Shanmugam Ias Academy

Nov 08, 2022

SELF-EMPLOYED WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION (SEWA)

Why in News?

Recently, Elaben Bhatt, renowned founder of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), passed away.

SEWA was born out of the Textile Labour Association (TLA) founded by Anasuya Sarabhai and Mahatma Gandhi in 1920 but it could not register as a trade union until 1972 because its members did not have an “employer” and were thus not seen as workers.
In 1981, after the anti-reservation riots in which the Bhatts were targeted for supporting quotas for Dalits in medical education, the TLA broke up with SEWA.
As early as in 1974, SEWA Bank was established to provide small loans to poor women.
It is an initiative that was recognised by the International Labour Organisation as a microfinance movement.
With an annual membership fee of just Rs 10, SEWA allows anyone who is self-employed to become a member.
Its network is spread across 18 Indian states, in other countries of South Asia, in South Africa, and Latin America.
It has helped rehabilitate women in personal, and even political or social crises, by empowering them through skilling and training.
It simultaneously provided employment to women and promoted cooperative production, consumption and marketing of textiles which constituted the core of India’s industrialisation.
It also decisively influenced the course of trade unionism and labor movement in India.

Achievements of SEWA

The Unorganised Workers Social Security Act (2008), the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (2011), and the Street Vendors Act (2014), are seen as successes of SEWA’s struggle.
The PM Street Vendors Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM-SVANidhi) scheme is seen as being inspired by SEWA’s microfinance model.
During the pandemic, SEWA launched Anubandh, an e-commerce platform to connect sellers with buyers, to keep kitchen fires burning through the lockdowns.
The efforts of SEWA to change the lives of over 2.1 million members and many more around the world have long been recognised as a model for the world.