Berhampur: A group of women in Odisha’s Ganjam district have made eco-friendly rakhis and sent those to security personnel deployed in an anti-Maoist operation in the state to wear on Raksha Bandhan day Monday.
Around 25 members of the women’s wing of Kalinga Vysya Sangha at Mundamarai area 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, sago, etc 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, collected from their homes. 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 jawan, police, doctors, fire service officials etc,” 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.
