First timers at Ajeevika Saras : The Joys of being recognized....

First timers at Ajeevika Saras : The Joys of being recognized....

Noor Nisar Begam, a petite woman from an SHG in West Bengal walked on to the stage to share her experiences at the Closing Ceremony of Ajeevika Saras at the India Gate. This was the first time she had stepped out of her home and had come to Delhi for selling the products made by their SHGs. She was now on stage sharing her experience as a first timer. Her calm and cool demeanor displayed her contentment. She said she  was fortunate to have got this opportunity to exhibit her product range of sarees, duppattas, kurtis at the national level. With a team of 1400 women working with her for this cause she was happy at the excellent response she had received at the Saras Mela. Expressing gratitude to the Ministry and the government she hoped to come again. 

Navneeta from the state of Telangana was a first timer at the Food Court. The support rendered by her state and the Ministry of Rural Development had made it possible for her to come to Delhi. Her Hyderabadi Dum Biryani had become so popular that it was the most talked about food item at the food court. She had never imagined she would get such a massive response. Her sales had been really good and her face exonerated that joy.

Priyanka Kumari from Samastipur in Bihar is a Banking Correspondent Sakhi. She was a home maker till she joined an SHG under DAY NRLM, at Jeevika in Bihar. She started her career as a Bank Sakhi who helps the SHGs with banking under DAY NRLM. She soon got selected to be a Banking Correspondent Sakhi, BC Sakhi. Beginning with a commission of Rs.5000 today her earnings through commission are over Rs. 25,000. She was also a first timer at the Ajeevika Saras and was grateful for the opportunity. Her joy knew no bounds because during the 14 days of the Aajeevika Saras mela she had done transactions to the tune of Rs.1 crore. 

Jharkhand's Ruby Khatoon, a Patrakaar Didi, a Journalist was playing a very important role as a Book-keeper in the SHG when she got selected to be a Patrakaar Didi , a communication expert in the community. She was taught the trade of being a journalist and learnt how to write stories of successes of SHGs. She mastered the art of clicking photographs and presenting them in an interesting manner. She also understood how to use social media , facebook, Twitter etc effectively. She started taking interviews of SHGs and publishing them which gave her great confidence . She felt very happy for the opportunity to be at Ajeevika Saras with the MoRD team and the exposure she had in the 14 days of the mela has inspired her so much that she hoped to visit other places to learn more. 

It was also the first time when such a large food court had been set up at India Gate lawns with the support of Kudumbashree. The release of two publications, Homemakers to Foodmakers documenting the stories of the culinary skills of the SHG women and a recipe book, "Flavours from the Heartland" both curated by Kudumbashree were also released on the occasion. It was the first time that Kudumbashree had set up a professionally managed Food court at the India Gate which became the talk of the town. 

The Ministry of Rural Development had set a milestone by being the first to organize the Ajeevika Saras Mela and the Food court at India Gate. As rightly stated by the Additional Secretary and Director General, CAPART, Ms.Alka Upadhyay, the Diwali would certainly be brighter for all the participants at the Saras.  For those people who could not visit the Saras and buy the products, for the first time a website has also been created and SHG products would be available for purchase online at the nrlm.kalgudi portal which was also inaugurated. 

MoRD under the leadership of Joint Secretary, Ms.Leena Johri, was setting a trend by signing an MoU with Mr. Shantamanu, Director General of NIFT to facilitate the betterment of arts and crafts of the SHGs form all over the country. 

As for our state , Maharashtra, it was also the first time we were receiving two awards. One for the best natural food products and packaging by Sanskriti SHG from Satara. Ms.Uma Nikam' s confidence as she stepped on the stage to receive her award as a first timer spoke aeons about the transformation which was being made possible in the lives of millions of rural women due to NRLM. 

Our second award was for the best state and as I walked up with my team to receive the award I was engulfed by a sense of fulfillment. It was a recognition of the efforts made by every member of our team who had worked day and night to make this possible. More than that it was the recognition of all the women members of our SHGs who were toiling hard to make this vision of a prosperous rural India possible. 

To them and to all the first timers , my head bowed in gratitude....