Self-employment means working for oneself rather than working for someone else. The importance of self-employment in a vastly populated country like India is growing rapidly. During the pandemic, lakhs of employed people lost their jobs because their employers could not afford to pay them their salaries. This was the time period when people realized that entrepreneurship can be a great option for more people than previously imagined.
People who live in rural areas can benefit immensely from the doors that small businesses can open for them. If people in rural communities start exploring small businesses, it can be a strong foundation to fight unemployment and improve the village economies. Today, there are a lot of government schemes which are aimed to encourage entrepreneurship among people.
The Akhil Bharatiya Adarsh Chaurasia Mahasabha is an organization which works across the country to help people from underprivileged sections of society. The president of the organization, Mr. Ramesh Chaurasia has a vision to uplift all members of underprivileged communities by helping them get the best guidance in fields of education, employment, healthcare and more.
We talked to Mr. Ramesh Chaurasia to ask what he thinks about self-employment as a means to uplift underprivileged sections of society.
He said, “We know that not all people are fortunate enough to complete their school education or get higher education. We see that such people today have very little options in terms of employment. They often have to depend on manual labour which is not a lucrative or long term form of employment. This lack of stable employment contributes to migration of people from villages to the cities, worsening the problems caused by unemployment. I believe that people from villages are extremely hard working and skilled. If their skills are put to use, they can easily get the benefits of self-employment.”
He went on to add, “We know that there is still a strong sense of community in rural India and this should be used for the benefit of the people. The government is offering tailor made schemes which are meant to help generate self-employment. Our organization helps people in villages to avail such schemes to start small businesses to generate self-employment. We also train people with the help of skill development programs and offer counselling to those who need guidance in matters regarding their career. Our team also organizes community meetings where people come together to interact and share ideas with each other which further strengthens their bond and creates new opportunities for self-employment.”
Small businesses can uplift rural economies
The Chaurasia community sets a strong example for many communities. They are a community of hard working traditional betel leaf farmers. They have been engaged in betel farming since thousands of years and are experts at it. The organization has empowered the farmers of the community to employ modern practices of farming like multi layered farming to increase the yield and reduce wastage. The young members of the community are trained to learn basic skills of trade and business so they are able to sell the produce through proper logistics. So, by creating a business which is small in size and employs a number of people without any huge investment, the rural economy gets uplifted. The farmers are going to earn more due to the increased quality and quantity of the produce. Improved logistics mean that the produce will reach the right markets and sell at a better price. This is the kind of change small businesses can bring. Mr. Ramesh Chaurasia truly believes in the power of community building. The Mahasabha and their team are constantly trying to help people from rural and underprivileged communities to find sustainable and stable sources of income which can increase their confidence, improve their lives and break the cycle of poverty.
