Dongria Kondh women weave their Success through Sal leaves

They have never througt that they can earn Rs. 2000/- sitting at home and doing their daily chore. For them earning this much money requires hard work in the farmland or daily labour work under the heat and sun. However, when Katili Majhi of Phuldumer village earned Rs. 2370/- by selling leaf plates, she could not believe herself. Like her more than 318 women in 10 villages in Niyamgiri region are happy with their newfound income avenue. They are all determined to carve their own space in the social and economic sphere. Thanks to the project ‘Jeevika’ run by Vedanta Aluminium Limited, under its Corporate Social Responsibility program.
All these women are collecting ‘sal and siali leaves’ from the forest and stitching the same into leaf plates. The plate has huge demand in local markets as well as outside. On July 29, 2009, they sold 289000 pieces of leaf plates in a truck for Rs. 86700 at Rs. 0.30 per plate. They have also 109000 plates in their stocks and ready to send their second truck load very soon. They also sell their product in local market, every week. “We sell the plates in local food outlets and restaurants and earn about Rs. 500 every week,” said Damayanti Majhi of Trilochanpur village.

The Project has enhanced household income by more than Rs. 1000/- on average for 318 women, covered in the project. Started in eight villages the project has now expanded to two more villages. Vedanta Aluminium provided One Month training to all women on leaf plate making and its business, under the project Jeevika, launched in April 2009. The women visited Bolangir and Bhawanipatna in order to interact with various traders and have knowledge about the market. “With an objective to provide improved and sustainable livelihood to women, especially tribal women, we started the project with locally available Sal and Siali leaves,” said Dr. Mukesh Kumar, Chief Operating Officer of Vedanta Aluminium Limited, Lanjigarh. The Company has taken the help of a local NGO, SHAKTI Organization for effective implementation of the project.

Prior to training, about 53 Joint Livelihood Groups (JLG), comprising 318 enterprising women have been formed. The Company has also provided two sewing machines to each JLG for stitching of the plates. Now they produce market standard leaf-plates in mass scale. “As the company has facilitated door step marketing of the leaf-plates through the NGO, we have no worry regarding selling,” said Kumtadi Majhi of Khemdipadar Village. The NGO representative also regularly supervises their work and provides necessary technical support, as and when required.
Encouraged by the success of these women groups, people from other villages have also shown their interest for such business. The Company, is also very much encouraged by the hard work and overwhelming response of the villagers. “Very soon the project will cover more women, and the focus would be on development of Dongria Kondh women,” said Dr. Mukesh Kumar.

The tribal women are very happy with this improved livelihood option. “We can now earn about Rs. 40 per day by making leaf-plates,” says Gata Majhi of Niyamaraja JLG in Palberi village.

Some of them have stopped to go to daily labour work and are focusing more on the business. This helps them in earning money and looking after their domestic work, simultaneously.
The project is being implemented under the guidance of Mr. Umesh Mehta, VP of Vedanta Aluminium Limited. Mr. Chitta Ranjan Behura, Manager (CSR) is leading the project.