I saw a group of girls practicing embroidery at DEF’s digital centre in Chinna Kondur, Telangana. Deepika, the embroidery trainer who was herself a student earlier has been training girls for the last 2 years. The embroidery training enables these girls to earn a livelihood for themselves. This allows them freedom and helps them make their own decisions and their families are not apprehensive about sending them for the training because Deepika is well known in the community now so they trust her and the work she is doing. Apart from generating a livelihood for the girls, this training program has also made Deepika an entrepreneur. She has been given space at DEF’s centre to do the training but she is not paid a salary, her income is the fee she charges from her students. The fee ranges between 2000 and 2500 depending on the duration of the training and all in all she is able to earn about 8000 rupees every month. During Covid this income has become all the more important for her and her family as her husband doesn’t have a stable job, so her income has helped the family through the pandemic.
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