This Diwali the Urban Community Development (UCD) of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has brought cheer to many families. It undertook a scheme which aims at helping financially deprived women market the various their food products that they sell during Diwali.

Under this scheme women from various backgrounds will learn to increase their business during the festive season. Every Diwali, these women used to arduously make faraal and sell it to clients they know. They had absolutely no idea that they could increase their profits by marketing it properly; they simply had to rely on their existing clients to sell their products.

The program initiated has been named as ‘Ashok’ after the late Ashok Kalamkar, the former PMC joint minister. He was known for his work and passed away in 2009. The civic body will not charge these women any money for providing their services, nor will it have any share in the profits earned by these women.

The treasurer of SMART Seva Sahakari Sanstha of PMC, Beena Kanuje said, “We shortlisted 450 SHGs from the existing 10,000 or so in the city, from which 145 were finalized to be a part of this cause. The groups assimilate women from different sections of the society, and we aim to help the financially deprived.”

These women have been designated to make five items that are most popular including, ladoos, shankharpalis, chaklis, karanjis, and chivda. “We saw to it that the groups were given items they specialize in to maintain the quality and taste of the product,” remarks Beena. She sells these food items at a stall on the Singhad Road. The civic body has organized the sale of these products across six different locations in Pune.

The faraal items are sold in packs of 2.5 kg and 3.5 kg and the money earned from the sale of these items goes directly to the self help groups. There are three nutritionists and taste experts from SNDT College of Home Science to help in the process of finalizing the assigning of the products. The process began about two months ago. The women who have benefitted from the scheme are quite happy that they are able to add some income to their homes.

The UCD was founded by the late Ashok Kalamkar, and about 9,500 women have benefitted from UCD. Looking at the positive response, Dyaneshwar Molak, the deputy commissioner, PMC says that they might even open permanent stores to sell these food products.