– Omprakash Mishra
Ranchi : Indiravati Tiriya, a resident of the remote village of Mazgaon in Chakradharpur, is shining a light in her life by examining cocoons to make silk threads with a testing microscope. Indiravati says, I had never even heard the name of a microscope, but today I use it very well in testing. This has boosted my confidence. Apart from tasar farming, our family has no other means of earning. We are completely dependent on sericulture. I never thought that Tasar would prove to be so beneficial for me. I got training by Govt. Today I am earning up to Rs 1,69,000 per annum. About 18 thousand women like Indiravati are now giving a new dimension to their livelihood by cultivating silk in a scientific way with the changing times.
Following the instructions of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, work is being done to increase the income of rural families through livelihood empowerment from forest produce of the state. Taking a step in this direction, the livelihood of remote rural families is being strengthened by promoting sericulture on a large scale through the didi of Sakhi Mandal in Jharkhand, suitable for natural tasar cultivation. Once the families who had given up on tasar cultivation due to the loss in silk farming, today Vedas are making good income by cultivating tasar in a scientific way and are connecting others with it.
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This story of change is being written through the silk project implemented by Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society. This initiative of the Chief Minister to link forest produce with the livelihood of the rural family in the remote forested areas of Jharkhand, rich in forests, is proving to be successful.
More than 18 thousand rural women associated with scientific cultivation of tasar
Through this initiative, work is being done to increase the income of about 18 thousand rural women of the state by connecting them with the scientific method of Tasar. Under Project Resham, production groups are formed and technical help along with necessary equipment and tools are also made available to the producer groups. In order to promote Tasar cultivation through this initiative, about 482 sisters of Sakhi Mandal have been made Master Trainers as ‘Livelihood Resham Mitras’ and 602 women as Tester Didi, who provide training and technical assistance to farmers in their service villages. Giving for Today these 602 tester didis of the village test the cocoon themselves through a microscope. At the same time, Resham Mitra works to connect and train the villagers with the scientific farming of Tasar.
Sericulture got a new direction through producer company
The silk project has revived the dying tasar farming in Jharkhand as well as prevented migration to rural areas. By doing Tasar farming, especially rural women farmers, earning well at low cost, are presenting a new picture of a changing state by becoming self-reliant. Scientific cultivation of silk is being promoted by Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society in 20 blocks of 8 districts of the state. In the coming days, there are plans to connect Didis from yarn production to silk products.
“The rural women of the state are being linked with a strong livelihood through scientific cultivation of tasar. Today, more than 18 thousand rural women are becoming self-reliant by joining tasar farming. Rural women are also being linked to yarn production through cocoons. The sisters of Sakhi Mandal will also play an important role in the manufacture of silk designer clothes in the value chain.