On this Ganesh Chaturthi, a fresh start has been made in Udaipur under which thousands of tons of garlands and flowers offered to Gods on daily basis in temples and households will be converted into powder forms and shall be converted into incense sticks by training and employing hundreds of unemployed and poor women.
The initiative will help in two-phased manner; firstly, it will help unemployed women to garner jobs and secondly it shall check pollution in lakes as these flowers, in present times, are being immersed in the lake waters, said M Square Foundation chairman Mukesh Madhwani.
The Modus-Operandi
Under the novel initiative of our Foundation, the flowers will be dried and turned into power form to make incense sticks. Hundreds of unemployed women from the district shall be trained to make incense sticks from these garlands which will take the blessings from temple’s corridors to each household.
It needs to be mentioned here that the M Square Foundation has been taking initiatives to provide employment to many people by making them skilled.
Under this project, thousands of tons of garlands which are offered to God and then are flown into the lakes polluting the waters inside will be dried and shall be used to make incense sticks.
The herbal incense sticks will be made by crushing flowers into powder form.
This will bring smiles for unemployed women who will get newer opportunities to earn there livelihood, he added.
The money earned from selling the incense sticks shall be distributed among those poor women while some part will be spent in other social work too.
Flowers collected from Eklingji Temple and Saras Temple in Udaipur
Initially, two renowned temples have been shortlisted to start the drive which are Eklingji temple and Saras temple which attract many devotees from India and abroad, said Madhwani adding that two more temples shall be shortlisted soon.
Once we have our more skilled people and machinery ready, we will spread it to other temples as well, said Madhwani.
Profit sharing with jail inmates too
Another outlet of this Foundation, Being Manav, being run in Udaipur, recently started a novel drive here under which it shares a chunk of the profit with women jail inmates which is earned with the selling of incense sticks being made by these inmates.
The women jail inmates are being trained to make incense sticks to ensure they stand financially independent to raise and nurture their family members many of whom, have lost their jobs during current lockdown announced in the nation in wake of COVID-19 pandemic
According to founder of Being Manav, Mukesh Madhwani, “We have made a humble effort to engage female jail inmates in the process of making incense stick. The initiative ensures that the inmates stand financially independent to raise and nurture their family members in a dignified manner.”
“Under the said initiative, the women undergoing imprisonment in Udaipur Central Jail shall be trained to make the incense sticks out of which they shall earn their daily wages along with a chunk of the profit earned in the process as mentioned under the jail rules.
The remaining 100 per cent dividend will be applied to other social causes being run by Being Manav,”
Soon, this organisation also plans of opening food outlets across the country on the lines of Domino’s and McDonald’s, under which only the underprivileged will be given employment. Professional training shall be imparted to the employees to ensure they perform their job religiously with expertise.