From begging to crocheting: Madari women on way to earning a livelihood

The Bhasha Research and Publication Centre (BRPC), which is providing skill training to at least 15 women each from around 40 families of the community living in Ahmedabad, will soon conduct an exhibition of their work in Ramol.

“We have been promised sales in the coming months… We were paid Rs 3,000 once and Rs 3,500 another time…,” says Kajal.

A trust founded in 1996 for the study, documentation and conservation of marginal languages, Bhasha is recognised as a centre of excellence under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India. It works in the areas of language, arts, culture, education and social harmony, across states and union territories.

The centre has been providing skill training to women with focus on livelihood for the tribe.

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The initiative was taken up by Bhasha during the Covid-19 pandemic when these communities were severely affected. According to Bhasha, the aim is to make these women independent to create an incoms of their own.

Gazala Paul, a consultant for western India, from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, a London-based philanthropist organisation that is funding the project, said, “Earlier Madaris were like Kalbelias, the snake charmers, had their livelihood based around animals. But statutes such as The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 prevented the community from living on their original occupation and pushed them to become labourers and beggars.”

The project focuses on denotified tribes which were earlier criminalised under Criminal Tribes Act 1871 of the British Raj. The tribes include Kalbelias/Madaris, Kanjar, Sansi, Nath, Pardhi, Bedia, Banchada and Gadiya Lohars. Around 40 such denotified tribes exist in Gujarat.

Initially, the community was granted relief funds by the foundation in association with Bhasha.

However, later, given the stigma of being snake charmers, Bhasha took up the initiative to skill the women of these communities.

“The older generation of the community was skilled in quilt-making, but this generation hardly knows the craft. They do it but not to sell. We here are equipping them with the new skill of making items from crochet and doda dora (braiding),” said Dr Madan Meena, a trustee at Bhasha Research and Publication Center.

The skilling project started a year ago and these women are still being trained. They are given a stipend of Rs 3,500 every month in accounts opened in their names.

“We have been taught this work of bharat (embroidery) for the past few months. They come to check our work on a monthly basis,” said 34-year-old Shobha Sanjay Nath Madari. The women are trained for 2-3 hours a day for three days in a week.

“For their craft, now they will be paid per piece, which will get them a decent earning on their own,” said Dr Meena. The exhibition will mark the second phase of the project that will be followed by launching of an e-commerce website and social media accounts for marketing.
The project is slated to cover a period of seven years, according to Paul.