BackIn J&K, women entrepreneurs help residents, government fight coronavirus
These women are working out ways to offer online education and door-to-door delivery of services
PremiumNEW DELHI : Just before the nationwide lockdown was announced last month, Sadia Mufti went looking for N92 masks for her family in Srinagar. “I couldn’t find any," says the 28-year-old fashion designer and owner of the popular Hangers boutique in Srinagar’s Jehangir Chowk.
That’s when she decided to use her resources to make protective gear for both residents and medical staff. “I didn’t want my six tailors to return to their homes in Uttar Pradesh because I didn’t know if they could travel safely, but they needed money to send home," she says. Her three-layered masks and protective coveralls—all approved by the city government hospital—are priced at ₹12 and ₹300 respectively. Till date, they have made 15,000 masks and 1,200 coveralls.
Mufti is among a small number of women entrepreneurs in Jammu and Kashmir. It’s a state where curfews are common, internet services have been suspended for months and telephone connectivity is patchy, making doing business a true challenge. The covid-19 health crisis has just added another layer of complexity.
But these entrepreneurs are adapting and working out ways to offer online education and door-to-door delivery of services in a place without 4G connectivity.
At this time of the year, Mufti is usually busy with orders for weddings but that’s come to a halt now. Kashmir has close to 80 confirmed positive cases of covid-19. “Curfews are normal in Kashmir, but even last August (when Jammu and Kashmir was made a Union Territory), we had some work. This time, zero," she says.
Dr. Shazia Safi owns and runs the only clinic in Shahpur. Until she built it two years ago, locals had to travel 15km to reach the nearest hospital in Jammu city. “Both Internet and telephone services are bad here. People had to wait hours for ambulances to come all the way from Jammu," says Safi, 34.
When people tested positive in Jammu (it currently has 27 cases), she wrote to the health ministry offering to turn her clinic into a quarantine centre. “Two days ago, we got the go-ahead, and are making the required changes to the centre. Luckily, there haven’t been cases yet, but we are ready."
Aarti Dhingra, 35, who started the first women-only fitness centre in Jammu 11 years ago, has moved her classes online for free. “It’s a tough time for all of us. So I try to do my bit to help people unwind and take care of their health," says Dhingra, who has seen a 100% increase in her social media followers in the past three weeks.
Tripta Saroch, owner of a dairy farm in Narwal, Jammu, has started going door-to-door to take orders and distribute milk. “All shops in our area are shut so people are depending on us for milk. The demand has increased 100% since the lockdown started," says Saroch, 34, a sociology graduate. She gives milk and at least five food kits free every day to the needy.
Setting up an online service is out of the question since connectivity is poor.
She has stopped making cheese and curd to meet the increased demand for milk. “Milk demand has gone up to two quintals a day. Cheese and curd will bring in more money, but these are trying times," she says. “We are not looking to profit now. People need us."
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