Back alleys to NIFT

kolkata: in a dingy lane in garden reach, about 20 girls sat cramped in a little room working intently on the piece of cloth while shabana apa told them how they could set shirt collars faster. this is shabana asif's tailoring class. in the room, unfolds the story of muslim girls' desire to stand on their own feet. shabana has just finished a three-month course at the kolkata chapter of country's premier institute national institute of fashion technology (nift).with a family income of about rs 3,500 per month, she could never even dream of learning at nift. then, one day she chanced upon an advertisement in an urdu daily about the three-month fashion designing course at nift to be financed by the west bengal minorities development and finance corporation (wbmdfc). the squalid lanes of metiabruz, garden reach are dotted with tailoring outfits. in almost every house, the womenfolk, too, weave intricate embroidery on yards of cloth. both men and women here are initiated into this traditional trade at a very early age. but, they do not have access to modern technology. just as farmers cannot reach agriculture universities, upmarket institutes like nift are out of their reach. so, we intended to upgrade the skills of those already on the job by sponsoring their training in polytechnics, industrial training institute and other technical institutions, said mohammed salim, minister, minority affairs and development who is also the chairman of wbmdfc. training of those already in the tailoring trade at nift is part of the scheme for minorities. the first batch of 30 wbmdfc-sponsored students were enrolled at nift in 1999. currently, the fourth batch is undergoing training. we are involved in this programme by way of social commitment. already 120 candidates have been trained at nift in the course which aims at value addition to their existing profession. we also tell them about how to market the goods. for this, the wbmdfc pays rs 1,00,000 for 30-35 students, said b.v. somasekhar, director, nift. kahkashan of metiabruz is a student of south city college. she designs clothes which are taken to bhowanipore, behala by agents. after joining the course she is excited. with great zeal, she attends classes twice a week. i wish to open a boutique, she said. the popularity of the course is spreading by word of mouth. for the current session, we received more than 300 applications, said syed nasiruddin, managing director, wbmdfc. our objective is not to eliminate candidates. but, we select those in the age group of 18-35 years who already have traditional skills. preference is given to girls, he said. there is a loan linkage programme for trainees so that they can set up their own business, he said. the maximum limit is rs 1,00,00 which has to be repaid within five years in 20 quarterly instalments. and, recovery of loans is something that wbmdfc boasts of. our recovery of loans as on march 30, 2001 is about 50 per cent. in comparison, recovery rate of banks is between 15-25 per cent, said nasiruddin. noor anam, ainul bari, mohammed hussain and habibullah mollah are trainees of the first batch. all of them run tailoring outfits at metiabruz. earlier, we used to follow blindly what we had been taught as children. at nift, we were exposed to modern technology, different kinds of fabric, said hussain. we learnt how export quality garments are made, got insights into pattern making. but, the duration of the course it too short, said anam. even now, they approach their teachers at nift with queries. we can even refer to books from the institute's library, said bari. however, due to lack of resources, high labour cost, it is a tough competition for them. after training, all of them used the loan obtained from the wbmdfc to expand their business. for now, our only aim is to repay the loan, they say in unison. so, even after the sun sets they pore over cloths, their fingers weaving fine embroidery.