Bengaluru: From a remote village in Madhya Pradesh to featuring in Vogue Italia – the Italian edition of the world’s premier fashion magazine -Vogue, Sita Vasuniya’s story is indeed inspiring. 

The 25-year-old lady – a mother of a baby boy – is now a symbol of women empowerment. 

She featured in a saree which she had block-printed herself, adds the New Indian Express. 

“When I started training in February, I had never dreamt of being featured even in a local newspaper forget about figuring in a premier fashion magazine. I still can’t believe it,” she revealed to the website. 

She resides in Panala village of Dhar district and happens to be just one of the ten women, who are a part of the Dhara self-help group. This was created as part of the Madhya Pradesh government’s ambitious 'Ek Jila Ek Utpaad' (One District One Product) scheme, under the Atmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh mission.   

The website quoted additional district magistrate (ADM) of Dhar, Saloni Sidana, as saying, “Dhar district is famous for its fabric printing art, including the Bagh print, Dabu, and Batik prints. Under the state government’s Ek Jila Ek Utpad scheme, the Dhar district administration focused on training young girls and women in these traditional styles of fabric printing and then creating market linkages for those products.”

It is interesting to note that these women were trained in fabric painting. 

“All the girls and women of all three groups were trained in fabric printing art first. Then experts and designers from reputed academic institutions, including Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), and National Institute of Design (NID) were roped in to study and experiment with newer designs to penetrate more into the global market. Subsequently Lookbook was developed to showcase the sarees printed by all three groups”.