Cut to 1867, when a German bookbinder Hermann Henschel invented the paper plates for medical analysis. Fast forward to 1908, when an American public health officer, Samuel J. Crumbine realised that how commonly used utensils in public places caused the spread of tuberculosis which inspired him to launch a crusade to ban publicly used utensils. Following the trend, Lawrence Luellen along with Hugh Moore embarked on an advertising campaign to spread awareness about germs spreading through glasses and sippers commonly used at public places. They invented an iced-cooled water vending machine with disposable cups and found a company called “Health Kup” that produced cone shaped single serving cups. Later on, that company changed its name to “Dixie Cup” in 1919 which is known to all today.

Such old is the history of natural disposables, which is perhaps, much older than the paper based disposables. Then came the plastic and polystyrene based disposables and the carbon footprint started increasing tremendously.  Now, according to a survey, we are producing over 300 million tons of plastic every year, 50% of which is for single-use purposes. Most of the discarded plastic ends up in landfills, in oceans or elsewhere in the environment, making Human Beings the biggest enemy of Earth.

To learn from our ancestors and move back to biodegradable disposals has become need of the hour. There are several leaves from which 100% natural disposables can be produced, such as leaves of banyan tree, sugarcane, wood, bamboo, areca palm, and lotus to name a few. Many entrepreneurs are foraying into this industry and raising a concern against usage of plastic.

Adaaya, which is a leading manufacturer of areca palm plates and bowls in India, is also trying to bring a change in the world and make our Earth greener. The magnitude of change might be small but as Dalai Lama once said, “Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into water, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects.”

#biodegradables #savetheearth #saynotoplastic #sustainabledevelopment #leafdisposables #AdaayaFarms

One-third of the country’s population of more than 1.2 billion people is below poverty line and a large proportion lives in rural India. Also, a UN labor report projects about 17.8 million people are unemployed in India. At the same time, a million Indians reach employment age every month.

These statistics portray the sheer uneven distribution of income among the people of the country. A major cause of poverty among India’s rural people, both individuals and communities, is lack of access to productive assets and financial resources. Moreover, high level of illiteracy, inadequate health care and extremely limited access to social services is common among poor rural people.

The solution to this could be a Public-Private model or Cooperative Model. An appropriate example for this is AMUL. It supports lives of million families of farmers. More importantly, Social Enterprises like Adaaya, Dhriti have time and again demonstrated ways empowering women at the grassroots level by providing them income generating activities, adding to a rise in rural household income.

Therefore, a localized, self-sustaining social enterprise, through forward and backward linkages, not only has the potential of addressing a contextual problem but also of providing meaningful, continuous employment to the local populace for whom self employment, many a times at subsistence level, and informal employment are the norm.

#ruralemployment #womenemployment #unemployment #cooperative #Adaaya

Despite the staggering increase in the number of women being educated over the decade, the reports show a considerable decrease in the participation of women in the formal employment. Rather the women seem satisfied with the work from home activities or looking after the family. The point that I am trying to make is it has now become somewhat fashionable to not go to work. There is no sulking or inferiority complex, but a flaunting of adequacy of income, assets and wealth.

However, employment among rural women has dropped significantly from 48.5% in 2004-05 to 23.7% in 2017-18 due to unavailability of work in the labour sector. Rising inflation and cost of living, makes it necessary for the women in rural areas to contribute in the family income. To provide relief and empower women in rural areas, various private organizations are taking serious steps in improving their working conditions and making it easier for women to get employment.

One such organization is Adaaya Farm, it is the leading manufacturer and exporter of areca leaf tableware. The founders of the company are committed to provide safe and hygienic working conditions for women. This labour intensive industry has helped women to step out of their houses and from under the shadows of the patriarchy very much present in the rural districts of India. They have been provided the opportunity to be the equal contributor in the income of the family or in some cases become the sole bread earner. They are given proper training regarding the various steps in manufacturing of the products; handpicking the perfect areca sheath, washing them properly to avoid the germs, and finally drying it so that they are pressed in a hydraulic press machine to make varied sizes and shapes. Packaging the inventory, maintaining the inventory and exporting the orders are also the part of their job description.

As stated by International Labour Organization, increasing women’s labour force participation by 10 percentage points could add $770 billion to India’s GDP by 2025. Hence, it becomes imperative that the government and the private sector work together to substantially increase the participation of women in rural as well as urban sector. 

#womenempowerment  #potentialworkforce  #arecaleaves #ruralwomen #adaaya #arecaplates