When rural women get a steady livelihood opportunity close to home, the benefits reach beyond individual families. The example of the Saraswati self-help group in Dumarmuda, Raigarh, shows how linking women’s groups to supplementary nutrition production can create local employment while supporting children and mothers through anganwadi centres.
The group’s ten women have been producing ready-to-eat nutrition food since April 2026. They handle cleaning, roasting, grinding, mixing, packaging and distribution under a defined process. This work provides them with practical experience in food processing and enterprise management, not merely a source of income.
The group reportedly earns up to 50,000 Rupees in profit every month. For ten women, this can mean a meaningful addition to household income and greater financial confidence. Such earnings also help women participate more actively in family decisions and daily expenses.
This initiative has a dual purpose. On one hand, it creates livelihood opportunities for rural women connected through the Bihan scheme. On the other, it helps ensure that supplementary nutrition reaches anganwadi centres. In Raigarh district, ten women’s self-help groups have been selected to supply ready-to-eat nutrition food for 2,709 anganwadi centres.
Capital support under the PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises scheme can help these groups buy equipment and expand operations. However, long-term success will depend on consistent demand, timely payment, quality control and fair working conditions. Women’s groups should not be left to bear production risks alone.
The Saraswati group’s experience underlines an important lesson: women’s economic empowerment works best when it is combined with skills, institutional support and a dependable market. If such models are expanded carefully, they can improve rural incomes, strengthen nutrition supply chains and give more women a visible role in local economic activity.
