Karnataka   

Carving a niche for themselves

Gaining ground: Women busy selling their products at an exhibition-cum-sale event in Chitradurga on Monday.

Chitradurga: “Since my husband runs a small-time business, it has been difficult for us to meet both ends. But, on becoming a member of a self-help-group, our financial position improved. Now, I can earn Rs. 2,000 a month by selling various products,” said D. Vachana.

For the past two years, Ms. Vachana has been a member of the Chitra self-help-group of the city, which is involved in garment making. She does embroidery and knitting work.

Several such women are participating in a two-day exhibition-cum-sale programme here called “Gramina Sogadu,” being organised for self-help-groups by the Pragati Gramin Bank, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), and Initiative for Development Foundation (IDF), a non-governmental organisation.

The event, which is aimed at providing opportunities for these women to market their products, began here on Monday at Vasavi Hall. As many as 44 self-help-groups from Chitradurga and neighbouring districts such as Davangere are participating in the event. “Through the exhibition, we wish to provide them the opportunity to market their products.

There are various self-help-groups involved in manufacturing products, but owing to lack of a good marketing system, they have not been able to make substantial profits,” said IDF district coordinator M.G. Sridhar.

He said that with the exhibitions, manufacturers received access to a wider clientele and even got large-scale orders.

Vijay Kumar, district coordinator of MIRADA, a non-governmental organisation, which has set up shop here, said the district had over 8,000 self-help-groups which were into various income-generating activities.

He said many women were involved in making eatables, fancy items, incense sticks, candles and toys. About the marketing system, he said since very few such groups manufactured products in bulk, they were mainly sold at the local market. NABARD had extended financial aid to the women for setting up outlets at the local level, he added.

Chandrashekar Shetty, director of RUDSET, which is involved in training the self-help-groups, said the organisation trained over 400 women every year in fields such as tailoring, beauty treatment and the manufacture of incense sticks.

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