Bivek Mathur
JAMMU, Jan 13: The shedding of dry pine needles forms a thick mat on the ground which not only affects the growth or regeneration but due to the slow rate of decomposition, the needles sometimes easily catch the fire, thus unaccountable damage to the flora and fauna.
To tackle this problem in Rajouri’s Kalakote town, a group of 25-30 women associated with the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) every morning go out in the nearby forests and collect the pine needles to make beautiful crafts out of them.
On one hand the women’s initiative is helping to prevent the incidents of forest fires in summers it is simultaneously giving them (women) a chance to earn a better living as their crafts have started finding buyers both offline and online.
“After collecting the pine needles, our women self-help-group members wash them in shampoo and later in warm water. By doing so, the pine needles become tough like plastic,” said one of the women self-help-group (SHG) members, Anju Devi, 42, wife of Kamal Singh of Jungrail West, Kalakote.
Followed by this, the woman said, “The needles are dried at room temperature and after they become tough and flexible, several crafts materials are made out of them depending on the expertise of the individual women SHG members.”
According to her, until 2014, most of the poorly educated women in her village and town had no source of employment. But in 2014, many self-help-groups were formed in her village and several women were made part of those groups.
For around one year since formation of the SHGs in her village, the woman said, she didn’t get an idea about what National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) was.
“But after our acquaintance with the functioning of the mission, our women started taking loans for dairy farming and other small scale businesses,” said the 42-year-old craft maker of Kalakote.
For almost eight years after the formation of the SHGs, the Kalakote women continued to work on minor projects by applying for small loans under the mission.
But in November 2022, Block Programme Manager (BPM), NRLM, Kalakote Block, Aftab Malik said a woman from Himachal Pradesh, who was an expert in making crafts and baskets out of pine needles, was called in to train the women SHG members of Kalakote.
“It took our women SHGs only a few days to learn the art of crafts making from pine needles and now their fine handmade items are being sold both in offline and online markets,” Malik said.
According to NRLM’s Cluster Coordinator of Mahila Kranti Cluster Level Federation (CLF) of Kalakote Block, Anuradha Mala, the women self-help-group members of Kalakote make roti boxes, pen holders, trays with wooden bases, tea coasters, purses, and baskets using the pine needles.
As far as marketing of the fine handmade products made by the women SHG members is concerned, she said, “Our BPM has tied up with the online sales platform MEESHO and in offline mode, our products are sold through government-run melas, exhibitions etc.”
“And most women SHG members in Kalakote’s rural setup, who had no source of income until 2022, have now started making thousands from the sale of their products both offline and online,” said an elated CC of Mahila Kranti CLF.
“This has really empowered our women,” she added.
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