The Khadi Gram Udyog – established to take Gandhi’s legacy of championing khadi forward – once a flourishing practice, has unfortunately started to lose ground in present times. Aimed at creating and sustaining employment opportunities for the people in rural areas, khadi villages would initially receive government funding and thereafter manage operations from the revenue they would generate.
These khadi villages are slowly becoming obsolete because their products are hardly advertised and also because the villagers are moving to cities in search of jobs. Three individuals from Bengaluru decided to quit their well- paying corporate jobs by pitching in their funds and efforts to help make a change.
In January 2017, Amit Vadavi, Adarsh Muthana and Pronoy Roy kicked off an experiment by the name of ‘The Hudli Project’ in Karnataka’s Hudli village. The initiative aims to employ 100 or more women for at least a year, because the trio believe that since women are the pillars of a society, empowering them would strengthen the structure.
The Hudli Project’s website explains this clearly, stating:
One empowered woman = One empowered family
Ten empowered women = One happy neighbourhood
100 empowered women = A strong village
To achieve this objective, Vadavi, Muthana and Roy focused on advertising and selling one of the village’s products: pickles.
Why pickles? The frequency of use is very high, and so promises a recurring demand. The initiative therefore functions on a 12 and 18 month subscription model. It has so far helped employ 25 women from Hudli to preserve their traditional pickle recipes, make the mango, lime and mixed vegetable pickles themselves, and sell them across the country under the brand name “Jawan.”
The project strictly refuses donations since that does not fulfil their purpose, which is to empower the women by relieving them of the uncertainties of daily wages and giving them a purpose.
It’s an admirable initiative, and one that gives us an excuse to eat more pickle (as if we needed one). For more information on the Hudli Project and to buy a pickle jar of your own, visit their site or follow them on Facebook .
Written by Additi Seth
Featured image credit: The News Minute
