Calcutta: Ms Rinku Sarkar of Howrah set an example for independent-minded enterprising women on Friday when she started Rinku Enterprises, a smallscale industry dealing with refrigerator servicing. Outstanding among the successful trainees of Don Bosco Self Employment Research Institute, Mirpara in Howrah, Ms Sarkar opted for a profession generally associated with men.

CALCUTTA: Life is full of promise for Adhir Doloy, Munna Das and Charles Mondal hailing from deprived backgrounds. The are now earning a livelihood under the non-format self employment programme conducted by the Don Bosco Technical School, Liluah in West Bengal.

The boys put in some 10 hours daily making a tidy sum of Rs. 350, Rs. 500 and Rs. 1100 respectively by manufacturing auto parts for big companies. Of this amount they take 35 per cent home, 25 per cent goes to administration and maintenance and 40 per cent towards repayment of bank loans. Adhir Doloy (19) from Sunderbans will own the Rs.10,000 milling machine he works on in another two years while Munna, an orphan, has partly repaid his bank loans, besides saving Rs. 1000 a month. Charles Mondal (28) who has been at the Institute for nearly seven years is the most successful. He is a proud owner of a piece of land, the Rs.12,000 lathe machine and has a bank balance of Rs. 2,000. Though he has repaid his loan he is still with the Institute, being unable to find a suitable place to start his business.

In giving these boys from the vulnerable section of the society a new lease of life the contribution of Don Bosco Self Employment Institute run by the Salesian order is immense. The new concept of combining non-formal training with self employment was introduced, as the formal course imparted training for a limited group-the more intelligent. "It was felt that a shorter, simpler, more employment oriented training should be worked out to help boys start on their own," said Br.T.V.Mathew, Superintendent of the technical school. "The need arose as it is estimated that 85 per cent of the children going to school drop out before class 10," he added.

Liluah, north of Calcutta with its iron foundaries has been described as the Sheffield of Calcutta. About 15 km from the city it is a 15 minutes journey by train from Howrah to Liluah. Here from the railway station the training institute is just one km away.

The beginning: In 1977, the institute commenced its activities from a hired accommodation training the school dropouts and the handicapped. The curriculum was aimed at imparting skills to enable the students to operate at least one machine efficiently. Never looking back, the Institute has trained 250 boys. It has since shifted to a new location at Mirpara, 3 km from the previous one over 100 boys are to learn 60 trades. The newly acquired premises situated in four acres will have provision for housing a variety of machines-lathe, milling, rig boring etc to name a few. The courses offered are a three month practical training in plastic moulding, a six month welding course and a year long one in air condition machine equipment.

The Institute also helps in securing bank loans as well as work orders for the boys Br.Mathew always signs as the guarantor for each trainee and the loans are taken to buy machine under the differential rate scheme under with the percentage of interest is only four.

A trainee is taught to deal with bank and handle other business aspects making himself reliant entrepreneur owning machine when the loan is finally repaid. He is then allowed to move to a place of his choice.

Orders from companies are obtained by agents attached to the Institute. The high standard of the boys work is reflected in the orders of a leading local automobile manufacturer for glass pane regulators for their new range of cars. This import substitution product is nowhere inferior to those manufactured abroad says Br. Mathew. An almost 100 pr cent repayment record has made it easier for the bank to extend loans to the boys.

The Mirpara school has a production centre, where 18 boys from Dankuni, Howrah, Hooghly etc. are engaged in executing the job orders. A new research wing to assess the strength and weaknesses of the programmes, an auditorium for the handicapped, a hostel and about 50 cottages to house the training equipment are the other schemes on the anvil. Vocational training for girls in garment manufacture and pisciculture are to be taken up. A few boys are already involved in mushroom cultivation in a small shed. The mushroom project cost is estimated to be nearly Rs. 250 crores. The Institute has already approached IDBI for assistance to build the cottages.

While the non-formal training is being given boost, the formal training programme too have helped several boys. The minimum qualification required is a pass in madhyamik examination.

Nearly 48 boys are now on their own under taking job orders from private companies as a result of the specially tailored guidance of the Don Bosco.

Last week I had a date with a group of dynamic youngsters. They live far from Calcutta's madding crowd and its ignoble strife, in an idyllic humanitarian organisation. Born in impoverished, have-not families they had nothing to look forward to. And maybe they would have been yet another lot of frustrated, unhappy young people in the quest of an elusive self-identity. Only lady luck had something else in store.

Thanks to the Self Employment Research Institute run by the Don Bosco, Mirpara, Liluah, their lives have got a whole new meaning today.

They are close to achieving the kind of success and self-independence most people can only dream of!

I met a girl. She has a dream. Young, cheerful, full of joie de vivre. Softpoken, petite ever-smiling. Barely out of her teen, you could lose her in a crowd. What makes her different is her never-say-die attitude, her will to succeed and a determination to make it big. Hailing from and under-privileged family of fish-sellers, of Mirpara, Liluah, Rinku Sarkar has recently launched a small scale unit for the repairing and the maintenance of refrigerators, air coolers and air conditioners.

What sets her apart is the fact that she has taken up a trade traditionally dominated by men. With the help of Webcon (West Bengal Consultancy Organisation), Rinku has started a small scale industry in her very own home. In a well-attended inaugural program, the local councillors of Ward numbers 22 and 24 of Bally, lauded the efforts of this gritty young girl, who is trying to carve a niche for herself.

Rinku, however, candidly confessed that she would have been just another school drop-out but for the support and the guidance of Brother T.V. Mathew, the technical director, Don Bosco Self Employment Research Institute, Mirpara, Liluah (he also encouraged her to qualify for the Madhyamik).

This institute has been rendering an yeoman's service to the local residents for the past few years, by imparting non-formal training with entrepreneurship in various market-oriented trades like the maintenance and repairing of air-conditioners and refrigerators, wool-knitting, manufacture of jute products, tailoring, mushroom cultivation, welding and house wiring. No course fee is charged and residential facilities are available as well.

Drop-outs are warmly welcomed and encouraged to complete their school education.
A quarterly support-scheme is given in the form of textbooks, shoes, clothes and woollens.
No discrimination is made of the grounds of school dropouts, and the handicapped. House-wives from local families can also receive training from this organisation.
Classes are held on Mondays through Saturdays from 8 am to 4 pm. For the house-wives, a more suitable schedule is arranged starting from 11 am.
The informal training is "productive", wherein students learn how to operate machine, produce and market items.
Interestingly, more than 65 percent of the institute's trainees are girls, who are often equally if not more industrious, enterprising, and eager-to-learn than their male counterparts.
These "independent" young ladies are extremely "coveted" as brides too, and many of them find eligible suitors even before the course is over.
The institute was founded in 1990 on the International Labour Day ( May 1 ), to foster a streak of independence and to build up confidence among the under-privileged youngsters of Mirpara.
The informal course lasts from six months to a year.
Raw materials and the machines are supplied by the institute and students may earn upto Rs. 20 a day.

After completion of the course, if students can prove their efficiency, the institute itself arranges loans from the local Bank of India to help them set up independent units.

In the past few years about 35-40 students have achieved a considerable degree of financial independence, earning around Rs.2000 a month.

The tailoring work-shops and the wool-knitting classes are mostly populated by would-be-professional ladies whose work is much appreciated by interested buyers.

Raw jute is purchased, dyed and coloured in the modest make-shift laboratory run by the institute.
This jute is restyled to manufacture carpets, table-mats, shopping bags, ladies fancy bags, and shoes.
In fact the jute goods produced here are of a superior quality and are usually exported as they have a steady market outside India.

Incidentally, Rev. Fr. K U Matthew told us that this is one of the few places in India that manufactures window-regulating parts used exclusively by Contessas.

The 2500 pieces of brake cyclinders produced here every month are also in great demand.

Organisations like the Hind Motors and Usha Martin regularly buy the products made here.

A liaison agent arranges the sale of the products manufactured at the DB SERI.

At the DB SERI, Mirpara, the physically impaired are not the children of a lesser god. The learn type writing, wool knitting and computers.

A polio-stricken young lady even knows Lotus, C++, Wordstar, Cobol and is "looking for a break."

The institute has introduced a formal course in building construction (recognised by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, and is approved by the West Bengal Government's policy of vocational education) in 1994. It is a 3-year diploma course where anyone can enroll after qualifying at the school final examination.
A small and select batch of enthusiastic teenagers lean the tricks of the trade here. This architectural engineering diploma course is the first of its kind in India.

At an age when most teenagers in the metros frequent coffee-shops, discos, bunk classes and generally have a great time freaking out, these busybees of the DB SERI sit in their work-rooms weaving out a better tomorrow for themselves. Armed with good intentions, the DB SERI has no dearth of well-wishers whose constant encouragement and support has set the spirits of the Don Boscoites of Mirpara soaring.

May be in the near future, this institute will give West Bengal a whole new breed of youngsters who need no longer wallow in self-pity and experience the frustration of being unemployed.

Thanks to the egalitarian service rendered by the DB SERI, many young people from the not-so-privileged families, have found the courage to dream of achieving economic self-sufficiency, and a place for themselves under the sun. For Rinku and the many others trained here, dreams seem to come true. And the heavens they say, help those who help themselves. Amen!