The Story of Meena Kumari - an SHG Beneficiary of Hindustan Zinc

It is said, if you want to see the sustainable development in rural India, it is important to uplift the lives of rural women, make them socio-economic empowered. To uplift the lives of rural women in Rajasthan and to make them empowered, it was important to first make them socially independent. Hindustan Zinc initiated the concept of `Self-Help Group’, to bring together 10-12 rural women, preferably from the same village and surroundings, and empower them first with skill based training.

The initiative was successful. Hindustan Zinc has formed 215 such self-help-groups and brought together about 3,700 rural women. These women have been given professional training in various vocational streams including handicrafts, embroidery, terracotta & tailoring, vegetable cultivation etc. To bring literacy amongst these women, the company organizes `Adult Literacy Camps’ focusing on basic education. These self-help-groups today run their own micro-enterprises. A small initiative that started with thrift savings is today linked with banks for loans, at much subsidized rates, which has substantially scaled up their livelihood.

Here presenting you one of the such success story - the story of Meena Kumari, one of the many women in rural Rajasthan, whose hand-stitched craft embodies the spirit of Rajputs in various artifacts and dresses. By joining the local Self Help Group supported by Hindustan Zinc, this woman of Debari village has acquired stitching and embroidery skills and has become an entrepreneur.

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A Story of Meena Kumari - an SHG Beneficiary