Village Immersion report of Bihta Block, Nalanda District, Bihar

Submitted by Kevika Yadav, Young Professional (YP)

Village Immersion is part of the orientation programme of Jeevika for Young Professionals. I stayed in Bihta block of Patna district for one month to understand socio economic profile of village and how men and women engage in different activities to secure livelihood. The report of Village immersion in Bihta covers the micro enterprises and traditional process that have been taken by people of Bihta which not only makes them earn money but also has kept the tradition alive with the help of Jeevika initiative of Government of Bihar.

The document is divided in three sections

A     Brasswork of Bhita

B-    Jatta Sattu Making in Bihta

C-    Jeevika Changing lives of Women- Stories of two women of Bihta

This document was submitted to Jeevika, Government of Bihar in 2018.

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A

Brass work in Bihta

Jeevika’s role in keeping tradition alive

Tradition of Brasswork-The brass work of Bihar and few skilled people owes its legacy to  pre-historic age which was at peak in Mauryan and Gupta age. However very few blocks and villages of Bihar have brass work and craftsmanship. Few Blocks away from Patna are engaged in making utensils traditional brass utensils manufacturing units who make brass utensils supply to neighbouring Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Role of  BRLP & Jeevika -Understanding that brass work has a good demand from rural and urban area and has potential to be leveraged by encouraging local manufacturing  to bring income to rural folks, Jeevika  took the step forward to  empower groups of women to take up this art for livelihood.

Targeting women from rural households in six of Bihar’s poorest districts, Jeevika began in 2007 with the objective of social empowerment of the poorest rural households, followed by economic empowerment and poverty reduction. The programme now runs across Bihar’s 38 districts and 534 blocks. 

Jeevika’s structure is a bottom up approach. 10-15 women organise as a SHG to take loans on interest and obtain credit from banks. They also form producer organisations centred around an economic activity, such as honey production or making low-cost solar lamps for students. 20 to 25 of these SHGs form a Village Organisation (VO), while 30 to 40 Village Organisations band together to form Cluster Level Federation (CLF)

Formation of Self help groups- 

Bihta block is 35 kms away from Patna and is a growing township. It is well connected with roads and railways. There are couple of SHG formed and supported by Jeevika. The SHG group members are members of BRLPS Jeevika  and are  also part time workers there. As they belong to Palak SHG and Amit SHG, they took loan of Rs. 30,000 for the brass working 2018. Their annual earning from brass work is Rs. 360,000. The SHG members are engaged in doing work like flattening plates with hammer, giving shape to pots or bowls with chisels, and polishing utensils.  “We are in need of more capital so that we can set up our own brass work store and enhance our income” says Asha Devi member of SHG.

Sita Devi, Rinku Devi and Asha Devi earn their livelihood from brass work. They work for an agent who pays them according to their daily contribution to the work which includes cleaning, washing and shining the brass utensils intensively and passing them in for further work.

Market and Demand-

The brass utensils are sold at Sonpur Mela, Saras Mela and also supplied to Jharkhand. The SHG members supply the finished product to contractor who pays them very little and sometime will not pay if the work is not done. Rinku Devi informed that if the SHG is provided with direct market linkage with the retailers then they will not face exploitation from contractors and agents. “After hours of hard work in difficult conditions, there may be days where they are under paid or not paid at all” Informed a SHG Member.

Despite fast-changing lifestyle and habits, including changes in cooking utensils, brass utensils, considered auspicious, are still in high demand, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas. The utensils used for offering prayers and rituals, at home and in temples, are helping brass utensils manufacturing units in Bihta thrive. More demand is a positive sign for manufacturers as well as for workers, as they get to earn more. Through the year there is demand for brass utensils, but it peaks during the traditional marriage seasons, locally known as lagan, which is usually held in March during spring, April-May during summer and November-December during winter. There is a tradition of giving brass utensils to daughters in marriage.

There are few units run from homes, shops and workshops in the bylanes of Bihta. The prime requirement for the small scale units like Bihta is to have uninterrupted power supply, capital to buy implements and raw material, training and skills, marketing arrangements to reach out to urban area.

Traditional Process-

The lengthy process of making of brass utensils start with melting of raw material, molding it into nuggets, flattening and shaping them. Most of the work is done manually. Though there are some machines in few units. These use earthen stoves buried in the ground to control temperature for heating the plates before shaping them. Designs are still made by master craftsmen with details having been passed orally through generations.

Way forward

Jeevika is focusing on imparting trainings on financial Management and how to reinvest their profit and make business plan so that their business can be a success.

There is also a need to provide loans to the SHG members to enable them to buy raw material and meet the expenses that go in the unit. Jeevika has provided interest free loans to SHG members.

There are lessons to be learnt from Districts of Mirzapur, Moradabd of UP where traditional craftmanship of brassware has been taken up in a big way. The brasswares from these districts are exported and the designs are as per the trends.

There is a need to modernize the units so that they can achieve efficiency and competitiveness in terms labour, power supply, designs of utensils etc.

Jeevika may also consider imparting specialized training in making brasswares, artefacts and designs which are in demand in  urban areas. Collaboration with the Institutes like NIFT and NID can be worked out to have training in designs so that people are encouraged to undertake brassmaking not only for livelihood but also to build competencies to export these products.

Conclusion: 
The traditional Brass industry of Bihta and adjoining blocks need to be promoted. Jeevika has done exemplary work of empowering women of Bihta block by giving loan which has enabled them to secure livelihood by making utensils. However much needs to be done  to scale up this craftsmanship by providing skills, making business plans, aggregating the produce and negotiating, understanding markets and accordingly taking right kind of designs and making them for urban markets