Degala Lakshmi, an unassuming SHG woman who became a brand ambassador for lace products in the global market once, is now in oblivion.

She shared the dais with the Microsoft giant Bill Gates at a function in HITEC city, Hyderabad, in 1999, where she displayed her exquisitely crafted lace products . The symmetrical beauty of the lace creations with a world-wide craft-loving clientele helped her embark upon an exciting journey from her non-descript delta village of Annavarapupadu under Peravali mandal of West Godavari district to the United States, Sri Lanka and Dubai. A lace flower presented by Ms. Lakshmi elegantly adorned the then US president Bill Clinton who visited her stall in the US. The SHG movement, which began in a small way in her village with only three groups in 1996, grew into 86 groups under her tireless efforts.

For Ms. Lakshmi, it is all history now. She bears testimony to the utter neglect the art of international fame and its artisans have been subjected to. She has diversified into designer and painting works and doing lace borders on saris as she finds little support from the government agencies.

Ms. Lakshmi was spotted by this correspondent at a stall put up at a college here in connection with a symposium on women entrepreneurship. She said she felt suffocated in the SHG movement due to politicisation of the groups and the lack of a sense of belongingness among the members.

The Union Ministry of Textiles proposed to set up a mega hub for hand-crafted lace at Rustumbada near Narsapur at a cost of Rs. 70 crore, but the project failed to take off.

Degala Lakshmi shared the dais with Bill Gates at a function in HITEC city in 1999

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by G. Nagaraja / Tanuku (West Godavari Dist.) – February 18th, 2015