Women in Kashmir spin a different yarn, thanks to Indian Army

Inside a well-decorated hall in the Indian Army's Chinar 9Jawan Club in north Kashmir's Baramulla, a group of Hijab-wearing women is busy drawing designs for a new women apparel line. With strokes of soothing colours, they are trying everything in the book to create eye-catching designs for ladies wear. The Chinar 9Jawan Club is acting as a one-stop skill development centre where young Kashmiri women are trained in fashion designing for six months free of cost.

The Indian Army, as part of its outreach to win hearts in the restive state, has entered into a strategic tie-up with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation to train young girls in fashion designing to make them self-reliant and independent.

The fashion designing course is the latest in the series of initiatives the Indian Army — like marketing Koshur Krunch, opening bakeries, tailoring, etc. — for women in the state. From training to logistics, the Army takes care of every requirement, helping women recognise their dreams.

Nusrat Majeed, 21, travels more than 40 km every day to Baramulla from her home in Singpora to pursue her passion for fashion designing. It has been her dream to become a top-notch fashion designer, the reason why she enrolled for the course after completing graduation.

"I want to make it big in this field. It has been four months since I joined the course. To start with, I intend to open my own boutique. Later, I want to showcase my work and carve a niche for myself as a fashion designer. It is my dream to become a famous fashion designer," Nusrat said.

Every batch has 30 women enrolling for a six-month fashion designing course. So far, 90 students of three batches have passed out, with 65 of them already working in the field — some have opened boutiques and some working from homes.

"This is our fourth batch. We are training them in different facets of fashion designing like fabric painting, dyeing, embroidery and fabrication. It is the fashion designer who can customise a dress, drapes, special apparel and lend variety to enhance the personality of the client", said Harmeet Kour, fashion designing instructor at Chinar 9Jawan Club.

The Indian Army is now in the process of setting up self-help groups with students as members so that they can market their own works/products.

"We have talked to trainers from outside to give lectures to our students, and they have agreed to popularise their work as well," Kour added.

They have told us they will showcase their work on social media and also market it on e-commerce sites to attract national attention", said an army officer at the Chinar 9Jawan Club.

WOMEN OUTREACH

The Chinar 9Jawan Club of the Indian Army acts as a one-stop skill development centre where young Kashmiri women are trained in fashion designing for six months free of cost. From training to logistics, the Army takes care of every requirement, helping women recognise their dreams.