Indore (Madhya Pradesh): To tap the immense potential among tribal women in the district, the women and child development department has decided to expand the scope of schemes financed under the Women’s Finance and Development Corporation.
Initially, it was limited to traditional agriculture programmes, but now it is being expanded so that tribal women become financially independent.
The WCD started a programme with 4,500 Baiga tribal women in March 2022, and the programme was such a success that the department decided to expand its scope. All the work is done through women's federations formed under the Tejaswini programme.
"The main objective of the programme is to increase the agricultural capacity of women. This would include full use of organic manure in the programme area, supply of agriculture processing women-friendly equipment and market linkage of products to make agriculture a permanent medium of livelihood,” said Ramniwas Budheliya, joint director, WCD. He informed Free Press that the schemes are now not limited to agriculture but include various fields of home science so that women become financially independent.
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A CDPO said this would include starting various courses in rural areas to educate women. The CDPO added that the Centre is yet to decide on which courses would be best suited for tribal women and the local officials would act accordingly.
Development so far
At present 39,305 quintals of Kodo is being produced in 9,504 acres by 3,604 Baiga women and 35,539 quintals of Kutki is being produced in 8,598 acres. In Kodo and Kutki production, instead of 2.48 quintals per acre (baseline), now 390 quintals is being produced. Tejaswini Sanghi collects Kodo and Kutki crops from women farmers at a rate that is higher than the market rate.
Empowering women
In 2022-23, 4,132 women have been trained in various streams such as pharmacy, nursing, physiotherapy, aaya, midwife, ward attendant beautician, cooking, banking, and IT. Polytechnic course of computer, hospitality, hotel and event management, BEd, and various other science and management stream are being taught.
