Chandrakali Markam - A light of Change

Just like other women, born into a poor Adivasi family, Chandrakali Markam didn't have much choices to live until she took the charge of her own life and set an example in her community through the power of micro-enterprise. 

An Introduction

Dindori a small district of Madhya Pradesh bordering Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh, is having a large area which is densely forested where one can find mobile network also with difficulty. Moreover Naxalites also pose a greater threat there. In spite of all these difficulties Chandrakali Markam is visiting many inaccessible and remote villages of the area with a motto to make the women of those areas self sufficient. 

Chandrakali belongs to a poor adivasi family of Agariya tribe in Barga, a small village in Dindori district of Madhya Pradesh. Just like other woman she was spending a marginalised ,powerless life with a little connection to the outer world till she joined a self help group run by an organisation "Pradaan" secretly.

Pointing to old days, she reminds" life was actually very hard those days. " She was married at the age of 11. It was just impossible to run the family on low wages of rupees 20 per day. In spite the fact that they had a small patch of land ,still it was left uncultivated because of lack of money to buy seeds. The men travelled for in search of work.

The start of change

Chandrakali left the school at the age of 11 after studying class five. When she protested that she will not leave the school, her father scolded her not to study as she is a girl. When she was 19 years old she joined a self help group secretly. This was the first step towards change. Gradually she started saving Rs 1 every week and also motivated other women for savings. 

The baby step

In year 2006,Chandrakali stepped in the field of poultry farming for landless families by making a Cooperative farm with governments assistance. In the earlier stage, 60 people joined the group. Today more than 500 women across 23 villages have joined this business under the expert guidance of Chandrakali. They are doing business with turnover in crores and were able to save 8 lakh rupees in 2019-20.

Chandrakali only knows how to put up signatures but she is running successfully the -poultry business. She has kept accountants and manager for managing the business and the whole business is being done in Hindi. She has even formed Federation by combining 507 self help groups across 23 villages.

Magic of attitude

Chandrakali is now working towards acknowledging the efforts of women farmers and rewarding them with proper wages." Although women farmers are doing more work than their male counterparts, still they are not acknowledged and given credit. " she says. For this purpose she has made one cooperative society with the name "Halchalit Mahila Kisan". She also advocates higher education for women of adivasi regions. To generate alternate sources of income , she motivates mushroom cultivation and kitchen garden also.

Awards

She bagged numerous awards for her excellence in the field of micro enterprise but the prominent one is women Exemplar award in the category of micro enterprise being awarded by confederation of Indian industries (CII) in 2020.

Chandrakali is the face of change in rising India amidst of all the factors  like poverty and lack of resources. She is a change maker not only for her community but for entire women as she dared to step out in outer world and made her identity.

 Bastar se Baazar tak - The Story Behind

Bastar se Bazaar tak - the name has gained so popularity that it doesn't needs introduction. An innovative startup from Chhattisgarh - a densely forested state from central India which is rapidly making it's identity in the field of startup's and innovations. The social enterprise is aiming to generate employment oppurtunities for the rural women especially to poorest rural women in interior areas of southern Chhattisgarh. The enterprise is managing post harvest produce by making various processed food products after collection from forest and making arrangements for their marketing.

An Introduction to the Founders

Haresh kashyap is a progressive farmer who is a role model for his fellow farmers known for his down to earth nature and progressive practices in farming since 30 years. He is basically a self motivated learner believing in adopting various practices for experimentation. He is the main brain behind this venture and also the founder taking charge of planning and operations of the venture.

An alumni of Azim Premji University and a self inspired, goal oriented person, Satendra Singh Lilhare is the Co Founder of Bastar se Baazar tak. He has an experience of 7 years as a freelancer and possess great zeal to work with marginal farmers, poor and neglected sections of society in the remotest part of the country. He has much experience in working at grassroot level in farming and farm based products and passionate about working in this field. He is managing and executing all the operations at the venture.

Collaborations

Bastar se Bazaar tak has got seed funding from many organizations as well as collaborated with many institutions due to it's noble cause. Upaya Social venture and women on Wings are one of them. Upaya has join hands with the venture to facilitate funds for the expansion of their bussiness whereas Women on Wings has collaborated with them to create more employment opprtunities for poor and marginal women as the venture has mostly poor women workers.

The Working  

The Chhattisgarh based enterprise is working to improve the economic condition of poor forest dwellers and the tribal community by managing the post harvest losses, making of high quality forest produce and providing the same to urban people at reasonable rate. Bastar se Baazar tak is promoting the  high quality, unadulterated products made from Jamun, tamarind ,custard Apple and and make herbal gulal too. The members of the community are collecting custard apple and jamun from forest and prepare products like squash ,slice, kulfi and shots from them in their central processing unit. The products can be consumed upto 18 months from packaging. They claim that the products are free from any chemicals. They will start processing tamarind soon and make products from it.

Funding and Prizes

Bastar se Baazar tak is the winner of  Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2020-21, a joint initiative of Tata group and Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata bagging a seed funding of Rs. 5 lakhs at Kolkata Innovation Park. Satendra Singh Lilhare has also won Chhattisgarh MSME Resilience Award 2021 given by Chattisgarh Government in the category of livelihood enterprises for his venture. The Incubation centre of Indira Gandhi krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur has also given a grant of 25 lakhs under Udbhav Yojana for the entrepreneurs working in the field of farming and related products whose products are ready to use.

The venture is not only creating employment opportunities for these poor people in the densely forested area but also making a difference in their lives. The venture is creating employment for nearly 300 women for 90 days and hope to extend these opportunities even more. the headquarter of the enterprise is situated at Lakhanpuri in East Bastar. Hats off to the entrepreneurs and their efforts capable of creating a difference in the lives of the poor people.

 

 Innovative Startups in Chhattisgarh

Namrata Diwakar and Ravikant Soni, these names may not be very popular but soon they are going to be set a benchmark in the field of innovations in textiles and medicated fabrics in Chhattisgarh. This pharmacist couple has prepared a natural scented fabric from waste of lemongrass, citronella and rice hay which is insect repellent in nature. This fabric has a particular smell which is capable of repelling mosquitoes, lizards and other insects. This unique fabric cures depression also.

Journey of Research

It seems to be so lucrative but the journey of the innovation was not so easy. It took almost 6 years research for the production of this fabric. Namrata along with Ravikant are pharmacy graduates. When the idea of making medicated fabric sparked in their mind, there was absolutely no background support for it. After extensive research they were first able to manufacture fabric made of lemongrass and citronella whose smell lasted for one year. Slowly when they advanced in their research, the sweet smell developed in the fabric is now lasting for 3 to 5 years. The cloth is so aromatic in nature that as we enter in a room with curtains or bedsheets made of this material, our mind get refreshed and tension free and there are ample proofs of this research.

The Journey Ahead

After extensive research the challenge ahead was designing an appropriate machine for its production. There was no machine present in the market which can produce yarn for this fabric. They contacted various top engineering colleges and IIT'S of various states for machine design but didn't succeeded. Finally they purchased various parts of machine from various places and assembled them to make the final model of machine. They developed three prototype models before arriving at the final model. The final model is capable of spinning , extraction and smoothening of yarn which is then sent to Rajkot for production of fabric. For developing the machine, the innovators contacted artisans across eight states including IIT Kharagpur experts. The machine costed around 12 to 15 lacs and it can produce about 12000 meters of cloth in a day. They have patented both the fabric and the machine. 

Ravikant told that they are collecting raw material from Pondicherry and Uttar Pradesh ,not limiting their suppliers to one place. The agriculture college has also helped them a lot by setting up a plant in 30 Acres in Koria from where they collect plants.

The Success Story

Namrata while talking, told that during studies she came across medicinal plants. Using this as a core idea, they started their startup of Rayush Naturals. They got a total of 22 lakhs fund from various Institutions like IGKV, Startup India ,Seed Global accelerator Network and others. Ravikant told that their product details are also available at the James portal of Central Government. Also they have got orders for curtains of their fabric for the incubation centre being developed by Gujarat government in association with Central government . At present they are fabricating curtains, cushions and carpets. The prominent dancer Mallika Sarabhai- the daughter of Vikram Sarabhai has also contacted them for ordering curtains. They have also visited Dubai Expo in February 2022 with the help of Central Government where they were contacted by a Hotel Manager. 

At present the innovators are focusing at premium customers as the average cost of fabric is more. They are exploring more options for export. Nature lovers also have an excellent opportunity to try this fabric. 

Innovation is not overnight, it is a journey in itself. The various milestones of the journey are actually the stepping stones of success and the destination is self fulfilling in itself which is shown by the story of Rayush naturals.