Empowering The Marginalised
The Advaita Bodhi Foundation—working in digital literacy and rural enterprise—has set about pushing entrepreneurship among the Lodha community in West Bengal.
Like many in her community, Purnima Mahato was married off at a very young age, while still a teenager. Mahato is of the Lodha tribe from Choto Jhauri village, under Gopiballavpur block in West Bengal. Unable to complete her studies, her life set about the routine of managing household chores, raising children, and weaving various décor items out of bamboo and savai grass, which she would sell at government fairs and exhibitions.
Then, the pandemic arrived, unsettling the entire world, and disrupting Mahato’s life, too. Like the rest of the men in the village, her husband now had to travel for four hours every day to reach the nearest town, to render day labour for the meagre daily earnings of ₹300-400. Needless to say, self-sustenance has since been especially difficult for Mahato and others in her community.
There has been some hope, however. NGO’s like the Advaita Bodhi Foundation—working in digital literacy and rural entrepreneurship—have pushed for entrepreneurship among the village community. Today, Mahato leads the Foundation’s e-commerce wing—Svaha—where she works on Batik printing.
To develop entrepreneurs, the Foundation has a gourmet range called ‘Shiuli’ and a clothing range called ‘Svaha’. “I get the designs approved, reach out to the other trainees, and get the material from the wholesale market,” says Mahato. “The trainees execute and hand-print the approved designs. Once completed, the Foundation buys the products from us and another batch of women trainees lists the products online.”
A batch of tribal women in the age group of 20-35 is being trained to look after Svaha’s online marketing, too. The Advaita Bodhi Foundation has already completed a few programmes in Kathaltala of Nadia district in Bengal. It has trained close to 200 women to make Batik prints in collaboration with other NGOs that specialise in the same. As part of community-focused Jana Pragati Udyog of the Foundation—a digital laboratory with computers, smartphones, printers and internet—women like Mahato are now earning between ₹600-1,000 each day.
In India’s tricky history, our celebration of heroes and warrior clans has often come at the expense of looking down upon the marginalised. During the early British regime in India, there were half a dozen tribes in the Jungle Mahal (now in the Jhargram district of West Bengal), who were traditionally dependent on the forests for a living. They had revolted against the British, but were ruthlessly suppressed. Having been deprived of their livelihood and without any alternatives, they took to crime and were subsequently branded a criminal tribe. The British came out with Government Notification No 7022-23—dated May 20, 1916 in Calcutta—labelling the Lodha tribe as criminal.
Even as the law was repealed five years after India’s independence, the stigma remains. Where governments may have failed them, there have been some community groups who are striving to fight for greater visibility, rights, and opportunities for the tribe.
Purnima Mahato
One such initiative is the Jana Pragati Udyog, run by the women of the community, who assist in services like Pan Card application, paying utility bills, UPI-based payments, train ticket booking, doctor appointments, and more. “First, we select five-six enthusiastic women for this training,” says co-founders Suchayan Mandal. “This centre is commission-based. So, for train ticket booking, an extra ₹50 is charged. This extra fee is earned by the women and is their income.”
“Similarly,” co-founder Sayantani Chakrabarty adds, “there is a fixed fee for each service and whatever money is earned by the women is kept by them. The women get six months to work and earn, after which they will be provided with a computer/tablet and asked to start similar centres or anything they want on their own. This space will then open up to other trainees who can work, learn and earn. We are also developing a portal for healthcare of the rural communities with the volunteer doctors around the country. It should be ready by the first quarter of the year. Currently, we run one Jana Pragati Udyog in Nadia district of West Bengal. We plan to establish 10 such hubs over the year.”
The Advaita Foundation is also incubated by Webel (West Bengal Electronics and Industry Development Corporation) and The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“Our vision is to enable the community to earn a sustainable income sitting at the comfort of their villages…” says Mandal. “… to empower 5,000 people in the community to become rural entrepreneurs—and have a steady income.”
Jyostna Malik works with five other women to make pickles, honey and spreads. “We are being guided to make art on apparel that would sell fast and also taught digital skills to help us sell online,” Malik says. More than 500 women have already become independent business owners in the past few months with the help of the Foundation.
The primary hurdle faced by the Foundation is the language. The Lodhas speak their own unique language—a dialect of Bengali. To make them digitally competent enough to handle sales online, a basic knowledge of English and digital literacy is needed. In order to counter this, men and women aged between 18 years and 40 years are being trained in basic English. Next, an eight-week training on digital literacy and rural entrepreneurship is conducted free of cost. The modules include using Google Maps through voice, using emails, safe social media practices, using YouTube for education, cyber security, digital payments, digital banking, payment frauds, fake news, using apps to book tickets, paying bills, signing up as sellers on e-commerce sites, getting various documents and licenses, GST registrations, telemedicine, digital marketing of their own products, and more. The Foundation tailor-makes plans for each area to ensure the livelihoods are developed leveraging what the communities already possess in terms of skill and knowledge.
However, the programme doesn’t come in ‘one size fits all’ format. Workshops with the communities and respective block administrations are conducted to understand the viability and to study specific needs. Once the requirement is mapped, sessions on basic modules are started. Depending on the need and demand, further modules are added or modified. The Foundation is also trying to partner with universities to offer women virtual under-graduate courses at a low cost along with skill development courses.
“Our vision is to enable the community to earn a sustainable income sitting at the comfort of their villages…” says Mandal. “… to empower 5,000 people in the community to become rural entrepreneurs—and have a steady income.”
***
Medha Dutta Yadav is a Delhi-based journalist and literary critic. She writes on art and culture. You can find her on Twitter: @primidutt on Instagram: @primidutt.
