Green Signal from Tihar

Eco-friendly jute bags made by inmates at Delhi’s Tihar Jail are suddenly seeing a lot of demand

Eco-friendly jute bags made by inmates at Delhi’s Tihar Jail have suddenly seen a spurt in demand. The bags were being sold since 2000 but it is only now that people have started asking for them. “We hope that with these, Delhi can say no to plastic bags. The inmates have also created handmade paper bags and stationery in the past,” says Seema Malhotra, director of Scope Plus, an NGO that has been providing vocational training to the inmates since 1996. The initiative is self-sustaining without any external funds. “The money that comes in from product orders is put into the raw materials and production,” says Seema. The result is a cheerful array of handy bags made of jute and cloth in vibrant patterns. You can choose from utilitarian carry bags, bottle bags, elegant handbags and conference bags.

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