Walking long distances to get water for her family was the biggest strain for Devti Baiga, a widowed tribal woman in her 60s, who lives in a village on the fringes of the Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh, until she joined a self-help group.

In a project promoted by Royal Bank of Scotland, Baiga got a loan of ₹20,000 at an interest rate of 8 per cent.

“I decided that I will get a well bored near my dwelling, for which I paid ₹13,000 and then bought a motor pump for ₹ 6,000. Now I have started growing kakdis (cucumber used in salads) and big green chillies,” she said at a CII event here on Wednesday.

Baiga says she has repaid part of the loan and now plans to expand her work and start growing herbal plants along with a group of 15 villagers. “The entire herbal produce will be bought by a Chhattisgarh-based company,” she adds.

Baiga, along with Lata Mane, a former sex worker from Ghatkopar, and Kalpana Roxy Gardekar, who is using theatre to transform lives of nomadic communities in Gujarat, were awarded CII’s Exemplar Women awards this year by Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce & Industry.

“I was sold by my husband for ₹40,000 in 1994 and forced into the flesh trade. But, once I had two daughters I decide to move away, but there was no support till an organisation working on HIV helped me,” Lata Mane said.

Soon she started selling cooked chapati-bhaji for ₹10. Once other sex workers joined her, the self-help group expanded and has started making trinkets, perfume and distributing condoms.

“Our group’s aim now is to do something for 35-40 year-old sex-workers who have no means of livelihood once they start ageing. I don’t want them to die on the streets,” says Mane.

The awards, given by CII Foundation with Bajaj group as presenting partner and HSBC as contributing partner, seeks to promote women’s empowerment at the community level. So far, 30 women have been awarded, a CII release said.

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