Odisha women send eco-friendly ‘rakhis’ to jawans

Berhampur: A group of women in Ganjam district have made eco-friendly ‘rakhis’ and sent those to security personnel deployed in anti-Maoist operation in the State to wear on Raksha Bandhan day on Monday.

Around 25 members of the women’s wing of Kalinga Vysya Sangha at Mundamarai near Aska have crafted around 550 innovative ‘rakhis’ of different designs.The ‘rakhis’ were made by using an array of food grains and spices like paddy, mung, black grain, ragi, mustard and other biodegradable materials.

“We have already sent around 500 ‘rakhis’ for jawans, while another 50 ‘rakhis’ tied to some other local employees, like police, healthcare officials, fire fighters, who are working for the safety of the people on the day of Raksha Bandhan on Monday,” said Roja Subudhi, president of the women wing of the association.“Our aim is to make something different than the ‘rakhis’ available in the market and eco-friendly and truly sustainable. Besides strengthening the bonds between the jawans and others, these ‘rakhis’ also strengthen our connection to nature,” she said.

With this, the women conveyed the message that while celebrating relationships with tying ‘rakhis,’ they were also sowing seeds of environmental awareness, said Roja.The members of the association collected all materials used in the ‘rakhis.’ After drawing a design, they used food grains to craft the ‘rakhis.’ They only used the paper, paste and other natural colours for the purpose, while avoiding the plastic materials, said Bhagyashree Patra, secretary of the association. “Our aim is not to sell, but to distribute among our saviours like jawans, police, doctors, fire service officials,” said Sasmita Subudhi, cashier of the association.

They have been making such types of ‘rakhis’ for the last three years and sending them to the jawans. This year, however, they made a bulk quantity of ‘rakhis,’ she added.