Thursday, 01 February 2024 | PNS | UTTARKASHI
Arsa, a traditional sweet delicacy of Uttarakhand made from rice, jaggery, coconut, raisins and sesame seeds, has been providing income opportunities to many women of Uttarkashi. Nutritious and delicious sweet, Arsa is used on every auspicious occasion in the mountainous parts of the State.
Ajay Prakash Badola, who runs a shop in Uttarkashi, said he encourages members of the women self-help groups to prepare Arsa and some other sweets and sell them to him. “This has opened a new avenue of income for them, making them self-employed,” he said. He further said that the use of Arsa as a sweet dated back thousands of years when the first Shankaracharya was touring Uttarakhand on pilgrimage. “He is believed to have brought it with him and since then it has been the principal sweet of Garhwal,” he added.
He said that keeping in view the income generation potential lying in this sweet for women, he had appealed to the government to firm up a plan for the production and distribution of Arsa to boost its sale not just across the country but abroad. “Besides, I requested the State government to provide financial and technical support to the all-women self-help groups engaged in preparing this traditional sweet of the State. A little assistance from the government may go a long way in enhancing the stature of this sweet across India and abroad but help increase the women’s income and contribute to financial wellbeing of the families residing in the mountains,” he said.
Badola further said that they sell Arsa for up to Rs 250 per kg and along with it, they make and sell sweets like cholai, laddu and Gujiya among others.
