Stories of hope : Umed MSRLM

Stories of hope : Umed MSRLM

Tucked in the interiors of Yawatmal district is a village Ghatanji. Most of us in Maharashtra may possibly not even have heard of Yawatmal leave alone about Ghatanji village.
Yet strong-willed women who have been toiling hard in their villages despite the fear of Corona Virus exist here. 
Lakhs of lives have been adversely affected and their means of livelihood have dwindled due to the spread of Covid 19. Each one of us is facing different challenges and difficulties and struggling with restrictions.. Businesses are crashing and access to fresh fish, fruits and vegetables is a dream
Under such circumstances, the block mission management unit of Ghatanji came up with a novel initiative to support rural women by enabling them to sell vegetables, fruits and fish. The women are members of self help groups of MSRLM Umed and are already involved in producing vegetables and fish.
With markets closed during the COVID 19 lockdown their business was disrupted due to the perishable nature of their products which mainly included fruits, vegetables and fish.
The active intervention by Pravin Bende working as the Block Mission Manager of Ghatanji came to their rescue. Pravin made efforts to contact the local Police Station and explain the marketing plan of these commodities. He assured that they would abide by the rules made by the authorities and also maintain social distance. His efficient communication with the appropriate authorities facilitated sale of 3000 Kgs of fish from four ponds due to which the SHG women could earn Rs. 3 Lakhs. They continue to earn on a regular basis due to the channel established by Pravin. Additionally they are also making face masks which has great demand due to Covid 19.
The District team facilitated them by furnishing them with orders for masks from various departments. As a result 173 women from Ghatanji sold 65,000 masks earning Rs. 6,50,000. They have earned Rs.1,47000 from fruits and Rs. 58500 from vegetables. Their willingness to work hard and the support by block team led to this transformation.
East or west MSRLM Umed proves to be a standing example of hope. On the western coast of Maharashtra, in Chiplun block of Ratnagiri district is Anjali Chalke, a self-made woman who also metamorphosed challenge to opportunity.
Anjali had stared a nutri garden in 2017 and was benefitting from sale of vegetables. The members of their group were engaged in several activities and managing multiple businesses. In fact the micro-enterprises model by the 45 Micro enterprise consultants MECs has resulted in creation of over 1500 small and medium enterprises.
Anjali completed training in poultry and took the bold step of establishing a poultry with popular indigenous breed vanraj and giriraj. She bought 100 chicks of the breeds and even constructed a new shed for them. The covid crisis struck just when the birds were ready for sale. Not one to lose heart and hope she decided to sell the birds locally. Villagers were also happy to get indigenous chicken as safe food. Anjali could sell all birds and make a profit of Rs 17,000. There has been no looking back as Anjali has ordered for 200 chicks again. Additionally she earns Rs.1200 per week by selling fresh vegetables like brinjal, cluster beans, bottle gourd, amarthanthus from her Kitchen garden. Here too the district team led by the block manager Amol Katkar has been of great help. 

Umed means hope in Marathi language and MSRLM Umed has been the hope of many such lives. Today MSRLM has 4.5 lakh self help groups and almost 50 lakh households with over 20 lakh enterprises. With hope on our side nothing can stop us, not even Corona.....