: New Scheme Makes Clothes More Fashionable Than Guns in Dantewada, Helps 749 Women #IndiaNEWS #Chhattisgarh Pramila Netam’s voice shook as she recalled how her father fell to bullets during the dreaded

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New Scheme Makes Clothes More Fashionable Than Guns in Dantewada, Helps 749 Women #IndiaNEWS #Chhattisgarh
Pramila Netam’s voice shook as she recalled how her father fell to bullets during the dreaded Salwa Judum which continued from 2005 to 2011 in Bastar, Chhattisgarh. An anti-insurgency movement, it aimed to counter the Naxal movement through tribal youths but ended due to repeated allegations of gross human rights abuses.
Now, in her 20s, Netam supports her family of three by working at a garment factory at Haram village of Dantewada district in southern Chhattisgarh. “My family fled Abujhmar during Salwa Judum. We stayed at a relief camp for a few days and later came to Geedam block where a few of my relatives lived. � Even now, the densely forested Abujhmar region in central India spread over 4000 sq km is a Maoist stronghold. Back then, it was a scene of violence.
The college dropout says she likes stitching tops and palazzos. Though most comfortable in Kurtis, she loves trying out some of the latest clothes. “When I see other girls wearing them, there’s a strong urge to try on western clothes,� Netam says.
Dannex: Changing rural lives
Manager Kajal Banjare is in charge of all the four garment manufacturing units and looks after the daily functioning.
Garment manufacturing is making a splash in Dantewada, which has been affected by Naxal violence for several years. The district, a part of the Bastar sub-division, has a low literacy rate of 33 per cent and limited livelihood opportunities. Traditional means of earning income are agriculture and the collection of minor forest produce.
But clothes make a fashion statement, and the garment factory in Haram, called Dannex or ‘Dantewada Next’, is a hub of feverish activity during morning hours. Besides Haram, three other Dannex factories have been set up since last year in Katekalyan, Karli and Barsoor where rural women, mostly Adivasis, have been employed. Today, they are earning between Rs 7,000 to Rs 12,000 per month.
All the four units together employ 749 women.
Kritesh Hirwani, the principal of Livelihood College which was set up in 2011 for skill development, says the idea behind Dannex was started by the district administration to offer livelihood opportunities to women. The minimum age limit is 18. It is a six-day working schedule with Sunday off.
Amid a conversation with Hirwani, a few male workers unload rolls of cloth on laying tables for cutting. These arrive from companies based in New Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai. Manager Kajol Banjare, who looks after all the four factories, says that the companies send raw materials with instructions about designs. The women make pants, palazzos, skirts, tops, salwar kameezes and kurtas. “After cutting the cloth rolls according to sizes, they are stitched using Juki machines.

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