Rising to the Occasion, SHGs of MSRLM and students of DDUGKY....

Rising to the Occasion, SHGs of MSRLM and students of DDUGKY....

Maharashtra State Rural Livelihoods Mission , MSRLM Umed works for the empowerment of women through self help groups and community based organizations. It's groups practice Dashasutri which entails regular meetings, savings, internal lending, repayment of loans and writing books of accounts. Added to these are the five social aspects of health- nutrition-sanitation , education, ensuring entitlements, participation in panchayati raj institutions and sustainable livelihoods.
Currently MSRLM Umed is supporting 4.2 lakh SHGs (48 lakh rural women) spread across Maharashtra. These SHGs have been linked with various livelihood generation activities and are managing several enterprises.
Many people are astonished to know that our team has created more than five lakh women farmers, more than three lakh goat rearers, almost two lakh poultry farmers, one lakh vegetable farmers, one lakh fish farmers, about 10, 000 floriculturists totalling to over 12 lakh livelihoods. We have more than 1500 producer groups and fifteen FPOs, Farmer Producer Organizations managed wholly by women.
In every sphere of rural life, the women from our self help groups always rise to the occasion.
Even during the Covid 19 crisis they have been at the forefront understanding the outbreak and getting trained immediately by our field teams to prevent and break the chain of the infectious disease. Our team of community resource persons numbering almost 60,000 took upon themselves the onerous task of educating the SHGs about the critical aspects against the spread of the disease, the importance of washing hands appropriately, maintaining social distance, covering mouth while sneezing and coughing etc. They also emphasized on nutrition and healthy eating habits.
The women showed great enthusiasm and enterprise in their desire to make and sell masks. MSRLM therefore arranged localized capacity development trainings in all districts to make face masks, hand sanitizers and herbal soaps to ensure that the women made the masks scientifically and maintained appropriate standards. Today we have made almost nine lakhs face masks with a turnover of Rs. 1,07,16,626/-
The SHGs of MAVIM under the Department of Women and Child Development have also made almost four lakh face masks.
These have been provided to various departments including health, revenue, police , Medical shops, Gram Panchayats, Zilla Parishad, Banks, Municipal Corporations etc.
Our women entrepreneurs are not only producing these items, but also creating awareness at local level for increased use of these COVID-19 protection tools.
When employees of organized and unorganized sectors are losing their jobs due to this pandemic, our SHGs are not only able to overcome this crisis by producing these items, but also protecting citizens from further spread of this pandemic. They are also providing wholesome meals or are a part of the distribution chain in many places.
Our units at Wardha and Yavatmal have also set-up special homebased units for hand sanitizer and herbal soap (both in liquid and solid form) production in their respective districts. These women entrepreneurs have started manufacturing COVID-19 special liquid hand wash, which is very effective to remove infectious virus from body parts. They have provided more than 200 liters of hand wash to Nagar Parishad, Wardha at Rs. 240 per liter.
Our women are also at the forefront in providing banking services. A cadre of four thousand Bank Sakhis, Financial Literacy Sakhis and Banking Correspondent Sakhis are supporting banking operations in the remotest village of Maharashtra and bringing cheer to all those who cannot come to banks. The BC Sakhis are providing door to door services and earning blessings of the senior citizens and the differently abled.
DDUGKY is the skilling wing of MSRLM and almost thousand students who had been trained to work as medical attendants are providing support in life care activities. Those who had been trained as security guards are braving the security duties fearlessly.
MSRLM has been able to create many Covid warriors who are offering support in their own little way.
There is a sweet little word in Marathi " khaaricha vaata" which means doing one's own bit. SHGs in the state are doing just that by supplying face masks at affordable rates of just Rs.10, Rs.15 and Rs.20/-. These are made of woven cotton, are washable and can be reused.
The members of the SHGs are from the most vulnerable classes, they are often women who have been deserted or victims of domestic violence. They face many unfavourable circumstances yet every time I have see them putting all that behind and rising to the occasion and all this with a smile. Now too they have come forward to contribute in a positive way in this crisis.
A ray of hope to light us during the Corona Virus Crisis....SHGs of MSRLM are spreading the light.
गगन, सदन तेजोमय
तिमिर हरून करुणाकर दे प्रकाश, देई अभय
गगन, सदन तेजोमय, गगन, सदन
छाया तव, माया तव, हेच परम पुण्यधाम
छाया तव, माया तव, हेच परम पुण्यधाम
वाऱ्यातून, ताऱ्यातुन वाचले तुझेच नाम
जगजीवन, जनन-मरण
जगजीवन, जनन-मरण हे तुझेच रूप सदय
गगन, सदन तेजोमय, गगन, सदन

P.S. For order and more details, please contact
Mr. Virendra Patil (Mission Manager)
+91-9890190678.