Prayas is a social work demonstration project of the Criminology and Criminal Justice, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, established in 1990. Prayas’s focus is on service delivery, networking, training, research and documentation, and policy change with respect to the custodial/institutional rights and rehabilitation of socio-economically vulnerable individuals and groups.
This case highlights the initiative shown by a woman in the face of adversity (in the midst of the Covid-19 lockdown).
Salma (name changed), a Prayas client (beneficiary), is 28 years old and lives with 3-year-old daughter at her mother’s place. She has recently started a small scale business of selling eggs, from the cash transfer made by Prayas of Rs. 2000/- (as financial assistance from Prayas during the lockdown period).
Initially, Salma planned to sell vegetables, but due to the lockdown, she postponed the idea. However, one day, she called up our Social Worker, Priyanka Kamble, and shared that her neigbours are in need of onions and potatoes; and hence she wanted to explore the idea of selling these. To start off the business, her brother planned to help her buy onions and potatoes from Mumbra, but due to police bandobast he could not move out of the locality. She thought to herself, vegetables are expensive in her area; hence, neighbours would not buy from her. After much brainstorming, she came up with the idea of selling eggs.
Salma approached a wholesale dealer selling eggs that came near her building and initially bought 3 trays of eggs (1 tray has 30 eggs) on a daily basis. On days when the vehicle did not come, she would walk half to an hour to his shop to buy eggs from him. She first started selling eggs in her building and then moved to selling in the market between 12.00 Noon to 4.00 pm. As her sale increased, she started buying 5 trays per day (which means 150 eggs). She now is able to sell all the eggs that she purchases and makes a profit of around Rs. 150 per day.
Salma now plans to sell eggs in special markets on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. She also told Priyanka that post the lockdown, she plans to sell vegetables, onions, and potatoes. She is happy that she is able to make a profit with her hard work.
Prayas has been working for the last 30 years to create pathways for the rehabilitation of persons in prison and protective custody. Do support Prayas to reach out to maximum people with the support in the times of COVID 19 crises https://tiss.edu/prayas_donate/
