Ela R Bhatt: Last of the Gandhian Economics

Ela R Bhatt
Extremely gentle and soft-spoken, yet firm and determined and widely recognized as pioneer in pushing for entrepreneurial forces in grassroots development leading to women empowerment - this is the practicing Gandhian economics and septuagenarian, Ela R Bhatt, popularly known as Elaben by members of Self Employed Women's Association or SEWA, which she founded in 1972. She helped the self-employed women to organize themselves. Its members include vegetable vendors, fisherwomen, bidi-rollers, weavers, and saltpan workers who were exploited for generations by middlemen.
SEWA empowered them to explore direct market linkages, removing middlemen from the chain. Next it propagated the concept of self-reliance by producing and marketing to other villages leading to self-sustained village economy. It has formed 102 cooperatives including milk and grain and a Rural Distribution Network called RUDI to help women link with other villages in a 100-km radius. Next came a cooperative bank called SEWA Bank in 1974 to help these women have access to banking services which otherwise were not available. Like a banyan tree the SEWA today has spread to countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

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Film & Animation

Tags:

• SEWA
• SKOCH
• Financial Inclusion Award
• Skoch Awards
• Ela R Bhatt
• Elaben
• Ela Bhatt
• India