While Labour cooperative of India headed by R M Pandey is sitting idle in the hope of getting government support, here comes a private initiative by SEWA which can easily shame it death. Sewa has organized about 300 women into a construction cooperative and are bagging contracts which keep women worker busy.
Called Shree Rachaita Bandhkam Mahila Sewa Sahakari Mandli, it is active in Gujarat. This cooperative does all the work related to construction industry such as a masonry, plastering and other related works.
It is for nothing that Ela Bhatt, the founder of SEWA has been honoured by Harvard last month as reported earlier by Indiancooperative.com.
Rachaita Bandhkam Mahila Sewa Sahakari Mandli was started by Ramilaben Parmar.The cooperative talks to clients, like builders and construction companies to get contracts. A centralised tools and equipment library providing equipment to Rachaita members on reasonable rents helps them a lot.
Such examples, though on small scale point to a bright future for cooperatives, no doubt.
