Resting on a women helpline number in over 21 Indian languages, Aarambh will soon be launching a series of digital and physical work fairs, which will be India’s largest.

Aarambh a joint initiative of Jeevitam and the CSC academy was launched to provide jobs to a million women on Sunday.

The partnership aims to women from across the country with jobs with the choice of employment and the option to choose where they can work from.

Aarambh is to aid women find livelihoods and its partners have come together to mobilise women, find opportunities for them, train them and make them able to find livelihood at their doorstep.

The initiative, also described as a ‘1 Million for Livelihood, Financial Schemes, and Capacity Building’ rests on the government’s flagship initiatives for women, the Beti bachao Beti Padhao Abhiyan and suffixes ‘Beti Ko Swawlambi Banao’ (make the daughter independent) with the motive of securing women to economic independence following their education.

The idea behind the movement is to facilitate employed women to contribute by way of whatever capacities they are willing to offer.

Munish Chawla, the Chief Happiness Officer of Jeevitam says that the country’s workforce is underrepresented by women as 18 per cent of the women are employed.

“While 18 per cent women participation is a fact and we need to enhance it – it can also be seen as 18 per cent of inspired women who can inspire another 18 per cent to join them in making a new India,” he said, adding that “this will be the world largest mentor- mentee program.”

Resting on a women helpline number in over 21 Indian languages, Aarambh will soon be launching a series of digital and physical work fairs, which will be India’s largest.

The outreach will be promoted through street plays of Nukkad nataks, Motorcycle rallies or yatras and competitions in schools and colleges.

An initiative for nation building

Dedicating the Aarambh helpline to women users-to-be, Muralidharan Rajamani expressed the hope that the helpline would be a lifeline in coming years.

He said, “When the moment actually benefits: it is not the question of women saying who can lead me, it’s the question of who’s gonna stop me.” This, he said is the depth of the audacity of the project.

“The commencement could not have happened on any other better day than Gandhi’s birthday,” Mr Muralidharan said, quoting Mahatma Gandhi’s words, “Find Purpose, the means will follow.”

Jeevitam, he said, was a journey that kicked off in 2018, triggered by the want to provide livelihood. “Jeevitam is a Startup wanting to help people find livelihood become a moment in July when we launched Samvad, an initiative that brought together partners, both work providers and work seekers,” he said.

Aarambh is an initiative for nation building and with institutions and policy makers coming together – the initiative would become a force multiplier, he said.

India’s rural market

Rishikesh Patankar, CEO or CSC dwelled on the Indian rural market and the rural nature of the economy is expected to stay that way even in 2050, when more than 50 per cent of the population will reside in rural parts of the country, as per Niti Ayog’s Report

He gave the example of CSCs that enabled people in rural areas to get services at their doorstep, a practical demonstration of Sarkar aapke Dwar.

This has been happening with 5.75 lakh CSC centers across India with over 400 services being delivered on the ground. He said that 20 per cent of the CSC operators are women.

Alluding to the launch of 5G by Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday, he said that digital India’s push to contribute to the country’s 5 trillion economy is here now and the Aarambh program has a role in it by supporting women. This is in tune with CSC’s emphasis on working towards women empowerment.

He also dwelled on CSC academy implementing projects like sanitary pads manufacturing unit being set up in villages. “More than 54 per cent of those in the digital literacy initiatives are women and this is generating livelihoods, enhancing healthcare and achieving financial inclusion, he said.

He quoted Mahatma Gandhi, who advised “Think about the last mile person if he will benefit from the steps being taken.”

Munish Chawla, following Rishikesh Patankar, alluded to the 27crore e-shram targets and lauded the work done by CSC in this regard and praised how it utilised money from the CSR funds of various corporates.

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