Kneading hope into women through co-op work, Lijjat turns 65

Seated on the ground floor of an old building near the white marble Badi Masjid in Bandra West, Nanda Anand Asande carefully empties her satchel of papad. Keeping the damaged pieces in the "rejected" category, she assembles the rest for weighing. While three women pack the weighed snack in polypropylene bags, a woman member enters the day's produce (in kgs) against Asande's name in a register. The packets are prepared for the depots from where they will reach shops and stores, ultimately ending up at people's dining tables.If Asande's role is crucial in the journey of the crunchy snack, she is well recognised and paid for the service. She is one of 45,000 "sister members" spread across 83 branches in the country belonging to Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad, which produces Lijjat papad, chapatis, masala, and chips under the same name. Founded in 1959 and recognised by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, the co-operatives movement has turned 65."It is a women-led cooperative movement where there are no workers and all are co-owners. It has given us self-respect, dignity, and made us self-reliant," says Swati R Paradkar, the Udyog's President. Paradkar began rolling the papad with her mother in 1968, becoming a storekeeper, later Sanchalika (director), and then president in 2009.It has helped "member sisters" who every morning collect dough of black gram (urad) mixed with asafoetida (heeng)—for one kg dough, the sisters must deliver at least 800 gm papad—roll the papad at home before returning with the papad the next day. Before the pandemic, sisters were paid daily, but now their remunerations reach directly to their bank accounts. On average, every sister earns around Rs 10,000 monthly."I earn around Rs 350 daily but am paid fortnightly. It is because of my service here that I could educate my two children (son is in a software engineering course while daughter is an undergraduate)," says Asande, a Dharavi resident. Every morning around 4 am, a minibus ferries batches of women between their residences—within nine kilometres from a branch—and branches.Vice-President Pratibha Sawant (82) joined the group in 1973. "In those days we were given Rs 1 for rolling one kg dough. Today they are paid Rs 66 for the same quantity. On Sundays and holidays, even college-going children join their mothers to roll the papad and enhance their income," smiles Sawant.How did it begin? Purshottam Damodar Dattani, fondly called Dattani Bappa, a business reporter with the Gujarati daily Janambhoomi, came up with the idea of giving women of Girgaum some work. He discussed it with his guru Chhagan Bappa, a member of the Servants of India Society, who wrote a letter to Raghunath Das Lalji Trust which owned several rooms at Lohana Niwas at Chira Bazaar.Seven women started it from a rented single room at Lohana Niwas, rolling only four packets on the first day. Later, the women's cooperative bought nine rooms at the Lohana Niwas, later branching out in the city and elsewhere. Dattani Bappa asked sisters to come up with a catchy name. One Dhiraj Ben suggested Lijjat, meaning best in taste in Gujarati, earning Rs 5 in prize from Bappa.In 1966, the group was registered, and on the recommendations of then Gujarat CM Ucchang Rai Dhebbar, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission recognised it as a public trust, exempting it from tax. As it expanded and communications began pouring in, the room at Girgaum ran short. They looked for a proper office. In the late 1950s, Bandra-based social activist Sumati Bhai Shah approached the first Chief Minister of Bombay State B G Kher with a request for a rented building in Bandra West. Today, outside Bandra station, stands the headquarters of this women's movement.
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