Once Living in Shadow of Militancy, Assam Women Find Place Under the Sun, attain Self-Reliance

The signing of Bodo Peace Accord on January 27, 2020 between the Centre, Assam on one side and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), the All Bodo Students' Union and United Bodo People's Organisation on the other changed the scenario in the northeastern state.

Baksa:Once racked by violence and in the shadows of militancy, the villages of Assam's Baksa district are witnessing development and transformation across sectors and spheres as they had seldom seen in previous years.

The transformative development and self-reliance of locals in these villages have been brought about through the implementation of several flagship schemes of the Centre. The villagers here are engaged in various pursuits such as beekeeping, handloom, and making pickles to make themselves self-reliant.

The far corners of the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) have, in the recent past, seen the spectre of terror and the sounds of bullets being replaced by a wave of development. Speaking to ANI, Jayanti Basumutary, a woman from Udhiaguri village near Salbari in Baksa district, said after the signing of the landmark Bodo Peace Accord, the overall situation in the area has changed for the better and many women are showing readiness to be involved in various initiatives under central schemes.

"Around 300 women in our area work at this centre where we make pickles, mushrooms, vermicompost, and soap while also being involved in the nursery. Many women have also participated in the handloom training programme. The government is backing these projects, has given us free training, and provided machines as well as funds. Our income has also increased. Earlier, we rarely got such opportunities to earn a living for ourselves and our loved ones because of militancy. But now the situation has changed for the better. We welcome the initiative taken by the government and thank them for standing with us," Basumutary told ANI.

The villagers said they were also receiving the benefits of Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana (PMVDY) under Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Vikash Mission (PMJVM), which is a scheme specifically designed for the socio-economic upliftment of tribal people, who dwell in the forest areas and largely depend on Minor Forest Produces (MFP) for day-to-day living.

The scheme developed and designed by TRIFED (Tribal Cooperative Market Federation of India), Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14, 2018.

The scheme was launched with the potential to scale up the economic activities of tribal people and sustainably transform their livelihood opportunities. In Assam, the scheme was launched on November 5, 2019, and implemented by APTDC and the Department of Tribal Affairs (Plain) as the state's implementing and nodal agencies respectively.

The Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE) has been engaged by the implementing agency as the resource agency to ensure effective and efficient implementation of the scheme, while TRIFED is the sponsoring agency for the project.

In Assam, the scheme has established its presence in 33 districts having 250 functional Van Dhan Vikas Kendra Clusters (VDVKCs) out of 471 sanctioned VDVKCs, comprising 300 beneficiaries each.

The total number of beneficiaries registered for the functional VDVKCs is 89,955. Salbari Van Dhan Vikas Kendra Cluster of Baksa district is one among the VDVKCs where nearly 300 women of the area are involved.

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