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One India | Season 2: Watch How Indha Crafts Used Technology To Empower Women And Change Their Lives
‘Facebook presents One India’ is a series which showcases stories of ordinary people coming together to impact the lives of many for the better. The Season 2 of One India revolves around the spirit of change and revolutionizing things using technology. This season is all about the stories that will reach and empower the communities.
The first episode talks about how Captain Indraani Singh (Founder – Indhacrafts) changed the lives of many women by employing them in Indhacrafts and creating indha-preneurs. She then took another step towards success by going online and getting connected to other parts of the world. Today, Indha has 12 centres in 4 different states, 20 mentors along with 350 Indha-preneurs. She is also giving educational opportunities to underprivileged children through “Literacy India.”
“Indha interestingly means a ring which a woman puts on her head, and she carries water pitchers on her head, if you have seen in Haryana villages. The whole idea behind this Indha was, that it is a ring of responsibility and the whole idea of women empowerment is, that the women take lead to take up their responsibility, rather than just living in shadows.” – Captain Indraani Singh
On this episode our panel of experts comprises of Captain Indraani Singh (Founder – Indhacrafts), James Raphael (Executive Head – Retailers Association’s Skill Council of India), Rekha Sharma (Chairperson – National Commission For Women), Mrinalini Kher (Founder – Yuva Parivartan) along with the moderators Deepti Sachdeva (Senior Editor – Republic Tv) and Arnab Goswami (Editor in Chief & Founder – Republic Tv).
Watch the full episode of INDHA to know more about their work and also the impact of this organisation on others.
Republic and #facebook One India season 2 . Indha is selected as launch case study by Republic TV.
NOW LIVE with Deepti Sachdeva | #OneIndiaOnRepublicTV From being the first Asian woman to fly the Airbus 320 to now giving wings to rural women across multiple states in India. Hear the story of Indha.
Posted by Republic on Saturday, September 15, 2018
People and Planet
Its been sometime since I wrote about our Social Venture “INDHA” which aims at empowering underserved women and makes sure it builds sustainability in its overall growth.INDHA`s prevailing belief in people and its planet made the overall progress slow yet had been able to create a whole lot of awareness about its work on various products.
Businesses don’t thrive on these, do they ? its all about how much Profit you made with the Capital in hand. The loss is never welcome in businesses. However, there had been a struggle in shaping the foremost, our women from the community, who are not only gifted and they gained with the training invested on them.
Capacitating them had been the hardest due to varied literacy levels of these Adults. INDHA`s everyday work goes around to cover more ground that is to work around their conservative ideas and beliefs, to build their confidence and finally work on their Aptitude/ Attitude towards the Quality finish so that our Buyers be amazed by its beauty and talent.
The overall transition had been to build the whole eco-system which tested our Perseverance and Patience at every level. Indian Villages has its own set of challenges due to its remoteness and lack of all kinds of amenities. The process continued with Handful of people getting ready, with more prepared in the wings.
The End product created had to be beautiful and amazing for INDHA with quality to be remembered by – this wasn’t easy either –Many days went by thinking “what would catch People `s eye and things which would remain with them forever”.
The word “utility “ word was significant for us as we all somehow use something or the other, in our daily lives; therefore INDHA focused greatly on Utility products and the same for gifting could be promoted amongst Event Managers & Corporate Buy.
INDHA designs focused on always creating something handmade, handcrafted and use of Raw Material which could be recycled and Earth Friendly, therefore, furthering our cause of “People & Planet “ in harmony.
We found many fashion Boutiques trashed their fabric – each small piece was beautiful and held a potential of being recreated into something Niche.
Our Production started & scaled from Village Bajghera, Haryana, then to Rajasthan, Delhi and West Bengal – these Pieces were put together like a beautiful artwork in harmony to produce something we all would use it at our homes.
New Artisans could hone their skill in stitching these pieces together and designs created had vivid combination, their own story of craft, and talent exhibited was something to reckon with, as we were encouraged by Buyer`s awe.
A Great High when World chose our products in many exhibitions, at Retails and also for Corporate Gifting – to name a few these are – A Dustbin, A Pen stand, a Dairy, a Quilt, Bags of all kinds and several Furnishing Items.
Change is happening – Many Companies have changed their Choices of gifting, they have started choosing Products which are giving work to Rural poor, Empowering the Women. The hint of Pride is noticed by many Indians while using our products. Many have expressed that they love the fragrance of Indian-ness in our products.
This gives us the Courage to continue as the People`s Choice is growing.
Best wishes,
Captain Indraani Singh
Founder – Indha & AirIndia Commander
MEET THE ARTIST – Shellie Singh Rana
Here is another inspiring story of an Indha woman whose amazing works of creativity is now a part of many of Indha’s products. I would like to introduce her as an artist who expresses joie de vivre in her paintings.
Shellie Singh Rana, my old time friend was all game to join us, for her beautiful paintings were to become an integral part of the eclectic designs of Indha products. Most importantly, she was happy in becoming an INDHA- PRENEUR. Shellie lives in Gurgaon with her husband who is a Pilot & they have two sons. Painting is her passion and Shellie is full of life and enthusiasm that is reflected in her work. I knew she would love the idea of her work being used in various products like Cushion Covers, Diaries & Tote bags. She was all for generating work for the Indha women who come from underserved background.
Shellie Rana Singh is a renowned contemporary artist whose refreshingly colorful abstract paintings are a joyful depiction of the festivity and frolic of metropolitan living.She channeled these thoughts to canvas and her paintings are resplendent with colors of joy, life, festivities and vivaciousness that best describes the effervescent place.
Her widespread popularity as an artist is due to her captivating techniques reflecting resplendent splashes of color that suggest a pandemonium of activities in a typical metropolitan lifestyle and a buoyant optimism of reality and imagination.
Shellie’s exhibitions are a sell-out and her paintings are conversational pieces adorning many modern homes and offices. I had my fair share of friendships and their impact in my life. Shellie’s is one friendship that will remain close to my heart because she is a true friend who shares my ideals and is a part of the initiative that I have dedicated my life to. This blog is aimed at bringing to the world, budding entrepreneurs and latent talent of many women I meet every day across India, who strive to emerge as winners in their life’s fight. Here’s to more women wearing Indha – the ring of responsibility – like a crown of honour.
Capt. Indraani Singh Senior AirIndia Pilot:Founder/Managing Trustee-Literacy India Founder-Indha Craft
The ladies of the ring…. of responsibility
It’s not easy to come up with a blog which people will read and enjoy. I found that the doodle of ” from the horse’s mouth” would draw a comic curiosity & add a flavor to INDHA`s stories. It was almost ten odd years ago at our center at Village Daulatabad, while sitting with the women who were being trained on sewing & tailoring, I got into a dialogue with them about how would most of them use their skill for revenue generation. I found it was not easy for them. First of all they were bound by conservative norms, where women were not allowed to go beyond the village boundaries and were governed by strict societal norms. Of course there was a big issue of public transport and since I was not in a position to provide transportation for all of them, I just had to do something innovative. However, even after days of thinking I was unable to find a ready solution. On a lark, in my next meeting I spoke to the group about setting up this entity which could provide a platform for the women to work together to create products to sell using their traditional craft skills, without leaving their villages. In turn, we would find ways to sell their products. In addition, this entity would enable them to become micro entrepreneurs by enabling them with tools of trade. This idea was greeted by a whole lot of excitement and energy which was a great booster even though I wasn’t quite sure of where we were headed.
The question then came up as to what should we name this new entity? I noticed women walking in with their “MATKA” (pot) on their heads, something they still do in the villages to carry water. That intrigued me. Though I wasn’t sure “MATKA” sounded appropriate, but the cushion ring on their heads on which women carried their load which was called “INDHA” seemed to ring a bell. To me it denoted “Women carrying their own responsibilities” & having their own identity. It seemed a perfect fit and thus was born “INDHA” – the platform that allowed women to translate their home grown skills into beautiful products that could be sold. At that point in time, I didn’t know whether I would be able to live up to the magnitude of the responsibility I had taken on but seeing the energy of the women and their hope I couldn’t let go. India has many villages where there are numerous such women, bound by restrictions, limited by what they can do and yet they seek answers of a similar nature. With such a humble start, I never thought I will bring so many village women, (have lost count), under this “Ring of Responsibility”.
Indha and a Pilot, which is my day job, is an odd combination. However, I am a firm believer of the “Mysterious Magic of the Universe”. Therefore, I moved on with the belief that some good would come out of INDHA. I was proven right. A decade later, INDHA has gone on to become a household name amongst the women who create these beautiful handcrafted products and their buyers.
Beyond the evolution of INDHA, I also wanted to share with you a story of motivation and the birth of an INDHA PRODUCT. In 2007, Moushumi, my dear friend, got married and relocated to Delhi. Moushumi was born and brought up in West Bengal with a Bengali Father & a Sri Lankan mother. Her demeanor was such that we use to call her “Dada” that meant overall “Boss”, but she was nothing of that sort. She was mild, pleasant and always smiling. She joined us at INDHA, believing in what we did and wanted to do her best for the organization and the women who formed it. She loved dabbling with new designs, what more could be done with the skills the women brought to the table. For some reason she loved Table “Runners” – those colorful pieces of fabric we use to light up our side boards or tables was something we couldn’t miss . We went far and wide shopping for raw material, finding new designs, creating funky runners and many other home furnishing products. She brought in an innovative concept of a shop within a restaurant and set up an INDHA shop within a popular restaurant, “100 feet” in Indiranagar, run by her brother in law and sister. And she never gave up on telling me how INDHA could continue to innovate and grow. Moushumi did all this while life kept testing her in more ways than one specially her personal life. And in a little more than a year later suddenly one day, she left us forever. I was numb with shock for days. However, just like Moushumi never gave up on INDHA, the INDHA women also never gave up on her. This year on her birthday, which is today, we are proud to dedicate our new range of home furnishings to “Dada” – the brave girl who we loved and miss every day. Our latest range of furnishings is called “Moushumi”- OUR SALUTE to her and the memories she created for INDHA and our women.
In the last decade, I found many women like Moushami who are home- makers and have the aspiration, energy and talent to do something more. They are engaged in part time businesses, running food stalls , creating jewelry, designing clothes in between whatever else they need to do. Their courage, interest and determination makes them perfect members of the INDHA family, a platform where they could use their talents of design, art, craft and other creative skills to earn a livelihood without upsetting the apple cart of their daily lives. I encourage them to reach out to us and be part of this journey which could help them and INDHA bloom and grow.
We all have our share of serious stories, funny stories, sad stories. Always a mixed bag of experiences. Through this blog I hope to encourage others of our generation to create other INDHAs or be a part of this mission like Moushumi was and continue it after me. This blog is also for many latent entrepreneurs like the women I meet everyday across India whose lives are similar to those who first made INDHA and are bravely trying to find a solution to not let life beat them down. Here’s to more women wearing INDHA- the ring of responsibility- like a crown of honor.
Capt. Indraani Singh Senior AirIndia Pilot:Founder/Managing Trustee-Literacy India Founder-Indha Craft
Meet The Artist – Sheetal Sharma
Studying what a child is inclined towards, is a field of research in itself. At Literacy India, I had the golden chance of working with children coming from heterogeneous backgrounds. Some children have an eternal love connection with busy streets and the fast life, probably because it gives them an adrenaline rush to just be in that kind of environment. Most of these children coming from disadvantaged backgrounds are invariably pushed by fate to do menial work for survival.
In India, especially in regions where the village folks migrate to the cities in search of food, shelter and a better future, the societal strata pushes them down by depriving better opportunities for a dignified occupation. This gives rise to rampant child labor and being stuck in this vicious vortex for eternity.
Literacy India has been conducting many sessions with such children and their families in order to understand the reasons why they took such hard decisions. Over these sessions, it was evident that they were silencing their conscience by repeatedly falling into unethical ways to earn money and ensure security. This was good intentions seen in bad light. However, DNA is the differentiating factor that determines how the person reacts to situations. My assumption is strongly backed by our history that shows that the DNA is clearly an inheritance.
In the midst of all this chaos of thoughts, Sheetal Sharma, one bright student of our Pathshala Center at Bijwasan put my thoughts to a standstill. This is a star student in the making, who stood first in the AIEEE aptitude exam. She was a natural at mathematics but her passion leaned towards art.
Upon investigation, I found that Sheetal inherited her genes from her father, a talented photographer who gave in to societal pressure and worked in an automobile workshop to earn a living. As Sheetal completed schooling, her relatives pressurized her parents to deny Sheetal of her chance to pursue engineering. Sheetal’s parents had the intelligence to make their own decisions and empowered her to pursue what comes her way. Sheetal took the bold step to accept a scholarship from Literacy India and took up the Arts course at College of Arts. I stumbled upon this soft spoken girl’s painting and was blown away by the sheer brilliance.
Beyond the evolution of INDHA, I also wanted to share with you a story of motivation and the birth of an INDHA PRODUCT. In 2007, Moushumi, my dear friend, got married and relocated to Delhi. Moushumi was born and brought up in West Bengal with a Bengali Father & a Sri Lankan mother. Her demeanor was such that we use to call her “Dada” that meant overall “Boss”, but she was nothing of that sort. She was mild, pleasant and always smiling. She joined us at INDHA, believing in what we did and wanted to do her best for the organization and the women who formed it. She loved dabbling with new designs, what more could be done with the skills the women brought to the table. For some reason she loved Table “Runners” – those colorful pieces of fabric we use to light up our side boards or tables was something we couldn’t miss . We went far and wide shopping for raw material, finding new designs, creating funky runners and many other home furnishing products. She brought in an innovative concept of a shop within a restaurant and set up an INDHA shop within a popular restaurant, “100 feet” in Indiranagar, run by her brother in law and sister. And she never gave up on telling me how INDHA could continue to innovate and grow. Moushumi did all this while life kept testing her in more ways than one specially her personal life. And in a little more than a year later suddenly one day, she left us forever. I was numb with shock for days. However, just like Moushumi never gave up on INDHA, the INDHA women also never gave up on her. This year on her birthday, which is today, we are proud to dedicate our new range of home furnishings to “Dada” – the brave girl who we loved and miss every day. Our latest range of furnishings is called “Moushumi”- OUR SALUTE to her and the memories she created for INDHA and our women.
Now in her final year, I proposed that she work for Indha and she jumped at the chance! We facilitated her wish to give something back to the society she came from. This girl keeps amazing us all with her paintings that reflect deep thoughts seamlessly translated on the canvas. One wonders about her family, her background and her upbringing every time her works feature in our products. Her paintings generate work for Indha women and she is a true blue Indha-preneur. I consider myself incredibly lucky to be surrounded by so many creative people working together for a greater goal. This blog is aimed at bringing to the world, budding entrepreneurs and latent talent of many women I meet every day across India, who strive to emerge as winners in their life’s fight. Here’s to more women wearing Indha – the ring of responsibility – like a crown of honor.
Capt. Indraani Singh Senior AirIndia Pilot:Founder/Managing Trustee-Literacy India Founder-Indha CraftMasterCard and Literacy India’s joint venture towards transforming lives
Throughout the world, MasterCard’s principal business is to process payments between the banks of merchants and the card issuing banks or credit unions of the purchasers who use the its brand debit and credit cards. The multi-national financial services corporation has supported Literacy India for over 3 years, under its ‘Corporate Philanthropy’ initiatives.
With similar goals towards empowering women economically, MasterCard has continued to invest in Literacy India’s off-shoot project ‘Indha Craft’ by providing funds for its vocational training program and entrepreneurial development.
In one of our recent collaborative interactions, their group’s Corporate Philanthropy and Citizenship Head, Patricia Devereux, conducted an online Skype session with our women artisans located in remote villages, to know more about their financial struggle, how they’ve progressed so far and provide motivation to keep up the effort. She was quite impressed with the discussion and gave a positive feedback about our enterprise & its work, to MasterCard Foundation’s Board.
While sharing their views regarding our joint partnership, Vice President of Communications, Kate Hegarty shared: “MasterCard is proud of its multi-year relationship with Indraani and Literacy India. We support women’s entrepreneurship and business literacy so that our beneficiaries learn new skills for personal development and economic advancement, like weaving and bag making. Indraani’s work is life changing for so many women. Thank you for the difference that you make to those in need.”
Hall of Fame
Indraani Singh
In 1995, Indraani Singh was appointed by Indian Airlines as commander of an Airbus-300, the first female pilot in Asia to fly the big plane. Accolades poured in. Yet the attractive pilot, an icon for girls, found herself in a reflective mood, wondering how she could do more.
She found her answer after a chance conversation with her local vegetable vendor in Palam Vihar, a colony in Gurgaon where she lives. The vegetable vendor approached her with a humble request. Could she help pay his daughter’s school fees? He was a poor man and didn’t have the money. Indraani said, she would, but the man’s request got her thinking.
“I thought if I can help one child’s education, I can definitely help many more,” she reminisces.
Her mission, she decided, would be to spread literacy among the underprivileged.
With this idea was born Literacy India, a non-profit organisation that provides education and vocational skills to children, youth and women who can’t join mainstream schools or enrol in courses because they don’t have money or social status.
“That vegetable vendor’s daughter is an engineer today, although her father still sells vegetables in the same locality,” says Indraani.
Twenty years on Literacy India has a campus in Bajghera in Gurgaon with a school, a vocational centre and a factory that rolls out recycled paper. “This used to be a jungle in 1995,” says Indraani. Literacy India’s school now has more than 4,000 children on its rolls. It supports about 50,000 people — women, youth and children with education and skill-building programmes in 55 centres across the country.
Indraani’s first shortlived venture though was a small mobile creche for the children of construction workers. In those years, Gurgaon was being transformed from a small sleepy town to a big city populated with the auto sector, BPOs, call centres and the garment industry. Residential colonies were popping up everywhere. But construction workers building the Millenium City lived in shacks in pathetic conditions.
“Their children loitered all over. We hired a teacher to teach them at the construction site and we took them for picnics. That’s how we began a small mobile creche,” says Indraani.
But in the dust, dirt and din of the construction site, children couldn’t learn and teachers found it hard to teach. Chiranjeev Bharti School in Palam Vihar offered Indraani their empty classrooms after school hours. She also rented a building in nearby Choma village. But construction workers were indifferent about sending their children to her school. Initially, just five children enrolled.
“We bought a rickshaw to transport children from construction sites to our classrooms. The rickshaw-puller, whose services we hired, ran away with our rickshaw. In Choma village, there were incidents of eveteasing. The children used to steal as their parents didn’t bother much about their basic needs,” Indraani recollects.
She found herself battling a whole lot of issues with her son Kunal who was just four years old then. “I had to run to the police and deal with the local panchayat all by myself with my little son in tow. Juggling work hours and this mission was the least of the challenges I faced. Many of my pilot friends thought that I was preparing to venture into politics,” she laughs.
All this while, she invested her own income in Literacy India. Then a friend from Kolkata, also a pilot, visited Literacy India on a flight break. He was so impressed by the non-profit’s earnest work, he became its first donor.
Indraani believes she has been blessed by destiny. “The Bajghera campus was bought with money which came to us most unexpectedly. My pilot friend from Kolkata said he and his friends had collected about Rs 50 lakhs for the medical treatment of a child but she had died, tragically. He said that they decided to give that money to me. And so I bought this land,” explains Indraani.
Learn and earn
Right from the start Literacy India understood that they could never isolate education from employment. Most of the parents who send their children to Literacy India’s school work as migrant labour. They come from Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Then there are women who need to earn a livelihood. They are from farming families whose agricultural land was sold to builders. The men spent the money recklessly on alcohol and consumer goods. “Our holistic mission is livelihoods for all these people. If the women achieve economic empowerment, half my job is done. They become confident enough to fight for their own rights then,” says Indraani.
Literacy India’s school, called Vidhyapeeth, is from Class 1 to Class 10 and affiliated with the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). Its Pathshala programme helps street children with basic literacy and dropouts with tuition so that they can rejoin mainstream schools. The Gurukul project sponsors higher education for meritorious students from an economically weak background.
Literacy India started Indha Crafts in 2004 organising women into a self-help group and teaching them skills. Indha is the name of a broad cloth cushion which Haryanvi women place on their heads to carry water pots. Indha Crafts produces attractive handbags, laptop bags, notebooks, photo frames, jewellery boxes and quilts.
“About 6,000 women have been trained under this project in tailoring, embroidery, block printing and making recycled paper products. Many work with us at the centre in Gurgaon while others work from home and send us the products here. Today, about 25 companies including Microsoft, the Fortune Hotels Group and even Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) buy products from us for corporate gifting which is our biggest market,” says Satya Prakash, coordinator for Indha. Literacy India has its own recycled paper making unit that produces about 300 sheets per day from wastepaper and cloth.
Their Karigari project teaches youth and women skills that can help them become economically independent like tailoring, computers, driving and so on. Women, for instance, have learnt driving and got jobs with Maruti-Suzuki, the auto manufacturer in Gurgaon.
“In the economic strata where we work, vocational skills matter as much as academics. We can’t aspire for all our children to get jobs that require very high qualifications. But we can help them stand on their own feet and take care of their families,” says Sohit Yadav, lead coordinator of Literacy India’s projects.
Children who lag behind in studies can learn AC repair, electronic operations, para-nursing and housekeeping, even as they grapple with schooling.
Since the last two years, students of Vidhyapeeth have been organising an activity called ‘Feriwalla’. They stack up vegetables and repaired electronic products on a cart and go around selling these in nearby villages. “The idea is to teach them sales, marketing and even business management,” says G.S. Dubey, in-charge of activities at Vidhyapeeth.
Tech tools
Literacy India also forayed into technology in 2010, inventing an education software called Digital Dost with an IT company in Bengaluru. Digital Dost introduces children to basic concepts in language, maths, social studies and science and even tells them how to open a bank account. It has, fortuitiously, sparked interest in education among indifferent learners and street children.
Digital Dost has helped Literacy India reach out to more than 20,000 underprivileged children. In fact, digital smart classes are the new fad in its centres across West Bengal, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh besides Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR).
“Too much technology, I understand, isn’t a good idea, but again, with the kind of population that we deal with, our first task is to get children interested in studies and there technology helps a lot. I have seen street children, deep into drug abuse, very distracted and used to a nomadic life, getting engrossed in solving games and listening to stories on the Gyantantra software. Even if it isn’t teaching them to write, it is exposing them to the world of visual and oral literacy,” says Indraani.
Literacy India also discovered that technology was a great tool for motivating teachers. It helped them rethink and turnaround their methods of teaching. “Our students feel more confident thanks to this digital empowerment. They feel the world has opened up to them with the Internet. Many of them are working as data entry operators for their panchayats,” says Indraani.
Literacy India’s focus is on the 3Es — education, employment and empowerment. But it also has wider objectives, like raising a socially responsible younger generation. Under its “We the People” programme children learn about their fundamental rights and civic rights and use the knowledge practically.
So students at Vidhyapeeth have lobbied with the administration to construct and maintain a road in front of their school and remove garbage regularly from a nearby area. “There is no point in just teaching them theoretical civic lessons. They must be confident enough to use this knowledge. The students write letters to the administration with the teacher’s help and a representative group even approaches government officials,” says Sohit Yadav.
And, of course, Literacy India’s foray into theatre and sports has won them laurels. Their Shiksharth programme encourages creative activity like painting, pottery, dance and theatre. Students from Literacy India have acted in movies like 3 Idiots and Bhag Milkha Bhag. They have taken part in football and judo tournaments at national level.
Wearing more than two hats has not been easy for Indraani. Her son, now 22, took time to understand and value her goals. Even as she plays mother to her father who is suffering from Alzhiemer’s, Indraani remains unfazed and happy to be making a difference each day of her life.
Ravleen Kaur and Photographer Ajit Krishna spent time with Indraani Singh at Literacy India’s campus
This entry was posted in Main blog Post on October 16, 2015
Indha Craft Bags – for Catriona’s friends in Paris!
Catriona Dempster, learnt about Indha Craft last year and was quite curious about the organization & its work. A Team Director & Manager at Kuoni Paris, her company’s primary tourism destination happens to be India. As a result, Catriona visits our country frequently and made up her mind to visit Indha Craft’s main centre, on her next trip.
Ever since its inception, Indha has joined hands with numerous corporate agencies, donors and partners. One of our most eminent clients and supporters, Kuoni, is a leading global travel and destination management services company. The group generated a turnover of CHF 5.5 billion in the 2014 financial year and has supported our organization for over 4 years, under their ‘Corporate Responsibility’ goals.
This helped affirm Catriona’s decision to get involved with Indha Craft personally and know more about the social enterprise. She contacted our founder, Capt. Indraani Singh to discuss her plans and finally, dropped by in August, this year. Once she arrived here, our Project Director, Mr. Satya Prakash, introduced her to our women artisans, showed her around the office, our paper unit, the production room etc.
Fascinated and impressed, she placed an order for eco-friendly newspaper bags with Indha Craft and wanted our expertise on beach towels. Catriona plans on selling these bags to her small circle of friends- in Paris!
When asked why she chose Indha Craft to manufacture & design her order, she shares: ‘India has helped our tourism company garner huge amounts of profit, as our clients love it here and it is our number one travel destination. I always had a desire to give back to this wonderful country and Indha’s commitment towards empowering deprived women, really encouraged me to do something concrete, this time.’
This makes us realize how far we’ve come. Indha’s journey began in 2005, with just 10 artisans. What started as a small-scaled initiative to uplift disadvantaged women out of poverty through vocational training in tailoring & embroidery, has spread across India and is catering to overseas customers, today.
This entry was posted in Main blog Post on September 21, 2015
Limca Book Of Records 2014- PEOPLE OF THE YEAR-14 CAPT INDRAANI SINGH
Limca Book Of Records 2014
———————————-
PEOPLE OF THE YEAR-14
CAPT INDRAANI SINGH
Capt Indraani Singh who joined Indian Airlines in 1986 went on to become the first woman in Asia to fly an Airbus 320 and the world’s first woman commander of a wide-bodied Airbus 300. Along with her passion for flying, she also carried a heart brimming with compassion for the deprived. In 1996, Indraani along with a few others founded the Literacy India Trust with focus on empowerment, education and employment. Starting with just five children and operating out of a construction site in Palam Vihar, Gurgaon, Haryana, her initiative now runs six projects which reach out to over 30,000 children, women and youth across the country. In 2004, she also started Indha, a self-help group for women to earn money through marketing their handmade products.
Indraani has won the Godfrey Philip Special Award for Bravery in Social Cause and the Women Achievers Award 2009 by the International Congress of Women.
This entry was posted in Main blog Post on September 17, 2015