Jharkhand

Jharkhand is made up of two words: “Jhar” (forest) and “Khand” (land). Because of this, the state of Jharkhand is also known as the land of forests. Located in the north eastern corner of India, it is a state of India. As a result, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Odisha form the state’s outside boundaries. Uttar Pradesh is in the northwest. Ranchi is the capital of the state of Jharkhand. Since the beginning, several indigenous people have called Jharkhand their home. In several of the districts, tribal people predominate. Jharkhand has 32 primitive tribal groups. One of India’s newest states, Jharkhand, was created in 2000 by dividing Bihar’s southern region into two separate states.


There are total 19 aspirational districts in Jharkhand. These districts are encouraged to develop and replicate best practices that drive improvement across the socio-economic themes.

  • Sex Ratio in Jharkhand is 948 i.e. for each 1000 male, which is below national average of 940 as per latest census.
  • An estimated 56% of adolescent girls and young women were neither engaged in training, education, nor employment (“NEET”), compared to 19% of young men from the same households. School attendance drops significantly as girls enter adolescence, when marriage and domestic pressures predominate. Only 68 percent of girls ages 14–15, and 44 percent of those ages 16–17 are enrolled in school. The vast majority (69 percent) of young women (ages 18–24) participating in the labor force are self-employed, largely driven by young women in rural areas (World Bank 2015 survey) and are mostly concentrated in subsistence agriculture and unpaid family work.
  • Jharkhand's rural women have a low literacy rate of 46.6% compared to the national average of 58.8% for rural women.
  • In rural India, 66% of women's employment is unpaid, compared to 12% of men's. Additionally, these women are paid 75–90% less than their male counterparts.
  • By a staggering 27% in India's GDP. 90% of women's income is spent on home expenses, which increases demand in the rural economy.

The work in the Indian state of Jharkhand is commenced in the year 2008. The purpose of Udyogini’s intervention was the development of the lac value chain. The choice of lac as the fulcrum for intervention was in view of the gap in supply and the growing demand for the produce. Intervening in nine districts of the state: Khunti, Gumla, Ranchi, West Singhbhum, Saraikela, Simdega, Lohardaga, Palamu, Latehar. Major products working on Goat Rearing, Chironji, Tamarind, Dairy farming, Mango and Mushroom. We are working in four areas in Jharkhand and these are:-

  1. Value Chain Intervention:
    Udyogini has directly impacted value chains such as Non Timber Forest produce like Lac, tamarind and Chironji, Customised livestock business services (backyard poultry, goat rearing), and Agri and allied business services that show potential for scale in difficult market conditions in remote districts that are affected by poverty, conflict or climate challenges and broken enterprise ecosystems. We link women farmers from production to markets through an end-to-end value chain approach to increase their source of income, lessen their dependence, and give them access to economies of scale and scope as they pursue entrepreneurship.
  2. Livelihood Development:
    Udyogini has been working on increase in livelihood options from farm and non-farm based options. Udyogini is currently engaged in designing, implementing, evaluating and transforming its business model to identify, establish and scale up forest (Lac, Tamarind, Mahua), livestock (poultry, goat rearing) and farm based products to enhance the income of about 41,000+ tribal women producers in Jharkhand.
  3. Skill development:
    Udyogini believes that improved efficacy and contribution to overall productivity of Adolescent girls and young women age group can achieved through skill building because this age group has unmet aspirations and tremendous potential to contribute to the growth and development of the state. We are providing training 20,000 young women for self-employment under the Tejaswini Programme. Skills training under the project will comprise both vocational and business skills training and will be defined as ‘market-driven’ on the basis of skills offerings reflecting market assessments.

  4. Climate Change:
    Udyogini is promoting Semialata plantation in Jharkhand. Fleminga semialata is a most suitable quick growing lac host plant which may be introduced on plantation basis even in barren and degraded uplands and in waste lands also. Being a leguminous plant, it helps to fix nitrogen in the soil and improves fertility and productivity of soil in long run. It can also be incorporated with vegetable cultivation as intercropping. Different lac cultivation operations are easy as all activities can be carried out from ground level itself, so women folk may be involved actively.

    Apart from providing livelihoods, the Semialata plantation has also been instrumental in carbon sequestration, which has recently become crucial for addressing climate change. A study conducted by ICAR-IINRG on carbon sequestration by lac-producing trees found that Semialata, while being intercropped, also acts as a carbon sink functional at the household level.

    Cultivation of lac not only provides livelihood to millions of lac growers but also helps in conserving vast stretches of forests, lac insects and associated biota as most of the lac hosts are in forest areas and farmers resist felling of these trees and protect them for lac cultivation. Thereby, lac culture plays a vital role in the protection of our bio-resources.

  5. Entrepreneurship:
    In a market-ascendant world, Udyogini is involved in facilitating the development of agriculture, non-timber forest produce, artisan and service retail microenterprises where women are not only producers but also managers and entrepreneurs involved in a variety of value-added tasks. In Jharkhand we facilitate the learning of relevant management and technical skills that are required for making such microenterprises profitable to increase the income of women producers.
  1. We reached 41000 + farmers and 4000+ youth and adolescents in skilling. 
  2. On an average women have abled to raise their income from INR 10,000 from all agriculture produce to INR 60,000 – 70,000 per year from all the products (vegetable, lac, poultry, goat) 
  3.  There has been increase in production of lac with the adoption of scientific lac cultivation practices from 2.5 – 3 kg production in earlier years to now 15- 20 kg production based on the size of the tree.