Lucknow University's Social Work Department has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Jhingurda, Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) on Capacity Building Programme. The deal has been sealed at ₹10 lakhs, aimed at the development and upliftment of women of the villages located near the coalfields of NCL.

The department of Social Work's objective of empowering local communities will assume life in their Integrated Community Development Programme with NCL Singrauli.

NCL, a Miniratna company of the Government of India, has widespread coal mines while Jhingurda is one of its oldest projects. Commissioned in 1965, Jhingurda is an opencast mine that has a thick coal seam. Located in Singrauli of Madhya Pradesh, a small part of NCL also falls in the Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh.

The first step in the initiative would be to hold a survey in the area, recognise women below the poverty line, and select 30 of them as the initial group. With the help of the department, the group will be trained in various skills. Herein, a jute production centre will also be established with the assistance of self-help groups.

"We will identify 30 women in the first batch and develop them as a self-help group. They would be linked with a national bank in the area and would be trained with skills required for a cottage industry. Efforts will be put in to link them to the market and with the right training after a while, they would be able to stand as a start-up group," Dr Rajneesh Kumar Yadav, one of the coordinators of the project, told Knocksense.

Professor DK Singh, faculty of Social Work Dept, LU, and Nodal Officer of CSR, Parul Yadav, will also be overseeing the project, the end goal of which is to mobilise the women into a group and aid in their overall economic and social growth.