The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Drive to train women in garment production

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Sunday, Feb 10, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Drive to train women in garment production

K. Manikandan

To help them set up units at proposed park

PHOTO: A.Muralitharan

SEWING FOR A LIVING: Women members of self-help groups undergoing training at Urapakkam near Tambaram on Wednesday. —

TAMBARAM: The Handloom Export Promotion Council (HEPC), the Tamil Nadu Women’s Development Corporation (TNWDC) and the Kancheepuram district administration have come together to train rural women living below the poverty line in garment production. The project aims to help women set up their own units in the proposed industrial park in Urapakkam, about 10 km from Tambaram.

At present, 30 women from self-help groups in Urapakkam and nearby villages of Kattankulathur panchayat union are being trained in garment production and pattern making. They will be skilled enough to stitch skirts, ‘churidhars,’ shirts, etc., by the end of the month.

A senior HEPC official said that the objective behind launching the training programme along with ‘Mahalir Thittam’ of the TNWDC was to impart skills to women so they could make handloom finished products. It also desired to create a cluster of skilled workforce and establish linkages between SHG women and member exporters of the Council.

G.N.R. Kumar, president of Urapakkam village panchayat, where the training is currently on, said that it was proposed to create a workforce of 300 women trained in tailoring in the Federation of Women SHGs in their panchayat alone.

The Kancheepuram district administration had given its nod to construct the industrial park in Kilaambakkam within their panchayat limits and the proposal was to enable skilled women set up their own units or at least be an integral part in the linkages with the HEPC’s member exporters, Mr. Kumar said.

Such a venture would considerably increase the quality of life of these women, who were deprived of income because of the agrarian crisis and could not be employed by the construction industry.

HEPC officials said that while they had specified the course content for the training programme, the funding and infrastructure were looked after by Mahalir Thittam and the Kancheepuram district administration.

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