Andhra: Rural women learn new skills to survive pandemic

Women of Tarukapalem village become self-sufficient by learning banana fibre craft, tailoring after losing jobs last year
Andhra: Rural women learn new skills to survive pandemic

GUNTUR:  The Covid-19 pandemic has wrecked many livelihoods. Among the many groups that were severely affected, the lives of daily wagers in rural India came to a complete standstill due to lack of work. However, the severity of their financial duress made the women of Turakapalem in Guntur district realise that every cloud has a silver lining, as it forced them to become enterprising.  

Ratna Kumari and her husband, who worked as daily wagers at a nearby textile factory, had no other financial source to turn to after losing their jobs during the pandemic.  At such a time, she learned tailoring and banana fibre craft that made her the breadwinner of her family. 

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development holds a workshop to skill
women from rural parts in various trades
in Guntur | Express

To upskill women in rural areas and make them self-dependent, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has set up training camps in villages to impart training on various skills. Hundreds of women have benefitted from the scheme in the district in the last two years. 

Ratna said all women in the village who learned the craft formed a group and make baskets, toys and household items with banana fibre that lets them earn a decent amount of money.  “Though we resumed our jobs at the factory, we did not give up our newly-learned trade, and earn an additional Rs 10,000 per month.” 

Keerthi from Narasaraopet, who started her own online clothing store during the pandemic, has now hired a few of her employees providing them livelihood. A B.Tech graduate and a housewife, Keerthi had to think out of the box when her husband lost his job as a lecturer at a local private college. 

She partnered with Ramya, who owns a women’s clothing store in the town, and created a website which allows users to place orders of the products of their choice.  “As people were reluctant to go out and buy clothes, our website got a good response and we started making profits not much later. Now, we are getting so many orders that we had to hire more people to handle them,” Keerthi said. 

Hundreds of women benefit from NABARD initiative in Guntur dist
To upskill women in rural areas and make them self-dependent, NABARD has set up training camps in villages to impart training on various skills. Hundreds of women have benefitted from the scheme in the district in the last two years. Ratna Kumari and her husband, who worked at a textile factory, both lost their jobs during the pandemic. She learned tailoring and banana fibre craft and became the breadwinner of her family

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