Jamuna Das of Monachitura Village, Labpur Block, Birbhum District
Forty-eight-year-old Bhanumoti Das lives with her husband Golok Das and their two sons. She hails from a very poor family and her husband was addicted to alcohol. It became increasingly difficult for Bhanumoti to live with her alcoholic husband who keeps wasting all their hard-earned money on liquor. Her sons had already separated, so with no one to support them financially, they were pushed towards the edge of poverty.
In 2001, Bhanumoti joined IMSE Mahila Samiti and began training in handloom. After completing the training, she expressed interest to join IMSE’s production center, but her husband refused to allow her to join the production center and started torturing her.
Bhanumoti then approached the IMSE Family Counselling Centre for help. IMSE Mahila Samiti members visited her house 3-4 times to conduct motivational counseling sessions for her husband. Golok confessed that he drank only to escape from his state of poverty. He owned 3 bigha of land which had been mortgaged to a villager. IMSE sanctioned a loan to Golok and it was decided that he would repay the loan by taking up labor jobs.
The Mahila Samiti remained in close touch with Golok and monitored his progress to ensure that he did not go back to drinking. Their persistence and Golok’s willpower won and the loan was repaid. Thus, IMSE was successful in providing Golok Das and his wife with a dignified and fulfilling life.
Established in 1973, the Institute for Motivating Self Employment (IMSE) works to strengthen grassroots level governance and effective participation of the poor, particularly women in the decision-making process. IMSE has been able to develop a network of more than 8,000 strong women groups in West Bengal, Odisha, and Jharkhand with village-level units in more than 700 villages in Eastern India. IMSE is one of the farmers’ organizations that are part of MTCP2 India. #
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