Kolkata : A hundred tribal women in the district of Cooch Behar in West Bengal are gearing up to float a new company next year aimed at empowering tribal women in the region.
The proposed company is aimed at empowering the tribal women in the region and will focus on manufacturing and marketing of Sitalpati, a traditional hand-woven mat which feels cold by touch.
The tribals are being aided in this venture by West Bengal Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe Development and Finance Corporation and Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) which had organised a training camp to increase awareness.
“Our primary objective of the training is to increase the average monthly income of these artisans who on average earn a meagre Rs.1,500. The first step is to increase that to Rs.4,500. The other objectives are customer-market orientation, awareness about various welfare schemes and financial literacy,” said CII North Bengal Zonal Council chairman Prabir Seal.
The Sitalpati handicraft market in Cooch Behar-Katakhal (Assam) region is estimated to exceed Rs.4 crores annually for domestic as well as exports market.
“CII has set a target to train 400 Sitalpati artisans. Other indigenous products and art forms will also be included in the near future,” said CII Eastern Region director Saugat Mukherjee.
The state government has completed the necessary procedures to set-up the Sitalpati cluster at Tufanganj, Mathabangha and Mekhliganj locality in the district Cooch Behar under Small Industry Cluster Development Programme.