NHPC empowers Chamba girls with self-employability kits

National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) Executive Director Om Prakash, along with Dalhousie SDM Anil Bhardwaj, handed over self-employability kits to girls trained under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative here.

A total of 32 girls received manual sewing machines, while 24 others were provided with beauty therapy kits. The beneficiaries, hailing from Banikhet, Surangani and adjoining areas, had successfully completed one-and-a-half-year skill training courses structured by the National Institute of Open Schooling of the Central Government. The institute also issued certificates.

The Yog Manav Vikas Trust, which has been working in the field of skill development since 2003 and has so far trained nearly 3,000 girls, imparted the training. Chairperson of the Trust Kiran Dodeja said that the provision of self-employability kits had significantly improved women’s livelihood levels, raising income from the earlier 30 per cent to 40 per cent to over 70 per cent.

As many as 160 girls from Banikhet, Surangani and Bakani centres participated in the event. They presented cultural dances and devotional performances after an initial meditation session. Over 300 persons attended the function held in the dome of the Antarnirman Complex, one of the largest such venues in Himachal Pradesh.

Dodeja said that the Trust had entered its 25th year of operation and it had helped create many “Lakhpati Didis” through its sustained training programmes. The SDM lauded the efforts of the Trust and congratulated the girls for their impressive performances. He appreciated the meditation session and the cultural presentations that added grace to the event.

The NHPC Executive Director congratulated the Trust for achieving a higher success rate and making young women self-reliant. He assured the organisers of continued support for such initiatives and said the Trust’s efforts had “illuminated lamps of self-reliance in many poor homes of Chamba district”.