Usha Co-operative Society . A Society for sex workers by the sex workers

Every Body has dreams , even if they belongs to profession of being a sex worker with lot of stigma attached to their profession by the society , But right to live& dream is not proprietary of privileged alone , what if they could save from what they earn which could serve their future expenses like medicines ,education and marriage of their children . Yes Usha multipurpose cooperative society has completed successful 20 years of operation by bringing respite and relief to more than 20000 members who are sex workers in the red light street called Sonaganchi in west Bengal , one of the largest red light districts of Asia . If you pay a visit to their website http://ushacoop.org/ . it clearly mentions only cooperative society for sex workers by the sex workers. Earlier this workers where exploited by the money lenders who charged even 300% rate of interest for the borrowed sum. But this cooperative society for sex workers was founded by the public health scientist Samarjith Rana , which is an economic wing of the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya commite established in 1995. So this cooperative movement is a good example of a social enabler which protects the livelihood of this sex workers , who are otherwise being targeted, sidelined because of their profession , Nobody wants to become a sex workers by choice but their lies deep rooted exploitation which forces them to take this profession as means to survive & sustain. So this movement qualifies to be an perfect blend of a sustainable social entrepreneurship in action

Social Entrepreneurship

The concept of social entrepreneurship begs more attention today than the past, why because this model of collaborative partnership can change the living condition of millions of the population languishing in the bottom of the pyramid. Comprehensive development motive cannot be achieved by leaving those population untouched without achieving makeable progress in their lively hood. This cross section of the population is the biggest and potential consumers who can create massive change if given purchasing power at their hands. So promoting social entrepreneurship model is best, suitable way to infuse strength in any of the developing economy . Social entrepreneurship model encompasses promoting environment friendly business which is sustainable in the long term, because this idea takes it roots and conduct business which is best suitable for the particular place and location, promotes local business by considering demographic dividends. It is heartening to hear and read about lot of new initiatives coming up in this space, various discussions platforms happening across the board, like minded corporate leaders talks sensibly about this idea and favorable partnership are getting formed with help of various NGO’s to promote this idea. New aspiring young management students graduating from top class business schools comes out with novel and innovative business practices to further the idea of social entrepreneurship , We cannot only think of achieving profit and keep achieving more if that keeps happening only rich and elite would keep growing more and more , concentration of wealth happens only at the top of the pyramid , But for a development economist model this wealth has to percolate down to the bottom , for which such models has a huge scope to really achieve the equitable growth to all, capitalist model of economy could create a vacuum at the bottom of the pyramid in the long run , also alienate the population at the bottom not to get access to the resources which are already over utilized to make more profit. We cannot expect the govt alone to change the fate of this millions; contribution from every quarter is the need of the hour to make this model successful and sustainable. The recent amendments in company’s act to include mandatory CSR spending by every company having net worth of 500 crs and turn over of 1000 crore having a profit of 5cr out of which 2% should be spend for CSR activity is great move . The idea of giving back what you earn from society can be crafted in a manner which is a win win proportion to the spender as well as to the consumer.