Dr. Kavita Suri
For Rubeena Tabasum, a Kashmiri woman hailing from a remote village of Yarikalan in Chadoora in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam district, life has come a long way. Things changed for her when she got inspired by a radio programme to venture into floriculture, approached the EDI (Entrep-reneur Development Institute) for guidance, J&K Bank for a loan and the Department of Agriculture, J&K for a technical know-how, and there a woman entrepreneur was born. After a ten-days training, she ventured into the cut flowers trade. A recipient of the Women Entrepreneur Award 2007 conferred by J&K Bank, Rubeena today owns five greenhouses of carnations and lilies and an open field of gladioli, employs over a dozen workers and has an annual turnover between Rs 2-3 million. She has also received a five-year grant under technological mission of National Horticulture Board (NHB) with which she has set up a small nursery of aromatic plants like Lavender and Rosademisene.
Story of Nusrat Jahan Ara, another Kashmiri florist who hails from Dadoora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, is also inspiring. She is among eight women entrepreneurs who have been conferred with the TATA TiE Stree Shakti award by the Tata Group and the TiE Mumbai chapter. Nusrat who owns enterprise named “Petals Agritech”, is the founder of cut flower industry in the state. She is also the president of a 2,000-strong J&K Flowers Association and is recognized as the most successful women entrepreneur in the Valley. Rubeen and Nusrat are among many Kashmiri women who are venturing out of their houses to become entrepreneurs.
Since past over one decade, Kashmiri women entrepreneurs are braving social taboos and carving a niche for themselves in this male-dominated field in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. From establishing food-processing units to cultivating flowers for foreign markets to setting up fitness clubs and printing press, these women have made a name for themselves. Most of these women are from rural Kashmir. Things are changing for them as with the opening up of Indian economy and globalization, more of them are getting educated, seeking employment or taking up entrepreneurial activity. But as many women are receiving education, they also face the prospect of unemployment. In this scenario, it is quite difficult for both the Centre and State Governments to provide employment to people in Government sector. To provide alternatives, self employment or entrepreneurship is the best option available to generate income.
There are several opportunities for rural women entrepreneurs. The Jammu and Kashmir Government and the Centre has taken a number of initiatives for rural women entrepreneurships including introducing the Scheme for Empowerment of Skilled Women under which loans are given to women entrepreneurs through J&K Women’s Develo-pment Corporation. Jammu & Kashmir Entrepre-neurship Development Institute is providing a pro-entrepreneurial environment to foster the progress and prosperity of the state. The EDI is assisting the Government in formulating and implementing its policies for entrepreneurship development by helping the practicing and potential entrepreneurs through a host of services like research, consultancy, information, training and education. It is also helping to develop entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship culture in the State of Jammu and Kashmir through awareness generation, entrepreneurship education, skill up gradation, knowledge dissemination, attitudinal modification and developing linkages with National and International organizations to make entrepreneurship the most important component of State Economy. Jammu & Kashmir Bank has opened its Rural Self-Employment Training Institute (RESTI) which aims at providing skill-based training to rural Below Poverty Line persons and other youth for self-employment. The KVIC is also working in the area of providing self-employment opportunities in rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir and implement new programmes like National Programme on Rural Industrialization.
Despite the fact that a lot is being done for them, the fact remains that a sizeable percentage of women live in the villages of J&K and they have not been brought under the mainstream of development. There is a dire need to mobilize the rural women so that they are able to contribute towards the path of progress and prosperity and can prove to be effective agents of change for better society.
The rural women entrepreneurs in Jammu and Kashmir face many problems including traditional mindsets, mobility constraint, lack of capital and finance, low levels of literacy, lack of family support, poor confidence levels, inadequate infrastructure, lack of awareness, lack of institutes imparting training to potential entrepreneurs, no access to power supply, lack of proper communication channels, inadequate marketing facilities, competition, outdated regulations, lack of raw materials, high cost of production etc. Besides, rural women are not much aware and literate as to handle all the legal and other formalities involving in loan taking and establishing an Industrial Unit. They also lack confidence in their ability to run the entrepreneurship. They need guidance, information and capacity building and training in functional areas such as finance, literacy skills, marketing, production and managerial skills.
The Government needs to create guidance cells for these women where easy information can be provided to them. A favourable atmosphere has to be created to increase self employment for women and thus promote rural women entrepreneurship in the state. Women need to be imparted training for entrepreneurship, leadership and managerial roles so that they can establish their own business units and run them effectively.
More women entrepreneurs of Jammu and Kashmir, like rest of India, need to be trained and guided for rural entrepreneurship as they face impediments in the matter of organizing and running businesses on account of their generally low levels of skills and for want of support system. Their capacities need to be enhanced to set up small and medium scale industries on their own initiative. Entrepreneurship development for women can be an important factor in economic development in a region like J&K. Rural women entrepreneurship development in Jammu and Kashmir is thus the need of the hour.
(The author is Director and Head, Department of Lifelong, University of Jammu)
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