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The hands that used to wash dishes once are now cutting the threads to be independent by getting hold of the ‛charkha’

Baby Devi, Anamika Jha and Rani Devi, the ladies of Barhiya who were once confined to take care of their households are now taking up training for solar power based ‛charkhas’ or spinning wheels. Their enthusiasm show how they deeply care for their children and households. This is helping them take a step forward towards forgetting their woes by getting a higher degree in terms of the skills of spinning threads or yarns. Apart from them 200 other women are also taking up the initiative of learning the same. Barhiya, once known for criminals and their crimes, is now recognised as a centre of women empowerment. Women are now eager to come out of their houses to become independent. Their mindsets are changing towards being self-sufficient. For the primary level, 200 women in four different shifts are learning the process of thread spinning. In the second stage, 200 women are extracted out of the lot after selection although more than 1000 applications are still waiting for approval.

Three months training for women for running 25 solar powered ‛charkhas’ :

Anand Kumar, the organiser of the examiner cell mentioned that there are 25 solar ‛charkhas’ and 5 solar looms for thread and fabric processing. Four different shifts of two hours each is being run for training these 200 women. The women will forward the processed product to the office and then after three months they will be given a certificate and loan for purchasing their own solar charkha. They will be receiving an amount for the job in their own respective bank accounts. A single ‛charkha’can create 8 kilos of thread or yarn in 8 hours which is worth of  Rs. 200-250. This in turn means that these women can earn up to Rs. 6-10 thousand every month. A total of 1 lakh women would be trained under this same forum. The process of submission of applications forms is still open and going on. Alok Kumar, Prince etc. are the supervisors responsible for training them.

A better future for the children:

The income rate of the houses is very low as said by Baby Devi and Anamika Jha which made them worried about the future of their children. Along with this the environment in Barhiya wasn’t suitable either. They have said that they want to bring in many different changes as well. They will use whatever they earn from spinning thread to educate their children and thus they are learning the work very well. Baby Devi says that they found a new way of living and a ray of hope from these solar powered ‛charkhas’ and this has also made them enthusiastic about self empowerment.

A step towards self empowerment:

In the memory of Hanuman Das Kedarnath, Hari Prasad Kanoria of Kanoria Foundation has taken a step towards giving a free of cost training to the helpless and poor women of Barhiya region for their empowerment. The training centre has been opened in Kanoria Bhavan near the Barhiya Police Station with the solar powered ‛charkha’ machines installed. Barhiya received this wonderful gift because of the initiative taken by central minister Giriraj Singh.