State SHG brings out booklet to disseminate work done
Kolkata: The state Self Help Group and Self Employment department has brought out a booklet to make people aware of the work carried out by the self-help groups (SHG).
It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has over and again asked the departments to bring out booklets and books to make people aware of the work carried out by them.
The booklet titled Twenty Shades of Brilliance was recently released by the Sadhan Pandey, state minister for the department of Self Help Group and Self Employment. The booklet tells stories of artisans who have excelled in their art.
The department organised Sabala Mela annually to showcase the products of the SHGs. In 2019, as many as 310 stalls had been put up at the Sabala Mela held at the Central Park in Salt Lake in 2019. The mela allows visitors to see how various items like home decorations made of jute or bamboo are produced.
Santanu Alu, an artisan who makes handcrafted products on wood has received necessary help from the banks and is now internationally famous. A resident of Rajnagar village under Daspur Block in West Midnapore, he used to paint his dolls with colours that were available locally. Now, fine quality pine wood is imported from New Zealand along with shinning white colour. The red colour was imported from Malaysia and purple was imported from South Africa. He mixed the imported colours with the locally available ones to make his dolls an international flavour. He received financial assistance under Swami Vivekananda Karmasansthan Prakalpa to start a new life.
Sabita Sarkar, a member of Basumati SHG from Gajole block in Malda has become self-reliant by selling various home décor made from bamboos.
A senior official of the department said the artisans have not only got a new lease of life due to the financial assistance received under various projects offered by the state government, the interest to buy products from the artisans has gone up several times in the past few years. Till recently people used to buy the clay made horses of Bishnupur to decorate their rooms but now bamboo made products along with those made of wood, jute are gaining popularity. There is a new trend to buy Dokra and metal made costume jewellery. "The interaction between the artisans and the buyers take place at the mela and this helps the artisans to upgrade the designs," said an official.
