Literacy To Self-Reliance

( The Story of Bagnan Mahila Bikash)

Women should be considered not only as a women but also as a human being and there will be the upliftment for the women."

Centuries ago the great poet Rabindranath Tagore said "নারীকে আপন ভাগ্য জয় করিবার কেন নাহি দিবে অধিকার হে বিধাতা(O God, why, don't you give women the right to conquer their own destiny?  )". Right is to be attained and the women of Bagnan began the process of attaining their right from the year 1993. The story of Began was unfold with the total literacy campaign. Madhuri Ghosh, then the headmistress of a local primary school, was elected as a member of panchayet samiti in Bagnan- I of Howrah district in 1993 and became the KARMADHYAKSHO of its standing committee on education, culture, information and sports. Total literacy campaign - a national programme of Government of India – was going on in full swing at that time in the district and as chairperson of the standing committee responsible for literacy movement, Madhuri Ghosh plunged in the programme in full eagerness. In the course of her journey, she encountered many women, primarily from impoverished backgrounds, through whom she gradually became aware of not only their economic hardships but also their diverse social struggles both within their households and in society. 

Madhuri Ghosh felt the urge to do something, in addition to imparting literacy, for empowering these women economically and socially. She did not know what to do,  Under IRDP there was a scheme of government of India known as ‘training of rural youth for self-employment’ (TRYSEM) under which the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) of Howrah was arranging for various types of short-term vocational training. It was not enough for thier empowerment so another programme for women ‘development of women and children in rural areas’ (DWCRA) – a Government of India scheme under DRDA – attracted her attention. DWCRA envisaged formation of women’s groups for performing various economic and other activities together. Many neo-literate women of the Total Literacy Programme welcomed the idea, when Madhuri Ghosh explained the scheme to them. Members of some DWCRA groups took advantage of this and some women got training mushroom cultivation, food processing, tailoring, knitting, zari work etc. Initially, 13 groups with 10 to 15 members in each group were formed.

The SHG women formed a women Credit Cooperative in the year 1997 to deposit their own savings and from their own deposit they are taking loan to improve their financial status. Initially the co-operative was started with 579 women members and 1 lakh share capital.  They also formed consumer cooperative in the year 2017 for marketing their own product. Three main producer groups are now activate to supply their product to the consumer cooperative as per market demand. Consumer co-operative is also engaging in trading business as per member demand. 

From the above mention cooperative profit 10% using as welfare fund for members social development purpose. Bagnan Gramin Mahila Samillion (Regd. as NGO) monitoring the social activities. They are basically working in the field of Education, Health, Environment and livelihood purpose. 

These three main organisation under Mahila Bikash are working together for the holistic development of women and their families in 82 villages under Bagnan-1 development block.