The livelihood models created by
Development Alternatives are yet to catch on in drought-stricken
Bundelkhand villages.
For Uma and Sudha, residents of villages near Orchha, the headquarters
of Tikamgarh district in Madhya Pradesh, economic opportunity 12 years
ago was limited to menial jobs such as agricultural labours or helping
their husbands at their daily chores. Now, an NGO's intervention helps
them earn Rs 1,600 to 2,000 a month even as the drought-hit district is
facing poverty and migration of population.
Both the women, along with 60 others, work at a paper manufacturing
unit at TARAgram, the hub of operations of NGO Development Alternatives
(DA). DA’s TARAgram aims at providing sustainable livelihood to the
villagers through sustainable business models which are meant for
employment as well as for replication. While a few people are getting
jobs in these units set up by TARAgrams, there is hardly any
replication putting a question mark on the whole initiative.
In the Bundelkhand area, there are, at least, three TARAgrams covering
115 villages in three blocks on the border of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya
Pradesh. There is a TARAgram in Newari block in Tikamgarh district,
another in Dantia block of Dantia district, both in Madhya Pradesh and
one in Pahuj block in Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh.
In Tikamgarh, there is the paper manufacturing unit employing 60 people
besides a tile and brick manufacturing unit using fly ash, a fertiliser
unit using cow-dung and a biomass-based energy unit generating 100 kw
of power that lights up the TARAgram campus.
These enterprises are not being replicated in the poverty stricken
villages but the immediate beneficiaries — the employees — are happy
with the extra money that has trickled into their lives.
“The earnings from the paper manufacturing unit has helped me educate
my children,” said Sudha, who looks after quality control at the unit.
“We take care of the accuracy of measurements of various sizes of
paper. Also, we ensure that the bundling and packaging is done in a
proper manner,” she added.
Speaking on how the earnings have brought about a change in her
livelihood, Uma, who also works in the unit said: “I am educating my
children. The earnings have helped me get my daughter married.”
Uma, who now owns a house in Azadpura village, does not complain about
the meagre pay.
The unique aspect of the unit lies in the fact that it does not use
wood for manufacturing paper. “The procurement of waste cloth is done
from Tirupur in South India, which is a hosiery industry hub in south
India. Their waste is our wealth,” said Ragwesh Ranjan, associate
programme manager, DA.
The consumer base of the papers manufactured here includes various
institutional clients, including Jiwaji University, TERI, Army, and
Nabard, among others. “The Jiwaji University, Gwalior, offers its
degree certificates on the papers manufactured by us. During the last
five years, the earnings of the unit has been between Rs 50 lakh and Rs
55 lakh. We are expecting it to be around Rs 60 lakh this year,” he
added.
Other livelihood activities at TARAgram include micro concrete roofing
tiles. This section employs 13 labourers and 4 supervisors. “Tiles are
manufactured here using the dust of crushing sector. We use their waste
as our raw material,” said a labourer, adding that the work pays him in
the range of Rs 2000 to Rs 2600 per month.
Another livelihood initiative at the Tikamgarh TARAgram is Goshala,
where women rear cows and use the dung to manufacture fertilisers using
worms. The fertiliser is then packed to be sold in the market. A
cluster of women SHG Sankalp Swashakti Mahila Mandal manages it.
“We have got training to make fertiliser using worms and are trying to
replicate it in our villages,” said Sarju of village Bagan. There are
367 women SHGs in the 115 villages having a total membership of 4608
women. The cumulative savings so far of these groups have been Rs 45
lakh, the DA workers say.
Q&A: Ashok Khosla
Total number of TARAgrams in the
country?
Three
What is the total budget for the
project?
Budget comes in terms of projects. For these are self sustaining
projects. Recently we got the Aragyam project which is for community
drinking water supply. This crore-rupee project is from Akshara
Foundation of Rohini Nilekeni. Our enterprises generate enough income
to run the TARAgrams.
TARAgram employees get very low
salaries. What is the use?
But there is a significant jump from where they were. The absence of a
rural market or a supply chain are responsible.
So what has been TARAgram’s
contribution?
We did set up models for social enterprise. It is for people to
replicate.
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