Hardoi women woo brands with handicraft skills

LUCKNOW: She was forced to quit studies because her parents couldn’t afford to send her to private school, but Savitri Devi has pledged to support her children till they achieve their degrees. Gifted with nimble fingers, the 38-year-old woman in Hardoi’s Madhora village is confident of realising her dream. And why not? Beautiful moonjand kaans (wild grass) laundry baskets made by her are sought-after products across online shopping sites and elite home stores.The earnings have helped her get rid of moneylenders and pay for the education of her children.
“I feel proud in being able to buy clothes for my kids on festivals and gifting them bags or pencil boxes when they get promoted to a new class,” said Savitri, the poster mother for some 11,500 women in the district trained under joint livelihood programmes of Samuday Project of HCL Foundation and the rural development department. Not just laundry baskets, these women are making shopping bags, tote bags, travel pouches, cosmetics bags, file folders, iPad sleeves and mini-briefcases from upcycled plastic. They take discarded cement sacks, wash them and embellish them with hand embroidery to make the final products.
“Our revenue speaks for our success. It has increased from Rs 22 lakh in 2018-19 to Rs 53.84 lakh,” said Nirmala Devi, president, Samuday Shakti Sewa Samiti. CEO and executive director, HCL Foundation, Roshni Nadar Malhotra said: “Every woman here is a story of change worth sharing while the model is truly sustainable and replicable. Women like Savitri Devi are role models for young rural girls.”