Selling handloom products by Students
Vice-Chancellor of Bharathiar University G. Thiruvasagam (right) and Chinese students in the university selling handloom products in Coimbatore on Saturday.For a second time, after a year’s gap, the National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers of the Bharathiar University and its affiliated colleges took to the roads on Republic Day for a cause. This time it was not to collect used books under the community service project “Padithathai Pirarukku Padikka Koduppom” that helped fill the rural libraries, but to sell handloom products.Another initiative of the university “Kaitharikku Kai Koduppom” involved the selling of handloom products like dhotis, saris, towels, pillow covers and bed sheets. With an initial target of Rs. 25 lakh, the project was conceived to uplift the neglected handloom weavers by promoting these products. Even though the actual door-to-door selling was scheduled for January 26, the volunteers had, in their own way, set the wheel in motion on January 21, the day the awareness campaign was kicked off.This enabled the university achieve sales for Rs. 47 lakh even before Saturday. Vice-Chancellor G. Thiruvasagam revised the target to Rs. 1 crore. Though it appeared too high a figure, he proved sceptics wrong by achieving more than that at the end of the day. “An attempt will be made to enter this in the Guinness Book of World Records,” he said.
Thousands of students went about selling the products that were collected from 120 societies in and around Coimbatore. Each student’s target was Rs. 100, but there was no stopping them from selling more. Each college was given a target depending on the number of NSS units they had.To say the colleges outdid each other would be an understatement. The top three places in terms of collection went to Kongu Arts and Science College, Erode (Rs. 10,48,038), Tirupur Kumaran College for Women, Tirupur (Rs. 6,60,000) and Nirmala College for Women, Coimbatore (Rs. 5,81,200).Appreciating the students’ efforts, Mr. Thiruvasagam said such opportunities should be given to them to prove that institutions too could go beyond the call of curriculum and teaching to do something for the community.
