File picture of jute-based products produced by local self-help groups on display at an exhibition in Dhubri

Dec. 4: One small step by the Rotary Club of Dhubri has been a giant leap for 30 underprivileged women of this Lower Assam district.

On Sunday, all 30 women walked out of the Dhubri Rotary Club with smiles on their faces, confident in the knowledge that the skills they learnt during a fortnight-long workshop on jute craft would enable them to become self-dependent.

The course involved training by experts at the club office itself. For practical lessons, the trainees were taken to the District Rural Development Agency’s jute diversification and training centre.

Rotary Club secretary Debojit Kalita said the training stint would stand all the women in good stead. “Even educated youth are not getting jobs and the scenario is bleaker still for those who have neither degrees nor resources. We have given these women a chance.”

Armed with skills in jute craft, the trainees are now looking forward to launching small enterprises from their homes.

“That is the basic idea behind skill-oriented training. Classes in tailoring and handicrafts last year were our club’s first concrete step in this direction,” Kalita said.

Distributing the certificates to the women, DRDA assistant project officer (credit) Naba Ghanashyam Das urged them to be serious about starting their own enterprises. He said the low-investment jute industry was a viable option for people like them.

“The Dhubri DRDA has given priority to this craft and will continue to do so in the months to come. We intend to include more and more women because jute-based products are in great demand,” Das added.

Das offered the women jobs at the DRDA centre, where they will be paid on the basis of their productivity.

But Rita Kundu, one of the women who underwent training at the centre, is keeping her options open. “I and my friends Aziza Khatoon and Mompi Choudhury dream of starting our own businesses someday,” she said.