“Shahi has given me and my family a life. When all doors closed on me and my family, it was Shahi who shed a ray of hope on us. We are thankful to Shahi.”
These were the words of a young Indian migrant worker, employed with Shahi Exports – the biggest garment exporter in India and also the largest employer in the garment industry, employing almost 100,000-large workforce. There are more than 4,000 such women working in this company, where they believe their life has changed for the better, with easy access to decent facilities.
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For those, who once lived in huts, kuchcha houses or bamboo ones back in their native home, walked on paths that were far from being called roads and did not have the luxury of toilets at home, life after joining Shahi Exports felt like a dream come true.
Back in their native, markets, schools or hospitals are usually located around 5 km from home, with transportation facilities still very poor. Summer months are hot and humid, while winters are extremely cold. A large number of these operators are unmarried and mostly come from below poverty line families, their main source of income being farming, as daily wage earners or farmhands.
But now their apartment-type hostels are more comfortable, with attached kitchen, where they can cook according to their wish, time or habit. There is also one toilet for every 6-8 people living in these quarters.
According to Shahi Exports Director J D Giri, “There are around 5,500 migrants staying in 51 hostels provided by the company. Out of these 51 hostels, 36 are for women, housing around 4,072 individuals, and 15 are for men, holding around 1,439 men. Dorms are separated on the basis of their gender.”
Hostels are cleaned daily by the inmates themselves. Woman factory welfare officers are also involved in employee engagement programmes at the hostel. A counselling cell has been set up, where in-house HR counsellors are available to talk with migrants on any work- or family-related issues. Wardens are also trained in parenting/counselling skills. Doctors are also available in-house to take care of the inmates’ medical health. The workers’ health and safety are also constant concerns for the company authorities.
The company has also taken up several welfare initiatives, such as life skills training, women empowerment programmes (personal advancement and career enhancement initiative, women economic empowerment initiative), other awareness programmes like water sanitation and hygiene, health and nutrition, gender equality, sexual health, HIV Aids, Tuberculosis awareness, apart from several training programmes for all workers, which includes migrant workers.
