UP's women self-help groups weaving success stories, thread by thread

With dusk fast settling over the skyline, a group of 10 women in Jangethi village near Meerut went into a quick huddle. Holding handmade baskets, which they had weaved after a hard day’s work, they then started negotiating a decent price.

And all this while they were also weaving something else -- plans on how they would spend their first earning.

“We will buy offerings for our gods and treats for kids from the first payment,” said one of them, as others happily nodded.

Eco Roots Foundation, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to environmental conservation, has formed a group of 20-25 women in the village, who make eco-friendly handmade items.

 

Babita, the leader of the pack, was busy negotiating the price with Vikram -- the NGO’s coordinator for Uttar Pradesh.

“You know the market rate… you tell the correct price for what we made,” insisted Babita.

The work involves extraction of water hyacinth from local water bodies, which is then cleaned and dried. The whole process takes 15 days, the women explained.

 

“We then weave and make items such as baskets, table mats,” said Vineeta.

After a brief training by the organisation, the women had started the work in February. Others came along later.

“Two women approached me, and asked me to join,” 62-year-old Rajesh said excitedly.

But there were challenges too.

“People would taunt us as we used to clean the ponds for the material. But, we kept trying,” recalled Monika.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) manifesto, released last week, pledged to facilitate women’s participation in the workforce. It also promised to empower three crore rural women to become Lakhpati Didis from one crore at present.

A different group of women in the same village specialise in stitching leather balls, a tradition passed down through generations.

“My mother used to make these balls around 25 years ago,” said 23-year-old Shalu.

Sitting in sunlight on a cot, three women were stitching on the equator of leather balls. Another observed with eagerness, she wants to learn.

Urmila, with two decades of experience, said that they get Rs 30 for stitching a ball. “Depending on how many balls we complete in a day, we get the total amount every Sunday.”

Uttar Pradesh has 848,810 such self-help groups with 9,580,275 members.

There is a potential of 438,590 Lakhpati Didis in the state, according to the Ministry of Rural Development.

Out of 1.2 crore self-help groups (SHGs) in the country, 88 per cent are women groups, according to the Economic Survey 2022-23.

But in neighbouring Muzaffarnagar district’s Noornagar village, some women claimed that government schemes don’t reach them.

“We work in the fields whenever there is a requirement,” one of them said. The daily wage is Rs 250, but not delivered on time, she added.

Both my daughters have gone to the field and not returned yet, said 30-year-old Shalini (name changed).

“If the government can give work, which we can do from our homes, that will be helpful,” the women said.

But there is hope going forward.

The women labour force participation rate (LFPR) increased to 10.3 per cent in 2023-24 compared to 8.7 per cent in the year before. The LFPR for women in rural areas increased from 9.7 per cent to 10.8 per cent in the same period, according to the data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).