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From a lay, unskilled worker to an award-winner by Smriti Kak Ramachandran

“The training coupled with our steely resolve has led us to where we are today -- confident and proud” 

There is nothing unusual about Jusmi Tudu, a 48-year-old woman from Santhal tribe in Jharkhand. Not even her uniform -- a blue shirt and trousers. But when she begins to tell you of her metamorphosis from a sari-clad, unskilled worker to an award-winning senior technician who works for Tata Steel, you have to sit up and take note.

Hers is a story of empowerment, a transition from a woman with a defined role to a skilled person who has the Prime Minister's Shram Devi Award under her belt now. “I am today a proud technician doing what men can do. I am glad I did not succumb to pressure and shed my sari for the uniform,” she says.

Having met President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday, Ms. Tudu along with seven other women from Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, is eager to talk about their skills, their journey from being a low-paid “Reja” to an empowered woman who thinks no job is tough. (Reja is a category of workers engaged for menial jobs.)

“I was trained under the programme Tejaswini that helped me achieve what I am today. I was a Reja worker for 23 years and would have retired from the same post, but for this opportunity to pick up skills,” she says.

The Tejaswini initiative launched by the company in 2002 is an attempt to give women the opportunity to acquire skills for better job profiles and wages. “We realised that there are quite a few women hired on compassionate grounds for basic, unskilled jobs. Most of them were hired as Reja and that's where they would remain till the end of their service. So we decided to train these women and impart special skills to them,” says Tata Steel's Chief Resident Executive in Delhi Chanakya Chaudhary.The effort has paid off and there is 40-year-old Baby who now works as a crane operator. “I took up the challenge not just because I had in me a desire to excel, but I wanted to be a role model for my three children and encourage them to do better. Today I am in a position to secure their future, and the reservations that people had about my abilities are in the past,” she says.

P. Gyaneshwari's is another inspiring story. After her husband who was employed with Tata Steel died, she had no option but to shed her inhibitions, challenge the norms and step into a man's shoes. She had three infants to look after.

Thirty-six-year-old Shefali is a locomotive operator responsible for driving locomotives used for hauling railway wagons inside the steel plant. She is probably one of the first women to operate a locomotive in any industrial set-up, says Tejaswini programme coordinator Urmila Ekka

Referring to the challenges faced in training the women, Ms. Ekka says: “They come from extremely protective and conservative families. To convince their families was difficult. Shedding the sari for the uniform or interacting withmale colleagues is not allowed. But these women persevered.”

These women now take pride in “taking on the men” and having excelled in jobs considered “masculine” -- they drive locomotives, operate dumpers, are adept at handling welding, gas-cutting and surface-grinding machines.

“The men were sceptical, even dismissive, about our strength. But look at us today, we even got to meet the President! The training coupled with our steely resolve has led us to where we are today -- confident and proud,” sums up Ms. Tudu.