Artisan Jitan Devi Who Makes Products From Bamboo, Urges Jharkhand Govt To Provide Machines

Jitan Devi works in a village near Ranchi and her craftsmanship has inspired the women in the area where only a few have ventured.  Devi heads a team that makes products from bamboo in her village and has changed the perspective of women's employment in a rural setup. But she wants to grow more, thus has urged the Jharkhand government to provide the essential machines to increase the manufacturing of the products.

"Around 30 women are working with us. Now, I go to different places to train people. I urge the govt to provide us machines so that we can make more items in a day," Devi told ANI.

Jharkhand: A craftswoman makes hand-crafted products from bamboo at a village near Ranchi. "Around 30 women are working with us. Now, I go to different places to train people. I urge the govt to provide us machines so that we can make more items in a day," Jitan Devi says (04.01) pic.twitter.com/WnW56XMGaG

— ANI (@ANI) January 4, 2021

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Artisan Devi, who lives in Dahu village, around 22 km away from Ranchi district headquarters, believes that her Bamboo products have been in their "tradition right from the beginning" but it was "limited to a very few items."  Talking about the current pandemic and surviving through it, she told ANI, "Due to the emerging changes our products were being sold during Chhath puja and weddings. We maintain the stock of our products to sell it in the market."

She claimed that she saw a decrease in the demand for such traditional bamboo products during the lockdown and the following months due to COVID-19. Since the productivity is low and it is time-consuming, Devi, along with other women like her, was forced to develop the products as per need. They even underwent formal training under the Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society. "People from Odisha trained us for seven years. We used to get Rs 10 daily during training and Now, I along with my husband go to different places to train people. We also go outside Jharkhand to sell our products too," she said.

However, after training, she says that her products with a modern touch cost Rs 10000 to Rs 12,000, wherein "earlier we used to sell products for Rs 1500 to Rs 2000 made from one bamboo."

They are making more profit and "We now make designer products from bamboo. Sometimes people and various NGOs give us bulk orders, and we get profits. This work has given us respect," she said.

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Feature Image Credit: ANI

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