A factory making bangles from discarded liquor bottles in Sabalpur village stands as a symbol of empowerment and resilience, offering hope to women who have found solace and strength in their work, regardless of the hurdles they face.
The clock struck 4 in the afternoon, marking the passage of time. The hour had drawn close to the end of Rinku Devi’s daily shift. But this unassuming figure in the world of glass bangles in Bihar showed no haste to return home.
Instead, she sat alongside her co-worker and toiled beneath a sweltering roof, surrounded by the soothing strains of Bhojpuri wedding songs on a smartphone. In her hands, she delicately melted the loose ends of separated bangles over a candle, patiently preparing them for the intricate design and decoration process.
This seemingly ordinary scene unfolded within the walls of what looked like an abandoned property – the glass bangle factory in Sabalpur village of Patna district in Bihar.
Nestled amidst the backdrop of plywood and furniture factories, it bears an uncanny resemblance to its more illustrious counterpart, Firozabad, renowned for its glass bangle industry. Yet, there was a stark difference. Here, amidst the clinking bangles and swirling dust, lay a treasure trove of confiscated liquor bottles, crushed and waiting for transformation.
“For me, this is solace. At least he (her husband of 24 years) is not here to break my choodi (bangles),” Devi murmured, her voice as sturdy as her spirit.
She had endured a marriage marked by a relentless storm of abuse that began in the early days.
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“During festivals, especially Holi, he would always drink and beat me so much that I used to get admitted to a hospital,” she recounted.
The stage for this remarkable transformation was set by a radical decree — Bihar had been declared a dry state in April 2016. The decision was a response to the impassioned pleas of women and rights activists who demanded a sweeping prohibition, driven by the alarming surge in cases of domestic violence tied to alcohol abuse.
Yet, despite seven years of stringent prohibition, the 2019-21 National Family Health Survey-5 report unveiled a grim reality – “84% of women face domestic violence when their husbands get drunk often”, and “61% of them face spousal violence when their husbands are drunk sometimes”.
Devi is part of the pioneering group of women employed at the factory, a project initiated under the Jeevika rural livelihood programme in collaboration with the state’s prohibition and excise department. Funded by the World Bank, Jeevika, which began in 2007, is India’s largest state-level poverty alleviation programme, specifically focusing on empowering women from disadvantaged backgrounds across Bihar.
The dry state grappled with a troubling paradox. Lakhs of illegal liquor bottles lay abandoned, their disposal an unresolved conundrum. According to Bihar police data, over 13.87 lakh litres of liquor were seized within the first five months of 2022 alone.
A spark of ingenuity arose from this confluence of challenges. “In order to get rid of the liquor bottles, we thought of turning crushed bottles into colourful bangles,” said Bipin Kumar, the Nonfarm Manager at Patna DPCU.
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These discarded vessels of imbibement held the key to a different kind of intoxication – one of empowerment and resilience. They were destined to be reborn, melted in a crucible of experience by skilled artisans, their essence transmuted into molten material to craft the very bangles Devi and her comrades painstakingly worked on.
For Devi, this ray of hope emerged at a critical juncture in her life. Her husband, never one to work or save, had succumbed to the devastating consequences of excess drinking. He was struck by paralysis, leaving her hopeless and anxious about her children’s future.
A neighbour extended a lifeline by adding her to a WhatsApp group of “Jeevika bahne” or sisters, a collective of women bound by shared struggles. They not only offered financial support but also opened the doors to her newfound occupation at the bangle factory.
Yet, not all was rosy within these transformed walls. Although the factory commenced operations with the capacity to melt 1.5 million bottles, yielding a staggering 84,000 bangles a day, a glaring gap loomed between potential and reality. Only 70,000 bangles have been sold so far.
The furnace, it seemed, was not blessed with enough skilled hands to harness its full potential. “We do not have adequate human resources,” Bipin Kumar admitted. “Therefore, we have called for some skilled artists from Firozabad to provide training to the current employees.”
The path to excellence was being paved, but Devi, pragmatic from years of hardship, remained cautiously optimistic. Her scepticism was rooted in painful experience, as the factory had shuttered its doors a couple of times, leaving the workers in limbo.
“The kind of money I get is not enough,” lamented Devi, who is paid Rs 230 for a day’s work. “But I always pray to god that this factory never closes. This is my last hope.”
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The lead image at the top shows the bottles transmuted into molten material to craft the very bangles the women painstakingly worked on (Photo by Jyoti Thakur)
Jyoti Thakur is an independent journalist based out of Delhi. She covers gender, environment and social justice. She is a Rural Media Fellow 2022 at Youth Hub, Village Square.
