Mirch Masala

A group of women in Rajasthan learns to earn cooking mid-day meals for school children

A year ago stepping out of their homes to earn was a thought that had never occurred to these Marwadi women. A year later that8217;s exactly what they are doing. Six women from the Kalwad Annapura Co-operative Group are a few of the many in Rajasthan who have made this journey.

Even when these women from Kalwad, a village about 50 km away from Jaipur, began cooking for school children under the mid-day meal scheme, they weren8217;t really sure this was for them. 8216;8216;I never thought this would work out and was worried I wouldn8217;t be able to cope with it. Now I am enjoying it,8217;8217; says Mariyan Khan.

The group at Kalwad prepares lunch for six schools in and around their village. Their day begins at 8 every morning and ends at 4 pm. There are more than 11,000 women8212;many of them illiterate and from the backward classes8212;who have now found a new source of income, thanks to the Annapurna co-operative groups launched by the Rajasthan Government last November. The women earn Rs 40 per working day. With the money has a come a sense of independence.

8216;8216;It has taught us how to handle money, how a co-operative works and how we can help our families,8217;8217; says Parvati Yogi, another member.

At present, the co-operative groups, active in two panchayats of each district of the state, are being run on a pilot basis. However, such has been its success that the idea of extending it across the state is now being explored.

Rajasthan is the first state where such groups are active, providing not just employment to rural women but also ensuring that the food served is comes up to a certain standard. 8216;8216;Since the children of most of these women study in the schools where they cook, they try to do their best. In any case they know all the children since they belong to the same village,8217;8217; says Deepti Joshi, one of the co-operative inspectors.

There are 460 Annarpurna co-operative groups operating across the state, covering 3,300 government primary schools and over 3.5 lakh students in rural areas. Nansi Yogi, mess incharge at the Pachar Annarpurna Co-operative, which prepares food for students of ten such schools, says, 8216;8216;It feels great. We get a sense of doing something good for the children and we also earn some money doing that.8217;8217;

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Currently, co-operative groups are working only on mid-day meals but the government is planning to soon introduce other schemes for them.

8216;8216;We are trying to see what other projects can be set up for these women. Now that they are trained, we can think of launching more projects for their benefit,8217;8217; says Sudhash Pant, director, mid-day meals.