GIRL POWER Project
Promoting entrepreneurship in incense stick business TEAM GIRL POWER
anufacturing and production of joss sticks or incense sticks has been a traditional industry in India, which provides livelihood opportunities, especially in rural areas. Since ancient time, in India, there has been a practise of using aromatic incense sticks in religious ceremonies. Owing to this, incense sticks have always been in high demand in India, which surges during the festive season. India is instrumental in fulfilling more than half of the global demand of incense sticks as it has captured both Indian and international market. During Ancient era, it was believed that various vedic rituals were incomplete without agarbatti. It is also believed that agarbatti purifies the air. There is a large user base for these incense sticks in India, with a market size of around `7500 crore, annually, with the involvement of about five lakh people. Moreover, almost `800 crore of this production is exported every year. This business has huge opportunity and more chance to grow because of the low-cost investment and high return on investment. The Girl Power Project funded by the European Union and implemented by the All India Institute of Local SelfGovernment, Jharkhand are playing the role of independent agents that bring transformative changes in the lives of 5000 women and girls of Jharkhand. Lighting incense sticks is a common practice in almost every Indian household, and in lieu of this the project team organised a three-day residential training program on making of incense sticks at Divyanan, Rama Krishna Mission Ashram, Ranchi. Around 41 women beneficiaries of Vishnugarh Block, Hazaribagh District, Jharkhand learned the art of making and packaging the incense sticks.
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May 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in
Objective of the training program
♦♦ To provide thorough knowledge of making and acquiring tools and equipment for Agarbatti making ♦♦ To increase local production capacity of incense sticks ♦♦ To upgrade the standard of living of local artisans involved in making Agarbatti manually or with the help of machinery ♦♦ To provide self-owned venture training. At the opening of training program, women beneficiaries were briefed about the objective of the training program. After orientation about training, the trainer explained different aspects of Agarbatti making followed by the practical session. The training started right from the identification of quality raw materials to the manufacturing of sticks. Further, he explained different types of incense
