A STITCH IN TIME
RUMA DEVI 30 PRESIDENT, GRAMIN VIKAS CHETNA SANSTHAN, BARMER
When she got married at 17, Ruma Devi could do only little stitching and embroidery. A few years later, she gathered women from the neighbourhood to form a self-help group that would make handcrafted items and supplement incomes. Soon, they realised that buying and selling directly than through intermediaries would bring better profits. The group secured bank loans and began procuring raw material itself. Ruma Devi and her colleagues joined the Gramin Vikas Chetna Sansthan (GVCS), an NGO in the region, and she soon took over as its president. Under her, GVCS has expanded operations to 75 villages and trained 11,000 artisans so far.
Women in the region traditionally learn embroidery, but the group’s focus has mostly been on making bedsheets, using motifs as patchwork. Ruma Devi gradually explored ways to make tops, skirts, dupattas, salwar suits and saris. “I feel our most significant achievement was to create the Barmeri sari and make artisans use a different type of silk, instead of just cotton,” she says.
Barmer textile and prints are in vogue on the fashion circuit. Ruma Devi says Anita Dongre, Bibi Russell, Abraham and Thakore, Hemant Trivedi and Rohit Kumar are among the top designers visiting them. Also, artisans from GVCS have had their works showcased in fashion shows.
Ruma Devi says she now sends her artisans to exhibitions to sell their products and get new business. The challenge, though, is to motivate and bring more women into the network as purdah is widely practised in the region. While many are ready to visit smaller cities like Barmer, going beyond to places like Jaipur, where GVCS is setting up a new training-cum-marketing centre, is a big leap.
“We liked the innovations in Barmer textile and placed bulk orders with Ruma Devi to distribute as corporate gifts” Ayodhya Prasad Gaur, General Manager, Cairn Oil and Gas