A management graduates mission to help the underprivileged
M.J. PRABU
| About 600 farmers are part of the project and are benefited |
New Innovation: Kaushlendra (left) at one of the vegetable vending centres.
When even children of farmers are not taking to farming as a full time profession, a management graduate from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, Mr. Kaushlendra, instead of opting for a high-salaried job, set up a foundation to help poor vegetable growers, vendors, and farm labourers in Bihar.
Explaining the reason for this unusual decision, he says:
When I enrolled at the Gujarat College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology at Junagadh, the prosperous farms, booming industries and above all, the industriousness of the State impressed me.
Compared to my native Mohammadpur village in Nalanda district of Bihar, where villagers even now have to trudge 2 km on a dusty path before reaching the main road. I nursed a desire to do something to change the lives of the poor and disadvantaged.
Providing a platform
After completing his education, Mr. Kaushlendra started the foundation Kaushalya which he says,
Provides a platform of opportunities for gainful and dignified self-employment for families dependent on agriculture, especially disadvantaged sections (farmers, farm labourers, vegetable vendors and ensuring sustainable livelihood, improved quality of life and human values.
Professionalizing street vendors and marginal growers, and empowering them to face future challenges in the new global economy seemed a big challenge at first, because bringing them together, interacting and convincing them took time, according to him.
Project Samriddhii
Under a project called Samriddhii, Mr. Kaushlendra created a vegetable supply chain and linked together scattered vegetable growers and vendors in the state.
The project staff collected the vegetables from the farmers and supplied them to the vegetable vendors.
Our staff also supplied high quality vegetable seeds to farmers through a tie-up with reputed seed suppliers and also offer crop production services to them, he says.
Partnership
We also formed partnerships between farmers and vendors with a focus on shared interests and mutual development. To maintain product integrity and continuity from source to the customer, our organization established an integrated supply chain which connects and maintains the goods flow from the source (growers) to customers (road-side vendors, organized retail, food service and hospitality industry”, explains Mr. Kaushlendra.
Growing numbers
About 600 farmers, 300 vegetable vendors, 11 Farmers Self Help Groups and 26 women vegetable vendors are associated with the organization at present.
Sensitization programmes to inform and introduce the producers and vendors to the value of collective action under a business model are regularly organized.
A beneficiary, Ms. Poonam Devi says:
I took credit from money lenders (a hefty 10 per cent a day) in the absence of any other facility after my husbands death. Local policemen and sometimes anti-social element fleeced and harassed me.
Daily earning
My daily earning after long hard work and harassment hardly met my daily requirements. Fortunately, I met members of the Foundation (KF), who encouraged me to from a Self Help Group (SHG).
Today I am able to earn about Rs.200 a day and am able to provide three meals a day to my children and send them to school for some basic education. I feel confident and empowered, she says with a smile.
For more information contact Mr. Kaushlendra, Managing trustee, Kaushlya Foundation, I Floor, K/A-44, Lalita Market, Hanuman Nagar, Kankerbagh, Patna- 800020,website: www.kaushalyafoundation.org, email- kaushal.indra@gmail.com, mobile: 09304446443