Grass brooms empower tribal women in Odisha; venture clocks Rs 45 lakh annual turnover

Grass brooms empower tribal women in Odisha; venture clocks Rs 45 lakh annual turnover

Jaya Kumari Saraka’s hands deftly move around kandis drawn from long blades of a special variety of hill grass found in the forests of Rayagada district in Odisha. She arranges them into a clump and puts the rear end into a plastic pipe, turning it into a hill broom. She makes about 100 brooms of different varieties at the multi-purpose processing unit in Bissamkatak block headquarters. They are sold under the ‘Pallishree’ brand name and provide…