Getting out of a pickle

Six years ago Kamala Varma depended entirely on her husband to provide for all her needs, including the most innocuous items like a lipstick or skin lotion.

“I was just a housewife looking after the children and waiting for my husband to cater for everything we needed,” she recalls.

Today, the 35-year-old mother of two has a steady income, part of which she uses to offset some of the family’s expenses, while saving the remainder for further investments in the future.

Her turn of fortune has been steady and gradual ever since she decided together with nine other women in her village to form a self–help women’s group making seasonal pickle, which they sell at a profit.

Known as ‘Pragathi’ (Progress), the group is one of several women’s groups supported by the National Service Scheme (NSS) Volunteers’ Unit of the Punjab Engineering College in the north Indian city of Chandigarh.

The NSS is one of the largest youth organisations in India catering for the needs of the student youth. The Unit working at the Punjab Engineering College is one of the implementing agencies of the Commonwealth Youth Credit Initiative (CYCI) which was launched in 1995, to help address unemployment by enabling young people to have access to credit to start micro-businesses.

Access to credit

Through supporting groups like Pragathi, for instance, the CYCI helps give people access to easy credit, which enables them to become self-employed and independent.

As Rajkumar Bidla, Programme Officer for the Youth Affairs Division at the Commonwealth Secretariat, notes: “The majority of youth often lack collateral or security to enable them to borrow capital from the banks and other micro-credit schemes to start up their businesses.”

Between 1995 and 2005, the number of unemployed youth rose by 14.8 per cent, from 74 million to 85 million, according to a 2006 report by the International Labour Office.

Pragathi makes an average of 1,000kg of pickle from seasonal fruits and vegetables like mangoes, gooseberries and carrots. One kilogramme of pickle is usually sold at 55 rupees (US$1.2), giving the women a profit of about 30,000 rupees (US$703) which is divided equally among all members. This amount of pickle made and the profit earned relate to a period of around two months when these fruits are in season.

“This opportunity [to work] has helped me contribute at home and even lend money to my husband. We enjoy a much better relationship at home now,” says Maya Devi, another member of the group.

Professor M L Gupta, the officer in charge of NSS in the Punjab Engineering College, says the success of the women’s self-help groups and especially the pickle-making trade has greatly helped women from urban slum areas of Chandigarh become economically independent and self-sufficient.

A stitch in time

Aside from the pickle business, the NSS has also supported other groups with CYCI funding to run tailoring and stitching businesses.

“Most people are poor because they do not have money. Giving them money has changed that because they are now able to empower themselves and to feel useful in society,” Professor Gupta explains.

Gayatri Devi, a mother of one, earns about 3,500 rupees (US$82) a month from her stitching and tailoring business, as well as from fees from about 30 apprentices who come to her every month for lessons. She conducts the lessons in her own small one-roomed house, teaching her apprentices to sew, cut, embroider and stitch all sorts of garments. Using her savings, she has been able to pay for her daughter’s schooling, and to pay for her house.

“My life is much more fulfilled, and I have no financial problems as I used to, which is a big relief because it allows me to do what I do without worrying about a lot of other things,” she says.

Secretariat Links:

• Country Profile: India
• Youth