TAHDCO’s faculty uniform stitching initiative provides extra revenue to SC/ST ladies in Tamil Nadu-OxBig News Network

Nearly 2,800 ladies entrepreneurs from SC and ST communities and self-help group members are concerned in stitching 2.51 lakh uniforms, this yr.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Nearly 2,800 ladies entrepreneurs and self-help group members from Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities in Tamil Nadu are concerned in stitching 2.51 lakh uniforms for college students finding out in faculties administered by the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department, providing them a further supply of revenue, due to an initiative by the Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing Development Corporation (TAHDCO).

Students finding out in faculties below the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department are supplied with 4 units of uniforms freed from price yearly. To sew these uniforms, ladies entrepreneurs from SC and ST communities who had availed loans below TAHDCO’s financial improvement schemes, together with members of girls self-help teams educated in tailoring, are being engaged, stated Okay. S. Kandasamy, Managing Director of TAHDCO.

This initiative goals to supply them with a further supply of revenue. The Tamil Nadu Textile Corporation provides the supplies, whereas TAHDCO’s district workplaces allocate the variety of uniforms to every group. Once supplies are acquired, the tailors go to faculties to take pupil measurements, he stated.

S. Manimegalai, a 41-year-old tailor-turned-entrepreneur from Senthamangalam in Namakkal district, transitioned from working in a garment manufacturing unit to working her personal tailoring unit with the assist of TAHDCO. After securing a ₹5 lakh mortgage together with a ₹1.5 lakh subsidy in 2022, she expanded her operations from 4 to fifteen stitching machines, offering jobs to fifteen ladies.

“While uniform stitching is seasonal, lasting only for 45 to 50 days, it yields what we usually earn in six months. On an average we earn up to ₹25,000 to ₹ 30,000 a month, while stitching school uniforms. This is double the earning when compared to what we usually earn around ₹10,000 to ₹12,000 a month,” she stated.

Okay. Sangeetha, a member of the Sri Muthumariamman Women Self-Help Group in Vaniyambadi in Tirupathur district, stated she initially had just one stitching machine and used to depend on occasional tailoring work from folks in her neighbourhood. “Things changed after availing a ₹7 lakh loan from TAHDCO, which included a ₹2.1 lakh subsidy. Today, our self-help group has 15 sewing machines. The income is relatively higher during the months we get to stitch school uniforms,” she stated.

Official sources stated every tailor is paid ₹300 per set for women’ uniforms and ₹200 for boys’ uniforms. The State authorities has sanctioned ₹6.54 crore for this initiative this yr.