IARE Distinctiveness

Title of the practice

Institutional extension activities for rural development in adjacent villages

IARE not only enriches the lives of students and faculty members, but also contributes to the development of communal cohesion. Several extension efforts are carried out by the institute for the benefit of the surrounding villages and deprived community. The infusion of technology into tribal women's traditional customs sparked the concept of empowerment.

The scheduled tribe community set up near the institute was altered and made aware of societal demands in general medical care during pandemic scenarios under this initiative. IARE collaborates with the Indian government to improve tribal women's livelihoods by mechanizing cultural ornaments and household novelty goods. The Institute has a vested interest in providing assistance in the form of a community common facility center, where women artisans are trained in the craft of traditional tribal jewellery, embroidery, ceramics, and ethnic fashion utilizing mechanized instruments to maintain high output and reduce drudgery. As a result, the institute assists in the marketing of handmade quality holds around the country through E-Commerce services, consequently contributing to an increase in the tribal community's daily revenue.

Tribal Women Empowerment and Development Project: The institute has received 160 lacs funding from Department of Science and Technology, Government of India for the project titled “Poverty alleviation and upliftment of women through mechanized manufacturing of traditional ornaments and house hold products” in the year 2020. Tribal women (i.e., Lambada women or also called as Banjara's) living in Dundigal Thanda I and II are manufacturing their own ethnic dresses, traditional ornaments and household decorative items. Their ethnic dresses are having rich mirror work and traditional ornaments such as plated hair locks, bejewels (tukri), white bangles (bandiya), rings, chains and coins are predominantly manufactured using shells, crude metals and lucky amulets. Decorative household items are manufactured with wood, clay, roots and barks. It is worthful to state that all the above items listed are manufactured by their own hands using their traditional knowledge and skill, which is a time taking process and their work is not getting appreciable revenue. The genre of traditional knowledge and skill owned by every individual woman are to be identified and trained in such a manner that their traditional work is merged with machines to yield a fruitful development in terms of revenue and lifestyle.

The intervention is to mechanize five such traditional methods like bangle making, chain making, coin making, wood carving and embroidery to produce fabricated machinery from the institute to increase productivity to meet the market demand and increase the livelihood of the tribal women and encouraging the migrated workers back to the ethnic business.

The objective of this project is to

• To improve the traditional knowledge and skills of the women artisans of tribal community of Dundigal Thanda by introduction of mechanized processes.
• Infusion of robust technologies to aid the manufacturing of traditional ornaments.
• To establish a mechanized common facility center for product diversification and training.
• Creation of social entrepreneurship by establishing forward linkages.

The institute has developed a training center in the nearby tribal villages (THANDA) in conjunction with the Telangana government for the upliftment of the local people. The institute holds monthly training programs for indigenous people in order to provide them with a source of income. The training Centre is equipped with the following equipment.

• Engraving and cutting with a laser for ceramic decoration
• Coins stamping and spot-welding machine for dollars, lockets, and key chains
• Bangle producing machine for designer metal bangles
• Image-based embroidery equipment for imprinting traditional designs in ethnic fashion
• Paper cutting machine for elaborate patterns in traditional wear.

Outcomes of the Project:

• A surge in supply of handmade ear rings, bangles, embroider wear, clutches, hand bags, key chains, pottery, mementos, office novelties, muggam works, and combinations thereof with traditional tribal designs has been exploited through market demand.

In addition, IARE offers a variety of community empowerment programs for deprived community in the proximity area. The following are the sample activities that are conducted periodically:

• Awareness program on socio-economic and sustainable development of the country
• Awareness program on new horizons of Science Technology knowledge to support elevating several agricultural rural challenges through applied Science Technology
• Teaching Tools and Digital Resources For school teachers
• Use of Mobile Applications for Digital Payment and e-Governance Services - for rural Women
• ICT Computer Skills Training to Govt School students
• Training on Digital Literacy for sweepers, attenders, drivers
• Awareness activities on the following themes Prevention of child marriage, say no to liquor & alcohol, and AIDS through posters, talks, puppet show and street play
• A School awareness Program on Real-Time Applications of Sensor Based Appliances
• Awareness program on national needs for rural India

The NSS unit of IARE is also involved in activities to promote social inclusion and community development. Considering the contributions of IARE to rural and community development, the institute has received several awards and accolades.