The Hindu : New Delhi News : Women join hands for economic upliftment

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 06, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Women join hands for economic upliftment

By Sarabjit Pandher

CHANDIGARH, JUNE 5. The Northern Region of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration the Voluntary Health Association of Punjab (VHAP) organised a workshop in the rural areas to highlight the immense potential of women to act as agents of change in society. The programme was part of CII's community outreach efforts, which were displayed in the innocuous Bhoj Palasra village, tucked away in the Morni Hills near here.

The workshop on the creation of compost saw the remarkable spirit come to the fore, as around 25-30 rural women enthusiastically joined hands to construct two models for generating organic compost in their village.

The project is the latest in the series of initiatives undertaken by CII in the Bhoj Palasra cluster of villages. The creation of women's self-help groups, youth clubs, tailoring and sewing classes, midwife (dai) training courses, construction of a water tank with pipes to carry potable water to the village and regular health camps are some of the activities initiated by CII. The effort is to make some difference to the lives of the residents of this 50-house village, which, though located physically merely an hour-and-half away from Chandigarh, is a world away in terms of amenities and development.

According to a CII release, the project demonstrated to the women how they could themselves utilise easily available local raw materials like cow dung and biomass to simply and scientifically create a valuable resource - organic manure. This manure, free of harmful chemicals or toxins, and rich in nutrients, could then be used in their fields, or sold in the market, to generate additional income.

In this, the pilot demonstration project, faculty U.N. Roy from the Department of Rural Development, National Institute of Technical Teachers' Training & Research, (NITTTR) Chandigarh, took the women through the enterprise, step by step. After an informal ice breaking session, the villagers were shown a couple of video films on the benefits of using organic compost, and two simple techniques of creating such a resource themselves.

A festive atmosphere prevailed in the village as the women and children embarked on first the construction of the brick pits and then filling them with locally available refuse.

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