After lassi, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya varsity students marinating new ‘pickle’ venture
GORAKHPUR :After launching the famous ‘Students Lassi’ and successfully selling it online, through outlets and on carts, the group of eight students from Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University (DDU) - the brains behind the concept - are now set to launch an array of organic products including pickles, murabba, jaggery and vinegar under their exclusive, selffunded start-up.
The group plans to give back 50% of the returns from their new venture to the village from where they are sourcing their raw material . “The group has not invested more than Rs 50,000 for the new initiative and we plan to use 50% of the profits for the development of our village Rampur,” Deepak Yadav, a PhD student and the leader of the group said.
The start-up has not only made each of them self-reliant in terms of paying college fee and meeting daily expenses, but has also given an employment opportunity to 25 poor, Dalit women from six humble families in Rampur village of the neighbouring Sant Kabeer Nagar district.These enthusiastic students have come up with the unique idea to offer free samples of their new products to existing customers before going online.
The products will be made available for sale on various online food delivery apps from this week. The items will be prepared by the women of ‘Kahar’ caste in Rampur and sold in attractive earthen packaging.
The members of the group contributed and started their lassi business last year, with an investment of Rs 2 lakh. In just one year, their annual turnover went up to Rs 8 lakh. Each member of the team is tasked with a specific role — Deepak, belonging to a Yadav family, has a number of cows at home, so he arranges for milk to prepare curd, Ambika, a fine arts student and son of a potter, gets kulhads (earthen pots) at a much cheaper rate for packaging, law student Pragyesh Mishra plays chef: he prepares lassi of different flavours including chocolate, pineapple, butterscotch and rose, Salman, a post-graduate student looks after supply and Anurag Maurya, a graduate, assumes the role of creative designer for overall branding. Nitin Tripathi and Nitesh Singh deal in marketing.
This time, while the same team has geared up for more responsibilities, women from Rampur have been roped in for preparation of food items.
Sarita, a resident of Rampur, who is now a member of the cooking team, was in great distress because her husband is an alcoholic and she had to struggle to make ends meet. But, ever since she has been roped in to prepare pickles and murabba, she is happy with an income of rupees 200 to 300 per day.
“Here in the village, we didn’t have any means of livelihood, except working for limited days in MNREGA schemes.
Sometimes, there wasn’t even enough to feed the children. This employment opportunity has come to us as a big support. I wish it continues,” said Sarita, as she mixed the salt and pepper in the pickle. Sarita is just one example, other Dalit women, including poor widows are finding a new ray of hope with the start-up’s expansion.
“In our village, caste discrimination against Dalits still prevails. We, too, faced criticism when we decided to rope in these women for preparing the food items.” said Deepak Yadav.