“The loan was a godsend at the time of dire need

Sumitra Harijan is a 52-year-old former devadasi from Arbhanvi, a small village in the Belgaum district of Karnataka. She is a devadasi and has not received any formal education. The story behind this is that she has been the target of an age-old traditional cycle which involved dalit girl-children being forced by their parents to dedicate their lives to the deities in local temples. This rendered them unable to finish their school or compete for other jobs and also had a socially-scarring impact. Sumitra lives with her son and daughter-in-law. She owns a small vegetable-selling business. Her son works as a driver and earns Rs. 200 everyday. 

With the two of them earning, their family was barely scraping by every month. So, Sumitra decided to expand her vegetable-selling business. She took a loan of Rs. 20,000 from MASS (Mahila Abhivruddhi mattu Samrakshana Samsthe) a micro-financing field partner of Milaap working in the area. With the loan amount, she bought the required stock of vegetables from the market in a nearby town and a few bamboo-stick baskets to carry her vegetables. She buys the vegetables from Ghataprabha, a nearby town. Twice a week she goes to sell the vegetables in the big markets. Rest of the week, she goes around her village and the nearby villages and sells the vegetables door-to-door. 

Sumitra’s business has been smooth sailing. With her expanded business, she earns, at least, Rs. 10,000 every month. She has been able to save some money for medical emergencies as well. Sumitra is very grateful for the loan which enabled her to come out of the poverty bubble and take charge of her life.