Prof.Shrikant Bhate.

Architect and Social Entrepreneur.

D-9, Durvankur Society I, Panchavati, Pashan. Pune 411008.

Mobile:9890440648. E mail: bhate48@gmail.com.

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PROJECT PROPOSAL

EMPOWERING RURAL WOMEN THROUGH VARIOUS

EARNING OPPORTUNITIES TO BECOME SELF SUFFICIENT

IN BASIC LIVING NEEDS.

Preamble: It is seen that after 66 years of independence the fruits of

development have not reached the needy people of society as there are huge

problems in delivery system, with the result even though Govt has spent huge

sums of money for rural development, due to lack of co ordination between

varios departments, the expected results could not be achieved.

Considering above mentioned aspect we wish to design and implement a unique

delivery system through which the individual family would be able to meet all its

basic requiremnets and get Economic Freedom to pursue higher goals in life.

BASIC NEEDS OF RURAL FAMILY:

It is observed that average rural family faces following problems in their day to

day life.

1. Availability of clean drinking water.

2. Clean and Healthy Toilet facility.

3. Assured supply of fuel for cooking.

4. Availability of Electricity.

5. Skill based education and entrepreneurship development.

6. Good farming practices such as Organic Farming and assured income to

agricultural produce.

7. Primary Health Care facility.

8. Guidence for all kinds of building construction activity such as housing, cow

sheds, cold storage facility, dairy, and poultry sheds etc.

9. Cultural and Social awareness programmes.

Our proposal.

It is not possible to tackle all these problems simalteneously but we wish to take

up few of these issues and offer various solutions under one roof so that as

families improve their economic level thay will add on various other tools/

gadgets etc so that their life will become less cumbersome and they will have

more time for earning opportunities.

We wish to offer following facilities with approximate cost estimates and their

advantages.

1. Clean Drinkig water. We will

be giving a small water filter which

removes all the harmful substances

from water and makes it potable

and free from any bacterias. All the

major diseases in village occur due

to impure water and we hope that

this fcaility will save considerable

amount of money from the family

budget.

Approximate budget: Rs. 1000/

2. Clean and Healthy Toilet Facility:

We wish to offer very comfortable toilet facility which is very easy to

construct and which uses mimimum amount of water and the urine is

collected separately and used as fertilizer in the farms. The excreta are

sanitised with the help of good ventilation and solar heat and then it is

converted in to good quality wormicompost.

This facility will improve the health of families and will also considerably

increase the agricultural production from their backyard/ farm.

The toilet may cost around, Rs. 15,000/

3 Domestinc ready to install Bio Gas plant and Solar Cooker.

This plant will help provide the fuel for cooking and will make the cooking

much easier without any harmful smoke etc and will help maintain good

health of women. The slurry from gas plant is good manure and can be

used in the backyard for growing vegetables of daily use.

Approximate Budget: Rs 20,000/

4 Solar Electricity:

In rural areas the power cut severly hampers various activities such as

students study, watching T.V, running of small industries etc. We wish to

provide basic lighting facility so that minimum amount of light required will

be available in the house and as the family gets more income they will add

more panels and will get more light.

Approximate Budget: Rs.10, 000/

5 Providing income generation by planting Moringa Trees and giving

nutritious food.

We wish to provide basic nutritinal needs of all family members to keep

them healthy. We will be giving them ready to eat items prepared by local

Self Help Group so an income generation activity will get going and each

family will be benefitted.

Approximate Budget Rs. 500 per month.

Above mentioned basic needs will be fulfilled by providing income

generation opportunities to the women SHG’S and helping them to get

the loans and timely repayment. Livelihood opprtunity through tiny and

small scale industry initiative.

1) Earthworm rearing, wormi composting etc.

The earth worms and wormi compost command good price in the market

so we hope that the group will be able to earn good income through this

venture.

2) Marketing Solar Dried Agri Produce.

The Solar Dried Food business is quite new in India and has got good

demand in Urban areas. Well designed packaging and aggressive

marketing will generate good business for these products.

3). Solar Cooking and selling Solar Cooked Nutritious Food Items

Solar cooked food is very delicious and remains in good condition for

considerable time. Urban Areas and neighbouring housing will have good

scope for these products.

4) Sericulture. Weaving of silk yarn, selling of cookens.

The rural women can take up this business very seriously as Govt

purchases the cookens at fixed rate so there will be constant income

through this venture.

5) Weaving cotton yarn with modified Amber charakha

This venture is also very suitable for women for earning good income

working from their home. With the help of solar electricity the yarn

spnning is much simpler and earning will also be much more.

So it will be our endeavour to offer earning opportunities to rural women

so that they can earn about Rs 100/ per day and save about rs 25 to 30

daily or about Rs 750/ per month to afford above mentioned facilities in

their house which will give them more time for earning and improve the

quality of life by removing the drugery thay have to face everyday.

By having above mentioned facilities overall saving/ earning will be as

follows,

1. Water purifier and Toilet facility: saving Rs. 100/ ( on medicines and

sickness)

2. By solar lighting. Rs. 200/

3. By bio gas plant. Rs. 300/

4. By solar cooker. Rs. 100/

5. By having nutritious food. Rs. 300/

6. Increased agricultural production. Rs. 500/

Total earning/saving per month Rs. 1500/

So it will be seen that if a family invests Rs. 50,000/ initially, then they will

get all the basic needs fulfilled and the life will become much easier and

the members of family will be able to devote more time for earning

opportunities.

We feel that if a Bank sanctions a loan for a group of 10 families which may

be a SHG in a village then the total loan amount will be re. 5,00,000/ and

considering present interest rate and a loan repayment period of 100

months we assume that EMI will not be more than RS 750.00 whereas

total saving/ earning will be Rs.1500/ per month, so even after paying

regular installment of maximum Rs 750/ per month the family will be

saving Rs.750 per month.

We also wish to offer Health and Accident Insurance benefits to all

families out of their savings which will take care of any eventuality and

also help them tide over any medical and accidental mishap.

So this is a unique scheme of Empowering Rural Women and helping them

get rid of daily hardhips they have been facing in their daily routine.

The actual benefits will be as follows,

1. Improved Health due to water filter and toilet and less expenditure on

medicines and hospital.

2. Assured fuel for cooking, smokelss kitchens and so better health

condition.

3. Assured lighting so kids can study till late night, parents can put in

additional work, they will have better entrtaining opportunities due to

T.V, music etc.

4. Improved living condition due to assured income through tiny business

model.

5. Overall improvement in health due to more intake of nutritous food and

the children, old people, pregnant women will enjoy good health and

new born babies will also show this improvement.

It is proved internationally that if we invest 1 rs in fulfilling the basic

needs of families then overall economy growth will be around Rs. 8 to 9

which is about 8 to 9 times the original investment. So if we can adopt

this model in rural areas we will see exponential growth of economy and

it will give great impetus to purchasing power of rural population which

will drive the overall industry on the path of rapid growth.

So we strongly advocate that all the financial Institutions may consider

this proposal and may be implemented in every village in order to usher

in a Green and Economic Revolution in India.