Nakshi Kantha becomes a boon for many Rajshahi women

RAJSHAHI, Aug 06 (BSS): Nakshi Kantha, a type of hand-embroidered quilt, has been godsend to many rural poor women here as they are sewing their new day's dream by beating long time poverty through stitching the country's traditional kantha commercially.
For generations, the women artisans are sewing Nakshi Kantha.
More than just needlework, it has become the emotions, memories and dreams of the artisan.
Once it was made only for family use, but now it helps flourish the cottage industry in the district that is transforming housewives into entrepreneurs.
"I employ around 250 women in my industry," says Dinesh Hasda, from Kakonhat under Godagari upazila, who established his business entity named 'Adibashi Santa kantha' as an entrepreneur in 2013.
"I supply fabrics and yarns, and the artisans are paid between Tk 1,600 and Tk 1,700 for sewing Nakshi Kantha each depending on the size," he said.
He said his business house produces as many as 1000 quilt per month as he himself designs kanthas and supplies them to his workers for sewing.
"Our finished products are now being exported to around 17 overseas countries through a non-government development organisation, Prokrity Bangladesh, in Dhaka," Dinesh Hashda said.
He said the business volume is now on rising trend significantly and on an average, Nakshi Kanthas are being sold by around Tk 2.5 million yearly whereas his initial investment was Tk 0.1 million.
Under the jurisdiction of Rajshahi Divisional Ethnic Minority Cultural Academy, a three-day 'ethnic minority handicrafts and cultural fair' has been organised in last two consecutive years in the city where the finished Nakshi Kanthas were showcased and projected as massive response from the buyers has been received.