International Women's Day: Odisha women shepreneurs raise a toast to women empowerment!

Koraput: Even as the International Women’s Day is celebrated today across the globe with the theme of #EachforEqual - means to create an equal and enabled world, here are two gritty women entrepreneurs in Odisha who scripted a silent revolution in the arena of women empowerment.

Living the popular adage Khud Jiyo auron ko jeena do..., the determined women work not only to empower themselves, but also created hundreds of job opportunities for their fellow women. So that they can successfully earn a livelihood and have an equal stake vis-a-vis the male members in matters of family sustenance.

Rajeshwari Reddy: A highly educated women, she bid goodbye to comfort stay abroad. She toiled hard to live the dream of her father in tribal dominated Kelar village in Laximpur block of Koraput district.

In 1998, after retirement from OUAT, her father started coffee plantation in Kelar. For some reasons, Reddy, who was then staying abroad, returned to Odisha to look after the coffee estate.

Reddy didn't disappoint her father. The 54 acre coffee estate is now a role-model of sorts for other farmers in the area. She opted for diversified farming. Alongside coffee plantation, black pepper vines and silver oaks were cultivated. And the results are glorious. Reddy is now producing around 15 tonnes coffee and 2 tonnes pepper per year.

“My father and mother dreamt of creating a coffee garden and accordingly I decided to take up the plantation. There is no difference between a man and a woman,” Reddy averred.

Reddy’s mother, Nirmala Devi, observed, “When we came here, the entire stretch of land was covered with wild trees and plants. We cleared the area and developed the coffee farm. We have also grown silver oaks in the farmland.”

The heartening fact is she has also engaged many women in the plantation, who have now become self-reliant and are contributing effectively towards family sustenance.

“We are proud of her. I also thank her as she took the initiative and made the Koraput-grown coffee reach people outside,” said Koraput Coffee Board SLO, Ajit Kumar Rout.

Rajeshwari Sarangi: She is another home-grown woman entrepreneur, who lives in Nuasahi, Jeypore Town, in Koraput district.

Sarangi runs a Self-Help-Group (SHG) named ‘Sabari’ which is engaged in making decorative wooden, bamboo items and photo frames.

“I run a SHG named ‘Sabari’, and at present there are ten members in the group. We make decorative photo frames and frames of freedom fighters and great personalities,” said Sarangi.

Sarangi’s hubby Asit Rath said, “In the initial years, we used to make frames from stray woods and bamboos, which we ourselves collected from the forest. Now, the situation is different. We are also in touch with other SHGs outside Koraput to promote the art.”

Secretary of Sabari SHG, Mandakini Sahoo said, “We learnt the art of bamboo-sculpting from Rajeshwari. She has been very encouraging and supportive.”

These two determined women have crafted a success story by their sheer grit. They left a trailblazer of women empowerment and self -reliance in the backward district of Koraput.