Jai Banjara

Solution Name:

Jai Banjara

One-line solution summary:

Training girls and women of Banjara, a tribal community of India, THROGH their children, IN THEIR LINGO, to use smart phone for e-commerce.

Pitch your solution.

The Banjara tribal population have great products that can fetch a good price in the cities. These are mostly created by women in their society. At the moment they are being exploited by middlemen or just men! 

Training and support to access e-commerce solutions will help them to bridge the digital divide. Most of them have access to smart phones. Children are good at navigating these. The best option is to train the women through children in an effort to empower them both. We will team up with local partners to form a network of support to make this a success. Eventually my dream is that someone sitting in New York being able to order a blouse made by a woman from Banjara tribe in Telengana, (of India) knowing that the purchase is directly benefitting the maker. 

Film your elevator pitch.

What specific problem are you solving?

Women and children from Banjara tribal community  in India are often exploited by everyone around them.  The women and children in these communities are very strong. They have amazing ability to create beautiful products like jewellery and costumes. They gave amazing wealth of singing and dance traditions too. 

Banjara art is rich and includes performance arts such as dance, music, folk and plastic arts like rangoli, textile embroidery, tattooing and painting, all led by women in their tribe. 

All is looked down upon by the majority communities around them due to the complex cast system in India. 

Sadly, due to the male dominance in their society, they are compelled even to get rid of their best creations: girl children. Most of them are compelled to work in the city as manual labourers, physically and psychologically exploited, end up as alcoholics. 

By helping them to use smart phone to learn digital skills with an intention to open up their eyes towards e commerce possibilities can change their world.

What is your solution?

Women and children from Banjara tribal community  are often exploited by everyone around them. By helping them to use smart phone to learn digital skills with an intention to open up their eyes towards e commerce possibilities can change their world. Once we manage to break the digital divide in e commerce, it will open up huge potential for them. I can imagine a Banjara girl of Hyderabad, managing her jewellery business though her Instagram linked shop, earning an income for herself and her family.  Once she is able to establish herself as the breadwinner, it will be a great beginning of a positive change in her community. 

Perhaps we may have to use a shared smartphone to begin with. However, once scaled up, it will open up an alternative e commerce space driven by women from tribal and minority communities all around the world. 

This an effort to preserve their community spirits and expertise through empowering their women and children using simple technology, e commerce. At the moment the technology is their curse, as most of them are used as labourers in building the high tech buildings. They can do much better than this to themselves. 

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

When you hear the word ‘Banjara’ you see the picture of a woman with heavy metal jewellery, armful of ivory bangles, and clothes embellished with tiny pieces of mirrors. Today, the Banjara tribe live on the fringes of society. 

The tribe has been known in India from centuries. It appears to be a mixed race and its origin and organisation maybe due to the wars of the Delhi emperors. 

Nomadic in nature, their language doesn’t have a script. In today’s world,  a language which doesn’t have a script is considered as an under-developed language. It doesn’t help their development. 

According to the latest estimates, Banjara population is nearly 25, 00, 000 and males account for 65 percent. 

Majority people of this community are now vicious cycle of poverty, it results debt trap and it leads to sale of baby girls, migration. 85 percent of the people are consuming alcohol at early age, 67 percent are under malnutrition, frequently exposing to waterborne diseases. Banjaras culture, social system, administration system and economic system and their societal values are getting eroded in the globalization era in Telangana tribal villages. The project will be initiated  in such a village in Meheboob district of Telengana. 

Explain how the problem, your solution, and your solution’s target population relate to the Challenge and your selected dimension.

There is a population completely exploited by the society around them. The exploitation has been going around for centuries. Women and children in this population have extremely great artistic and organisational abilities, that is very much appreciated by the world outside their community. If there is a way for them to access the market for their products into this society, in an interesting way, that is the solution. By introducing them to digital tools and digital marketing through e commerce platforms, they can overcome the centuries old servitude and find freedom. Sometimes, simple solutions can save a population. 

Who is the primary delegate for your solution?

Murali Nair, Director, Flying Elephant CIC

What is your solution’s stage of development?

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?