Baripadha Mudhi
Baripadha Mudhi
Authors : Binayak Acharya and Vinayak.V
The Mayurbhanj Mahila Association producer of the famed Baripada Mudhi of Orissa is proving to be the saviour of the marginalized families of the Rasgovindpur block of the Mayurbhanj district
Early morning, while along the dusty streets of the nondescript village of Tambakhuri, one can hear women singing songs while hard at work. The songs sung in Odiya talk about empowerment, dignity of labour and strangely enough, of puffed rice or Mudhi as it is known here. They are the women of the Mayurbhanj Mahila Association (MMA) singing whilst making puffed rice. This is the home of the famous Baripada Mudhi, popular all over Odisha renowned for its taste and for being completely devoid of additives like urea and soda unlike the factory-made puffed rice. The MMA owns the trademark for Baripada Mudhi and employs more than 120 women from seven villages of the Rasgovindpur block of the Mayurbhanj district.
Things were not always this good. Most of these women belong to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) groups and are very poor. They lack sufficient land to grow paddy on, so most of the women worked as casual labourers or were employed in making Mudhi for the landlords for a pittance of Rs 10-15 a day.
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