Pehal: Rural women EARN with Govt orders to stitch School/Police uniforms in Punjab

Last Updated: 29 June 2024

Pehal Project: Uniforms of all Govt school students and police department to be stitched by rural women[1]

TARGET: The project will create employment worth crores for 1000s of women to make them financially independent[1:1]

Pilot Project Success: All government schools of Sangrur have been made part of this pilot project for academic session 2023-24
-- Now expansion to other districts started

Pilot Project[1:2]

1.5 crore Turnover: Turnover of Akalgarh team, consisting of 150 members, is going to touch Rs 1.5 crore as of June 2023[2]

  • The project ‘Pehal’ was initiated in 2022 for the Government girls senior secondary school, Sangrur
  • Following the success of the initiative, 2 government schools of Patiala district had also placed orders for stitching uniforms
  • They earn at least ₹600 per set of uniforms
  • The administration has set up a production centre at Akalgarh village of Sunam block for this purpose
  • The facility of stitching uniforms at home is also being provided to local women

Need for Uniforms[1:3]

  • State Govt provides one set of uniform to each girl/boy student belonging to SC, ST and BPL categories free of cost every year
  • The uniform kit includes
    • A shirt, trousers, winter cap, patka, sweater, a pair of shoes and socks
    • Salvaar and kurti for girl students
  • Punjab education department provides Rs 600 for 1 set
  • This amount was being given to contractors and shopkeepers

Project Details[1:4]

Sept 2023: The state government will replicate Sangrur's ‘Pehal’ project at the state level

  • Our mothers/sisters, especially those living in rural areas, have great stitching and weaving skills
  • Govt will utilise these skills and give them employment
  • To set up production units in every household
  • It started with Public School Uniforms but now will also include Police uniforms

Training, Loans & Orders[3]

  • Self-help groups with 10 women each are formed who are provided loans to prepare products under Punjab State Rural Livelihood Mission (PSRLM)
  • The women are imparted training at Rural Self-Employment Training Institute (RSETI)
  • The state government would then give them orders to prepare uniforms

REFERENCES:

  1. https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/women-shgs-to-stitch-school-uniforms-sangrur-model-to-be-replicated-across-punjab-says-cm-bhagwant-mann-101696014764403.html ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/sangrur-women-stitching-together-a-good-future-8686045/ ↩︎

  3. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/patiala/65-rural-women-trained-in-tailoring-under-pahal-572960 ↩︎