Nashik: Women belonging to self-help groups in the city have sold 7,000 to 8,000 environment-friendly seed rakhis and their rakhis are still in high demand.
These rakhis are priced between Rs 10 to Rs 130. These women have expressed satisfaction that making these rakhis contributes financially to the family along with spiritual satisfaction.
The lockdown has shaken the financial situation of most ordinary citizens. During this period, the women of Samrudhi Multipurpose Social Organization and Savi Mahila Bachat Group of the district became self-reliant and started making seed rakhis for the last three months.
These eco-friendly rakhis, made using marigold and basil seeds, are in high demand in Nashik, Mumbai, Pune, Jalgaon, Aurangabad, Jaipur and Chennai.
There is a huge demand in the market for these rakhis even for kids as they will like to see these seeds sown and grown into beautiful plants.
Social help for women's self-help groups
Many lost their jobs due to the lockdown. Therefore, Leva Sakhi Mandal of Nashik is helping women self-help groups for job creation.
They are being given embroidery sewing machines and training to employ at home.
Making rakhis keeping social distancing in mind
The prevalence of corona is increasing in Nashik district and there is an atmosphere of concern among Nashik residents.
This has led women to make rakhis while practising social distancing norms, using masks and sanitizers.
Kavita Bhonde while talking about this told ETV Bharat that these rakhis are made in seed paper.
She said, "When put in water, these rakhis can be mixed with the soil. It has seeds for marigold and basil plants. We currently have two batches. One works from home while the other works in our workshop. If the airport opens in a few days, we want to send rakhis to America as well. We have received such orders."
In Aurangabad, needy women were brought together with the help of social organizations.
Through these women, work was undertaken to create eco-friendly rakhis. Rakhis have been made from vegetable seeds to connect these siblings with nature.
Through this initiative, the terrace garden concept is going to grow. Also, seeing the plants grow from a rakhi will give a different significance to the sister-brother relationship.
Also Read:Jharkhand tribal women make 'Rakhis' to help India become self-reliant
Therefore, tree seed rakhis have been brought to the market. Special earthen rakhis have also been made.
"This year, on Raksha Bandhan, the brothers will receive not only a Rakhi but also eco-friendly gifts from their sisters. A box has been curated for this. In this, 18 different types of vegetable seeds, two greeting cards, haldi, kumkum and rice, betel nut required for puja along with three rakhis with different types of tree seeds have been given, said Bhonde.
A lot of such rakhis have been sent from Aurangabad to many other cities in the state.
They are also being sent to jawans at the border. So far, more than 22,000 rakhis have been made.
In this regard, Vijaya Rahatkar said, "Raksha Bandhan is an Indian festival. But Rakhis come from other countries. How appropriate it is to import rakhis from an enemy country while your soldiers are shedding blood on the border. So we are producing seed rakhis for our people."
Also Read:Karnataka postal circle to ship Rakhi amid COVID-19
