. Self-group women of village Salna in Kondagaon district are moving towards self-sufficiency by joining other traditional activities including fancy and eco-friendly rakhi construction. In the festive season of Rakshabandhan, the creation of colorful and simple friendly ash from these hands by these women has not only provided a new employment opportunity, but they are also happening. The same financial form is also becoming stronger. It is noteworthy that usually the first machine-made and outsourced ashes were sold. The self-help group women of Salna with their artistic interest explore a new means of self-employment in the festive season. Certainly, the effort to supply self-made ashes to local markets is a commendable step.
These rural women of Salna told that they have created beautiful and attractive queues by looking at the design in the internet and using local items. The marketing of handmade ashes has also received good response. Local shopkeepers have also shown keen interest in the purchase of these ashes. Member of Danteshwari Self Help Group, Smt. Preeti Soni and Devanti Netam told that the Chief Executive Officer of Janpad Panchayat Vishrampuri encouraged us to make Rakhi. A total of 10 self-help groups of Salna village have shown interest in constructing rakhi and now the ashes are also being made from locally available materials. Even eco-friendly rakhi has been made from products like refined cow dung and leaves of chisel trees. They have ashes ranging from five rupees to 35 rupees available. A target has been set to make three thousand rakhi by the groups. A local shopkeeper from Salna, Smt. Lakshmi Sethia, told that they used to ask for rakhi from outside to sell every year. This year, due to lockdown due to Kovid-19, they were having trouble in losing the ashes from outside. When they came to know that the women of the village are making rakhi with their own skills then some hope was raised and now many shopkeepers of other development blocks are also buying and selling rakhi from here.
After discussing with the women of the group, it was told that there are 50 groups in village Salna clusters and all these women apart from rakhi making, various jobs in the form of mask stitching, tree-guard construction, poultry goat rearing, mushroom production, dona leaf, mahua laddu Activities. This has also led to positive improvement in the economic condition of these women.
