From stitching saree blouses, bags and uniforms until the onset of the coronavirus crisis, the sewing machines of women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in Karnataka have not stopped working even in the lockdown period. In 23 of the 30 districts in the state, women SHGs are now engaged in stitching face masks, and the earnings from these is the source of livelihood for many families.
Anuradha, a SHG member in Posettahalli gram panchayat of Chikkaballapur district who used to earn Rs 350 for stitching a designer blouse and would make Rs 700 per day with two orders, now earns around Rs 400 for stitching 100 masks on an average. Her income has halved but the fear of zero earnings has been staved off.
Commencing on a small-scale in mid-March, when the regular orders for blouses, bags and uniforms dried up, a few enterprising SHGs switched over to tailoring masks. The initiative was steered by Karnataka’s National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), through its registered society Sanjeevini, to ensure economic stability to women during the lockdown period. The SHGs are small groups of around 15-20 people, mostly women, formed for the purpose of giving microcredit and encouraging micro-entrepreneurship.
Sanjeevini, which is the counterpart of Aajeevika of NRLM at the national level, realised there was a potential in the production of masks as chemists and pharmacies were selling them at Rs 150 to Rs 200 per piece, when they could be made and priced between Rs 12 to Rs 20 per piece. According to BR Mamatha, Mission Director, NRLM, the SHGs in Karnataka have produced 12 lakh masks till date and all have found a market in the respective districts, with government departments and even the public who have access to the SHGs buying them.
“Prior to the norms becoming stringent on inter-state movement of goods, cotton material for the masks was being procured from Tirupur in Tamil Nadu. Presently, the zilla and gram panchayats officials are sourcing the cloth from local shops, who have been authorised to make it available,” Mamatha said.
The SHGs in Chikkamagaluru, Chamarajanagar, Tumakuru and Gadag, which were the first districts to respond to the move, have produced the highest number of masks. Response in Bengaluru urban has been tepid considering that it has too many medical shops and pharmacies, where the masks are still arbitrarily priced.
Y Rohini Ashok of Janani SHG in Tavarakere in Bengaluru said it takes 15 minutes for one mask to be readied. “Since all the five SHG members in Janani were seamstresses, we looked up online on how to make a three-layered cotton cloth mask that can be reused. The initial hiccups were in getting to place the filter and stitch. Now some of us can produce 400 in a day,” she added.
According to Rohini, the cost of producing a three-layered cotton mask that can be reused is Rs 8.50 and the disposable ones are a rupee less. “There is no difficulty in getting the material as the deputy commissioner has given authorisation letters to some shops to release the stock. Once the masks are ready they are sanitised in detergent, ironed and packed. My SHG gets Rs 4 per mask, which is sold at Rs 12 per piece with the disposables costing Rs 9 per piece,” Rohini said.
In Chikkaballapur, DR Ambika, whose designation at the Possettahalli gram panchayat SHG is Master Book Keeper as she cuts the cloth and gives to her co-workers, said the masks produced are being consumed by the zilla panchayat. “In one day my SHG produces 700 masks and the local tahsildar comes and picks them up. These are sold at Rs 20 per piece. We have become the breadwinners in the family now as our husbands are agriculture labourers and have been left jobless,” she added.
In Belagavi, which saw a surge of coronavirus cases, the district administration had given the contract for making masks to Belagavi and Bailhongal taluks only. Kiran Shinde, Sanjeevini Cluster Supervisor of Belagavi zilla panchayat, said the mass production of masks has helped in stabilising the income of the SHG members. Between the 13 SHGs in the two taluks, 60,000 masks had been produced so far.
With the union government now making wearing of masks mandatory in public, Mamatha said the NRLM is in talks with the food and civil supplies department to make them available in fair price shops. Post the lockdown, e-commerce platforms will be approached to market the masks while telephone numbers of SHGs will be made public for those who want to buy from them directly.
“Wearing of masks, which was earlier seen as a fashion statement, has now become a necessity just like the mobile phone,” she maintained.
Naheed Ataulla is a journalist who has covered Karnataka politics for over two decades, and is a former Political Editor of The Times of India. Views expressed are the author’s own.