Stitching workshop held for underprivileged women of Janta Colony by Enactus Team, PU

Chandigarh: In continuation to Women’s Week celebrations, an advanced stitching workshop was held for the community of underprivileged women of Janta Colony under project Uday of Enactus, Panjab University. 

    Project Uday aims to minimize the use of plastic while promoting cloth as a viable alternative. Enactus team in collaboration with Developing Indigenous Resources-India (DIR), University Institute of Fashion Technology & Vocational Development (UIFT & VD), Panjab University and Versatile Enterprises Private Limited under its CSR project Amodini is training the community to make cloth based sanitary napkins, as conveyed by Prof. Seema Kapoor, Faculty Advisor of Enactus team and Coordinator of Social Review Committee of Dr.SSBUICET. She told that the fabric for the sanitary napkins is being sponsored by Versatile Group, Ludhiana and also 2 Usha automatic sewing machines worth Rs. 40000/- were recently got sponsored for the said project by the collaborative efforts of Ms. Geetanjali Seth of Versatile Group and Enactus team.

    Enactus team has conducted a number of workshops on various socio-economic issues for making the women community self-sustainable, told Mr.Akshat Kaushik, President of Enactus team. He informed that live demo for Usha machines was held by Shri. K.S. Rawat, sales manager, Usha International Ltd. The community was taught to utilise these automatic machines in the best way possible to maximise the efficiency and product quality. The ladies were taught quality stitching of sanitary napkins by Dr.Anu H. Gupta, Chairperson of UIFT & VD. The women were also trained to make cloth kits containing set of 4 sanitary napkins.

    Looking at the high end usage of the machines, Enactus team  also sponsored 10 sewing machine attachments worth Rs. 10000/- approx. for ornamenting and accessorising the fabrics. This kit of machine accessories included corded foot, ruffler foot, darning foot and pintuck foot, etc. These specialized sewing machines and accessories will help the women to explore their creativity in preparing products with high quality finishing and market appeal, which will fetch them better earnings. 

    Prof. Kapoor commended the dedication with which the women community under Project Uday has been working so hard despite all the odds that they have faced in their lives and also during Covid-2019 pandemic.

     Dr. Asha Katoch, CEO, DIR applauded the efforts of Versatile Group and Enactus team in sponsoring the high tech Usha machines and taking this project to a different level. Dr. Katoch also appreciated the efforts put in by Dr. Anu in training and improving the skills of basti women. She also said that by using reusable cloth based sanitary napkins by women will not only help in improving the menstrual and personal hygiene but will also help in the prevention of vaginal infections.

    The play of the machines generated an aura of excitement and contentment amongst the basti women. Enactus members namely Aarushi Ray, Akshat, Javed, Yash, Ravnoor & Nandani and Annie Garg, UIFT were fascinated to see the working of the machines.