Bagan Bazar (Nutrition Shop)

There are more than 1000 (one thousand) tea gardens in Assam where workers originally coming from Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal have engaged themselves and subsequently settled in Assam permanently becoming part of the greater Assamese community. They are known as Tea and Ex-Tea Garden Tribes, who are reorganized as Other Backward Classes by the Government. These people not only constitute a sizable chunk of the population in the State but also play major role in tea production of the State (about 53% of the total tea production of the country) and thus contributing significantly to the economy of the State. But, economically, they are quite backward and literacy level among these communities is extremely low. Steps have been taken by the Government for improving the level of literacy and education besides providing other economic inputs for augmenting their family income. It has been observed that, the health and hygiene condition of the tea garden labourers are very poor because of which the infant mortality rate is significantly high and many of them suffer from malnutrition.

Various departments are working to improve the situation. A multi pronged strategy involving ASRLMS, Food & Civil Supply and NHM are working together for improving health and hygiene profile of the community. The tea garden workers mostly suffer from nutritional deficiency because of non-availability of supply of nutritious food and proper drinking water as well as lack of purchasing power resulting in rise of maternal mortality rate & infant mortality rate among those people. Opening of Shops with available nutritious food items in tea garden areas may be a good and viable proposition to reduce the rate of MMR & IMR among the Tea Garden workers.

1. Nutritional Shop:

Opening of Nutrition Shop is a holistic approach of the ASRLMS under the guidance of the Govt. of Assam, considering the vulnerability context of the tea-garden labourer. It’s a shop which is stacked with nutritional food items including green leafy vegetables & fruits. Grocery items including Soaps and disinfectants will also be available for regular use by the labourers. One selected women SHG is the owner of this Shop and three selected member of the SHG will run this shop. 

2. Management of the Shops:

The day-to-day management of the shops will be done by a member of a selected Women SHG promoted and belonging to the community residing in the Estate.

3. Role of NRLM (ASRLMS):

• ASRLMS will promote Women SHGs initially in the Tea Garden of Intensive Blocks. To start with, the existing women SHGs promoted and strengthened under NRLM will be involved in the process. At present, the number of village organizations in the Garden areas are expected to be less, so initially those shops are managed by the SHGs only.
• Role of VOs: A sub-committee in the VO-EC (Sub-Committee on Health & Nutrition- H & N Sub-Committee) are assigned to monitor the shops (all shops which are maintained by the members of their member SHG) at regular interval. These include availability of items in all the time, cleanliness, books of records etc.
• The H & N Sub-committee of VO-EC are in regular touch with local NHM unit and ensure timely delivery of services available for the pregnant women, lactating mother etc.
• All basic amenities provided by the Garden Authority are managed by the H & N Sub-committee of the VO-EC.

4. Month and year of establishment:

 It is started with phase manner, 1^st Phase started on 2^nd of October 2015 with inauguration of Twenty Four (24) Nos. of Nutrition Shops (Bagan Bazars) in the Tea Estate across the State of Assam.

5. Details of spread of Business activities:

Customer Service Point (CSP) has been installed at each Nutrition Shop (Bagan Bazar) to bring the tea-garden workers (at least one member from each house-hold) into the fold of financial inclusion; besides providing a scope of additional source of income for the SHG member who runs this CSP.

6. Brief details inputs provided by the Mission:

• A team of dedicated & expert professional of ASRLMS is conducting study in the Tea-Gardens to identify the issues related to the Nutrition Shops. They meet regularly with the Garden Authorities to address the issues of involving the Nutrition Shops-their viabilty and sustainability.
• Under the Chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner a District livelihood Committee has been formed for monitoring the status of Nutrition Shop (Bagan Bazar) and to formulate the strategies for making the business viable in the context of sustainability of the shop.
• Coordinating with the Food & Civil Supply Department to supply the food items at subsidised wholesale price price.
• Coordinating with the NHM to provide medicos and sanitary items so that tea- garden workers can easily access such items from the shop.
• One(1) dedicated Mission Staff will be attached at each Nutrition Shop to provide initial support in order to set-up the business. She/he will train them about maintenance of accounts; prepare profit & loss statements and analytical study of the shop.
  

7. Current status of the “Nutrition Shop (Bagan Bazar)”

     The average approximate earning range of a Nutrition Shop (Bagan Bazar) is Rs. 5000-10000/- per month. Till date Sixteen (16) nos. of Customer Service Point (CSP) have been installed at Nutrition Shop.  Approximately 30-35 bank A/C is being opening by the each CSP per month.

       At present a few Nutrition Shop are supplying food items to the Angonwadi centers. Besides these initiatives has been undertaken to install Public Distribution System (PDS) at the Nutrition Shop in collaboration with the Deputy Director, Food & Civil Supply.

8. Way forward:

       Additional forty (40) nos. of Nutrition Shops have been opened during the FY 2016-17. 

Project Implementation Status

Start Date: 2nd October 2015

End Date: Ongoing