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It’s a late Saturday afternoon in middle of March when summer is still a bit shy to make its presence fully felt in greater parts of West Bengal, including in Birbhum. Such an otherwise languid day belies the bustling activities going on inside a small house overlooking a narrow lane in Surul village in the outskirt of Bolpur town. One can hear muffled jabbering of around 10-12 young ladies and the playful giggling or some time wailing of few toddlers accompanying their mothers who are avidly doing kantha stitch works on few silk saris and punjabis in four or five groups. All are busy in their works - at times interrupted by the errant children- as Holi, the festival of colour, for which the nearby Shantiniketan is famous of is just few days away, and there is huge demand for special Shantiniketan saris and punjabis with ornate designs to celebrate the festivities. In a corner is sitting one lady, apparently in mid-forties, with her legs folded on the ground, and giving finishing touch on a piece of kantha stitch sari with her nimble hands. Even amid so much of hustle and bustle inside the room, she appears to be in a state of flow where only thing which matters for her is her work. She is Sayeba Bibi or simply didi as all the ladies fondly call her, and this is her house.
The calm exterior of Sayeba di hides the tough struggle didi had to undergo even to ensure proper meal for her only son and herself after being widowed at young age of 30. Though not rich, didi comes from an affluent family who had enough of land for cultivation in a nearby village. As it normally happens in conservative families, didi too was married off at the young age of around 18 after completing studies only upto eighth standard to a young man who was doing wholesale business on medicines. After the birth of her son, didi along with her husband and son relocated to a rented accommodation at Bolpur with the single objective of providing better education to her son. Life was going on as usual like any other young woman, spent in taking care of her family and in leisure time doing some kantha stitch works as a pastime, until the jolt of her life in 2009 when her husband suddenly died of heart attack leaving behind a 10 years old son.
Only thought which overwhelmed her at that time was how to earn some money so that she can arrange proper food for her family. Though she had only little of formal education and because of so far being cocooned inside a comfortable household had almost no idea about how to earn a livelihood, she was firm in her decision of not going back to her matrimonial home as that she thought would hamper her dream of educating her son. Although, she had learnt the kantha stitch work as a little girl from her mother and grandmother just as a hobby, until then she didn’t have any idea that this activity can be taken up on full time basis as a profession. It was through sheer grit that she survived during this time when for days together she and her son had to survive on rice starch only.
Didi can’t still recall how it actually happened, but fondly remembers the day when she, rather by an accidental coincidence, got connected with some NABARD project in her neighbourhood. Earlier, didi had obtained a certificate from Govt. of West Bengal as a master trainer on kantha stitch works without ever knowing that this can come to her rescue when she will need it the most. Because of her passion for work and natural artistic skill, soon she became quite popular in training the young women on kantha stitch works in a cluster development project run by Surul Suprity Society on behalf of NABARD during the period of 2012-13. Her voice still chokes recounting her initial connection with NABARD through the society which later proved to be a life changing event for her. During the training period, she for the first time started to earn paltry sum of Rs. 3000 per month which though insufficient, was barely enough to feed her family. Slowly, after the training capitalizing on the bonding she developed with the neighbourhood ladies whom she had trained, she started to deliver small orders of blouse, purse, etc. At that stage, the lack of working capital was a major constraint in diversifying to other costly but more profitable products like sari, punjabi, etc. Because of commencement of commercial activities, albeit in small scale, she started to earn a bit higher say, around Rs. 4000 to 5000 per month including her income from different melas sponsored by NABARD at Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, etc. in which she started to participate.
Slowly she got adjusted to her new way of life until a major event that happened during 2017 when Surul Suprity Society received sanction from NABARD for formation of an Off Farm Producer Organization (OFPO). The newly formed Suthritha Global PCL, with support from NABARD, leveraged on didi’s experience and strong bonding with the ladies of Bolpur Shantiniketan localities to mobilize the artisans as members as well as to venture into a successful enterprise on kantha stitch products. Soon she mobilized hundreds of ladies, mostly young, who along with her got a new lease of life by entering into this business which they could call as their own. All these ladies, like Sayeba di, were until then being supplied with raw materials for stitching blouse, nighties, etc. for which they used to get wages of only Rs. 15 per piece from the local mahajans. They were caught into eternal vicious cycle of poverty as they neither had the wherewithal to invest in purchasing of raw materials nor selling on their own independent of the mahajans.
She became among one of the founder directors of the company, and with the capital available with the company by way of shares mobilized from the members and assistance received from NABARD, they started to directly purchase raw silk saris or other materials on which they did the kantha stitch works. The confidence of the women artisans to enter into direct venture bypassing the mahajans got boosted through a number of training programmes on latest trends as well as exposure visits arranged by Sutirtha Global under guidance from NABARD together with professional marketing support by way of a trained and full time CEO of the company.
It takes around one and half to two months for a group of every two ladies to complete entire kantha stitch works on a piece of silk sari based on the sketch drawn by didi. Such saris fetch a price in the range of Rs. 6000 to Rs. 7000 in the local market leaving a net income of Rs. 1200 to Rs. 1500 per sari to each of Sayeba di as well as other two ladies in addition to their income from other products viz., kurta, Punjabi, churidar, etc. On being asked about her monthly income now, she chuckles and tells that her average income comes to around Rs. 25,000 per month including her income from sales in melas, and also reveals that all the ladies working with her earn in the range of Rs. 7000 to Rs. 8000 per month while simultaneously attending to their household chores. She clarifies that the huge difference has been made possible as all the artisans, in contrary to the previous practice of being tied to the mahajans, have got direct stake in the sales proceeds of the products in accordance to their contribution to the development of the product.
Because of authenticity of the products, there is long beeline of local boutiques for purchasing saris from the company. Besides the local boutiques, because of participation in various exposure visits as well as melas sponsored by NABARD from time to time, the company has been able to build some valuable client base in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, etc. where the company is directly supplying the products.
Though her innate humility prevents her to boast, her eyes beam with happiness when she shares that her son has completed MBA and runs franchisee of a major courier company of the country. She was also humble enough to share that she has recently purchased with all the savings made by her during the last four to five years the same house spread over 4 kathas of land inside Bolpur, where she has been staying on rent for last 22 years. Now her face radiates with a sense of contentment and the only wish she has is to see that the company grows further along with development of its own brand so that many more ladies like her can get a new lease of life.
[The writer of this article Mr. Anupam Pattanayak is the District Development Manager (DDM), NABARD, Birbhum.]
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