A grassroots movement is underway in Punjab! Women from the districts of Bathinda, Kotbhai and Rajpura are honing their skills, reviving traditional handicrafts and becoming breadwinners in their families – all via the Virasat- E-Malwa collective. And one of the driving forces behind it, is Karamjeet Kaur.

 As the Chairperson of Virasat-E-Malwa Common Facility Centre Producer Company Limited, along with being a master trainer and artisan herself, Karamjeet has been instrumental in mobilising women for income generation via the revival of regional handicrafts.

But back in 2011, Karamjeet was a homemaker – suffering from family pressure for not giving birth to a boy child, restricted from stepping out of the home and seeing the gradual deterioration of her mental and physical health. She found solace in the GuruTegh Bahadur Self Help Group where she was supported to kickstart her own boutique business. But the journey of entrepreneurship was difficult for her, and bad debts began to mount.

The women of the SHG wanted to do something together, and when COVID-19 hit, they initiated mask-making to meet local demand. But facing issues with varying quality, stitching techniques, and a lack of standardisation of products, they decided that as a group each woman would do a different part of mask making – working as a group to collectively make the product. 

Orders began to come in for masks and then other products like uniforms. However, some elderly members of the group could not stitch but had skills in Punjabi traditional crafts of phulkari, dhurrie and crochet. They started making these products and showcased them in a local exhibition with all products selling well! And so a separate section spun off, creating pillow covers, table mats, laptop stands, yoga mats, table runners, and the like using traditional embroidery techniques.

And Virasat Federation was born. Acting as an umbrella group, the women began diversifying the handicrafts, with Virasat also acting as a marketing point – generating bulk orders in metropolitan areas where demand for high quality handicrafts was more prevalent.

Acting as chairperson, master trainer and artisan, Karamjeet’s life has been transformed. With financial agency in her household, her position and treatment in the family have completely changed. As a Virasat advocate, she has been instrumental in mobilising women to join Virasat and today 370 women are members and earning from places in Kotbhai, Bathinda, Aulakh, Rajpura and Dadri.

Today, the Virasat product list includes more than 100 products like dhurrie, furniture, macrame, phulkari and moonj baskets which are sold at exhibitions, in high-end specialty stores and even online.

When she ran her own business, Karamjeet was earning just Rs. 1500 per month. Today she earns Rs. 10,000-12,000 per month. Everything changed for her in this incredible journey, in her family, in her community, and in particular, within herself – all thanks to her newfound independence.

Today, her passion is ensuring that other women have the similar opportunity for transformation as she had!