Livelihood
Stories
Rangmet Rathiya - Transforming to a leader!
“Times have changed”, Rangmet Rathiya, the president of Van Devi Self-Help Group in Sambalpuri village of Raigarh recollects. There was a time once when Rangmet was forced to mortgage her jewellery for only a small sum of money. Instead of returning the jewellery when Rangmet paid back her mortgage, the moneylender refused to return it, leaving Rangmet helpless. Had this happened now, it would be a very different story. “Now if a moneylender exploits any of us, we will teach that person a lesson,” Rangmet says confidently. She has now emerged as an opinion leader and a valued counsellor in her community.
Earlier, life was full of hardships. Despite having 7-8 acres of land, the money crunch her family was in did not allow them to use modern fertilisers and improved seeds on the field, resulting in a production too small to last throughout the year. After their exhausting efforts during the agricultural season, she and her family had to work in a brick kiln carrying mud all the day to support their livelihoods.
The process of change started when she became a member of a self-help group formed by PRADAN in the year 2000. She used to save 10 cents (about Rs. 5 per week). At various times of need, Rangmet would borrow, at a small rate of interest, from the fund that the group members had accumulated.At the time of the agricultural season in 2001, the group took their first loan of $ 550(Rs 25,000) from Raigarh Khetriya Grameen Bank. Rangmet took a loan of $ 34 (Rs 1,500), and used the money to buy fertilisers and seeds. She started using improved varieties of seeds for paddy and vegetables. Previously, it was difficult to use the water from the stream near her piece of land, due to the unavailability of a lifting mechanism. Now she has purchased two pump sets and plants vegetables on this patch of land.
In 2004, PRADAN approached the bank in order to start an alternate source of livelihood – poultry. The group took a loan of $ 6,700 (Rs. 300,000). Rangmet’s part in this loan was $ 550 (Rs. 25,000). The government subsidized S 220 (Rs. 10,000) of the loan. Today after one year and three months, she has reared 10 cycles earning a total of $ 3,670 (Rs.165,000), and paid back $ 120 (Rs 5,295) of the $ 330 (Rs. 15,000) bank loan. Rangmet is now the President of a cooperative formed for farmers rearing broiler chickens. She has represented the cooperative in two different cooperative forums in Kesla and Ranchi.
Rangmet was also the Caretaker Sarpanch of the Panchayat. She recalls how she demanded that a High School be built for the village. She went to Raipur for a meeting and an officer asked her what her concerns were for the panchayat. She said “I am not literate sahib, but I want a High School for our Panchayat”. The school was thus made near her village. Now her two granddaughters are studying in this school, and she plans an education at least up to standard ten for them.
She was also in the forefront of a movement to demolish a liquor shop near her village. Though she regrets that not many people supported her, she is still satisfied that the liquor shop has closed for good.
She recently took a loan to start a Public Call Office(PCO) near her village, and plans to make a tank near her poultry shed to rear fish. Every afternoon, she plays cards with other women for an hour, and then resumes the task of arranging food and water for her chickens.
Her life has a very different meaning and purpose now. She not only has gotten into enterprising ventures, but is also involved in the social transformation of her environment. She now knows her worth and catapults it as an agent of change for the good of her village.