Ranchi, June 6: In a smart cap and uniform, Rambha Devi of Tarapur, Pakur, 350km from Ranchi, hesitates to call herself a caterer. Till last month, she was a daily wager, doing odd jobs and making less than Rs 5,000. Her three children are dropouts.
But, Rambha and four other equally poor women like from Tarapur, Urmila, Sanjhala, Manju and Basanti know their lives have taken an unbelievable turn. Part of 14 women in Tarapur asked by the district administration to form self-help groups under National Rural Livelihoods Mission and Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society, these five women recently formed a group to run a canteen at Sonajori Sadar Hospital in Pakur.
Pakur is Jharkhand's first district where women self-help groups are being promoted by the administration to run office canteens under the Aajeevika Didi's Café brand.
From January to June, three canteens hit the ground running - at Pakur collectorate in January, Littipara block office in April and Sonajori Sadar Hospital in June. And, the state's unique experiment in women's empowerment inspired by Kerala's well-known Kudumbashree has won applause from even chief secretary Rajbala Verma.
Like the older two, the new canteen also sells samosas, jalebis and puri -chhole, veg., chicken and fish meals and tea at affordable rates. The hospital canteen caters to 50 customers or more - doctors, health staff and visitors looking for convenient options in a rebel-hit area where fast food culture has not made inroads - on an average every day.
In all three cases, the district administration facilitated the women's training in cooking and running the business from National Rural Livelihoods Mission, Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society and Kudumbashree members before each canteen's launch. It is doing so for the fourth Aajeevika Didi's Café to open next month at Pakur's SDO office.
"We have always cooked at home, but making snacks and dishes in huge quantities that everyone will like takes a different skill. Thankfully, we have a knack for cooking," said Rambha. "We are doing this business for our children. If this canteen takes off like the other two have done, I can enroll my children back in school," she added.
Pakur DC A. Muthukumar said he had borrowed this idea to make village rural earn well from Kerala's famous Kudumbashree programme.
"I was unsure whether poor rural women with not much education or exposure could run canteen businesses but decided to try this out. But, these women surprised us," he said. "We did a feedback-based assessment of the first canteen after three months of it being set up in January. Regulars at the canteen were happy with the food and service. The women were earning a neat profit of around Rs 60,000 a month. It was a win-win for everyone," the DC added.
He added that in the case of Littipara, the district administration arranged credit linkage from SBI for the women. In the case of the two others, the women pooled in whatever savings they had to start the canteen. "You can imagine, it will be a disaster if the ventures fail. So, the women are doing their best and the results are showing," he said.
He added that the initiative won applause from the visiting National Rural Livelihoods Mission team last month and Jharkhand chief secretary Rajbala Verma who directed all districts to replicate the Pakur model.
If the women keep up the momentum, Aajeevika Didi's Café looks set to go places. "The district administration has taken a policy decision to give preference to Aajeevika Didi's Café for bulk catering orders for government programmes. We are working on developing an App titled Order My Meal to connect with Aajeevika Didi's Café and exploring training options for self-help group women at good hotels in the state," said Pakur DC.
