Chandigarh March 10, 2021
In continuation to Women’s Week celebrations, an advanced stitching workshop
was held for the community of underprivileged women of Janta Colony under project
Uday of Enactus, Panjab University.
Project Uday aims to minimize the use of plastic while promoting cloth as a
viable alternative. Enactus team in collaboration with Developing Indigenous
Resources-India (DIR), University Institute of Fashion Technology & Vocational
Development (UIFT & VD), Panjab University and Versatile Enterprises Private Limited
under its CSR project Amodini is training the community to make cloth based sanitary
napkins, as conveyed by Prof. Seema Kapoor, Faculty Advisor of Enactus team and
Coordinator of Social Review Committee of Dr.SSBUICET. She told that the fabric for
the sanitary napkins is being sponsored by Versatile Group, Ludhiana and also 2 Usha
automatic sewing machines worth Rs. 40000/- were recently got sponsored for the said
project by the collaborative efforts of Ms. Geetanjali Seth of Versatile Group and
Enactus team.
Enactus team has conducted a number of workshops on various socio-economic
issues for making the women community self-sustainable, told Mr.Akshat Kaushik,
President of Enactus team. He informed that live demo for Usha machines was held by
Shri. K.S. Rawat, sales manager, Usha International Ltd. The community was taught to
utilise these automatic machines in the best way possible to maximise the efficiency
and product quality. The ladies were taught quality stitching of sanitary napkins by
Dr.Anu H. Gupta, Chairperson of UIFT & VD. The women were also trained to make cloth
kits containing set of 4 sanitary napkins.
Looking at the high end usage of the machines, Enactus team also sponsored
10 sewing machine attachments worth Rs. 10000/- approx. for ornamenting and
accessorising the fabrics. This kit of machine accessories included corded foot,
ruffler foot, darning foot and pintuck foot, etc. These specialized sewing machines
and accessories will help the women to explore their creativity in preparing
products with high quality finishing and market appeal, which will fetch them better
earnings.
Prof. Kapoor commended the dedication with which the women community under
Project Uday has been working so hard despite all the odds that they have faced in
their lives and also during Covid-2019 pandemic.
Dr. Asha Katoch, CEO, DIR applauded the efforts of Versatile Group and
Enactus team in sponsoring the high tech Usha machines and taking this project to a
different level. Dr. Katoch also appreciated the efforts put in by Dr. Anu in
training and improving the skills of basti women. She also said that by using
reusable cloth based sanitary napkins by women will not only help in improving the
menstrual and personal hygiene but will also help in the prevention of vaginal
infections.
The play of the machines generated an aura of excitement and contentment
amongst the basti women. Enactus members namely Aarushi Ray, Akshat, Javed, Yash,
Ravnoor & Nandani and Annie Garg, UIFT were fascinated to see the working of the
machines.
