Training on Entrepreneurship, Special Laws, Human Rights and Personality Development was conducted by Dalit Sthree Sakthi for the Women Collective Leaders and Youth leaders on 25th January 2024 at Raja Gruha, Undavalli, Vijayawada. A total of 30 Women Collective leaders and Youth Leaders have participated in the training. The resource persons were Jhansi Geddam, National Convenor, DSS; Jabali Amancherla, National Co-ordinator, DSS; Ratna Pradeep, Founder of Raja Gruha & Engineer, BSNL; Nancharaiah, Managing Director, Sree Nidhi.
The training commenced with Sri Swapna, State Co-ordinator of DSS with song. All the participants introduced themselves with their names and their present situation. The participants were enthusiastic in learning about entrepreneurial opportunities and the means of achieving them.
Jabali Amancherla, National Co-ordinator, DSS inspired the participants by throwing some light on the behavioural characteristics of successful entrepreneurs. He mentioned that maintaining a healthy routine are the basics of success of any person. Any person who has the zeal to become an entrepreneur should have a healthy life style and need to develop an all-round knowledge of all the businesses. He stressed that production or sales of any product involve a lot of factors like research, study, procurement, knowledge, creativity and good will. Irrespective of the scale of business or the firm size, there are four criteria’s for becoming an entrepreneur.
First, there must be opportunities or the entrepreneur should find new ways to generate profit with a keen outlook of what is the present demand of the society. Second, the initial investment of money which could be secured from banks, in case of Dalit Adivasi Women. Third, taking on a level of risk is a necessity but, with reasonable care and insurance. Fourth, the entrepreneurial process requires the organization of people, resources and time along with hard work and dedication. He concluded saying that with all the above characteristic, any person could become a successful entrepreneur.
Jhansi Geddam, National Convenor, DSS spoke about the differences between commencement of business by Dalit Adivasi women as compared to business women who are the daughters, wives and relatives of ministers and political leaders. She stressed that business women of dominant castes are easily given loans by the government and banks for bigger amounts, while Dalit Adivasi women are rejected loans even for smaller amounts. There have been many instances where loans taken by dominant caste people are neglected by the banks while the loans taken by Dalit and marginalised community are recovered forcefully and heinously. She explained the special acts that are exclusive for the economic development of the Dalit community. Jhansi Geddam provided all-round information of different schemes and means of applying and acquiring them. She also encouraged the participants to write proposals for their business ventures and Dalit Sthree Sakthi would support them in establishing them.
She suggested that mere establishing or acquiring loans to establish the business is not enough but to become successful and profit from the business is the key to economic empowerment. Unless economic empowerment is achieved the lives of Dalit Adivasi Women would not change. There are lot of government schemes that are designed exclusively for Dalit Adivasi Women, which are not properly delivered by the governments to the marginalised women but lack of awareness to acquire them is also a major reason for stagnant lives of Dalit community. She concluded by saying that awareness, knowledge and hard work are the keys to change the lives of Dalits in our country.
Ratna Pradeep, Founder of Raja Gruha & Engineer, explained about the lives of women in the ancient days of how they were obedient to father and family before marriage, to husband after the marriage and to sons in their old age. Women were never independent in any aspect. This situation and outlook slowly changed and women started becoming empowered with education, awareness and hard work. Though women from few dominant communities were empowered socially and economically, the situation of Dalit Adivasi women remained the same.
They have been twice oppressed, by gender and caste simultaneously. Rathna Pradeep stressed that, Dalit Women need to strive for their betterment and double the hard work, as they have been twice oppressed. The women from marginalised communities are the reason behind the propulsion of this society. They are the prime actors in agriculture, bonded labour, house hold works, cleaning works and many more activities. Without these the entire society would come to a halt. But they are never recognised for their hard work. Rathna Pradeep enthused the participants saying that it is high time that all women from marginalised communities should strive for the betterment of their families and community by becoming entrepreneurs and moving towards economic empowerment.
Nancharaiah, Managing Director of Sri Nidhi, mentioned about the various schemes that the government is providing for women for a start-up. The process of acquiring these loans had been clearly explained and he also mentioned that Dalit Adivasi women get better subsidies and schemes which are not currently being utilised. He suggested Dalit Sthree Sakthi to encourage efficient Dalit Women entrepreneurs to take these loans and subsidies to start up their business and utilise them effectively.
An interactive session was held where the participants submitted their queries and doubts to the resource persons. Dalit Women who wanted to start new business had queries about the approach towards applying for loan and the women who had already been running had doubts about applying for subsidies. The meeting was concluded with a vote of thanks by Swapna.
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