The functional vocational training and research society - FVTRS Bangalore is partnering us in development of skilled entrepreneurs. This year with support of FVTRS and Caritas India, we have done training of 90 youth for heavy earthmover driving and lac handicrafts.
The Goal of this project is to avail functional vocational training for school dropout youth and arming them with a potential, marketable skill to ensure a better living of these poor tribes. The goal also embodies a desire to bring Raigarh district in map of India for lac handicrafts. Simultaneously we intend to create a cadre of Master Trainers/ entrepreneurs of lac handicrafts, with required life skills who can be friend, facilitator and guide to fellow village youth
About Lac Handicraft Trainings
Lac Related Handicrafts are popular in Indian households and abroad. Lac bangles are essential for any hindu married women. Many of decorative items like showpieces, crockery, office essentials like pen, paper-weight, and ash trays are prepared by artisans that fetch good price in market.
The technology used is simple. Button lac is taken as raw material by artisans. It is heated in a small charcoal furnace. Button-lac looses its solidarity to become paste like. With mixing of various dyes, this paste can have various colors. Such colorful paste is coated on glassware or wood, (which serves a base for coating). Steel-ware and brass articles are also coated in some theme. Lac bangles are prepared by twisting the paste thread.
A seasoned artisan can make thousands of designs and thousands of articles with this technique. It is the idea and conceptualization that matters. Articles are sold in open market or through middlemen. They can earn either way, Rs 5000-20000 or more in a month.
Lac handicrafts training was organized in village Chhote Gumda and bahramar. 60 school dropout girls and SHG women took training in this trade. Tools were provided and raw material for first production cycle is given through Jan mitra Marketing and Consultancy limited. The JMCL have taken respnsiblity to avail marketing channel and skill upgrading for these trainees.
Heavy Earthmover- Industrial Vehicle Driving
In Tamnar and Raigarh block, rural youth expressed their desire to learn driving and operation on heavy construction/ industrial vehicles like bulldozer, Poklein, JCB, Heavy Dumper etc.
On the other hand, some of renowned construction firms were contacted who told immediate requirement of skilled heavy vehicles drivers. There are about 200 JCBs, 200 Dozers, 50 Hydra, 35-50 pokleins in Raigarh, tamnar and vicarious area. These vehicles are Very costly and need careful operation. However, no training facility for drivers is available. Unskilled drivers are accident-prone and most of the time brings damage to costly heavy-duty machines. Therefore there is a good demand for trained drivers.
We therefore stated a heavy earthmover driving training with support of FVTRS. M/s Dynamic engineers, distributer of JCB machines in Chhattisgarh also helped us for this training. 30 youth were selected and trained for JCB opration. Most of them were employed soon after completion of training.
