Mrida Group initiative: Over 70 villagers trained for better livelihood

A social business venture, Mrida Group, announces the success of skilled programs and livelihood training that was carried out as part of INOX Air Products’ CSR initiative in the two villages of Jharnamuri & Bajudih, near Bokaro in Jharkhand.

Over 70 villagers, majorly women, have been trained in a variety of livelihood generation programs including stitching, Incense stick making, soap making and paper bag making. Two women out of the mentioned have been trained in duck farming while two in goat rearing. Apart from these, Mushroom cultivation was also undertook in both villages.

In addition to this, 17 farmers with over 2.63 acres of area under cultivation have provided agricultural inputs. A solar irrigation pump has been installed and the farmers were encouraged to grow vegetables such as Brinjal, Chillies, Suran, Radish, Taro, Cauliflower, Pigeon Pea, Potato, Leafy Vegetables, Onion and Wheat on the land under consideration. With the inputs, the produce will fetch better market rates, leading to better income for the farmers.

In addition, a micro-finance project has been launched and 17 beneficiaries have already been disbursed a sum of around Rs. 1,10,000/- for their various requirements. In this instance what is noteworthy is that the loan requirement is shared with the Village Development Committee, which considers each case and then disburses the loan from its own money, and earns an interest too. The idea behind this initiative is to enable the rural communities to play a bigger role in the development of their own villages.

“We firmly believe that the on-going project with Mrida will help improve the lives of the people, and that together, we can create powerful and empowered communities.” says Surendra Choudhary, Chief Financial Officer, INOX Air Products Pvt. Ltd. Mrida has also partnered with leading business houses in India for integrated Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives to benefit the society.