West Bengal: Ministry of Railways launched the ‘One Station One Product’ scheme

The Railway Ministry, on May 15 launched the “One Station One Product” scheme (OSOP) scheme across the Indian rail network to promote the government’s “Vocal for Local” vision in West Bengal.

As of May 2023, the OSOP scheme covered 728 railway stations with 785 OSOP outlets in 21 states and three union territories. The initiative provides a market for indigenous products and creates additional income opportunities for the marginalised sections of society.

On the occasion of the inauguration of the OSOP stall in West Bengal, Kaushik Mitra, CPRO Eastern Railway, Kolkata said, “We have set up many such stalls in Eastern Railway in which we are promoting local handicrafts. We have decided that this year we will conduct such programs in many more stations”.

The pilot of the scheme was started on 25 March 2022. These OSOP stalls are designed through the National Design Institute for uniformity. Cumulative direct beneficiaries between March 2022 and 1st May were 25,109.

Under the scheme, OSOP stalls at railway stations offer a diverse range of products unique to their respective regions, including handicrafts, textiles, traditional garments, and local agricultural produce and processed foods. The stalls are uniformly designed through the National Design Institute to ensure consistency and promote the scheme’s visibility and reach.

The product categories covered under this scheme include handicrafts/artefacts, textiles and handlooms, traditional garments, and local agricultural produce (including millets), processed and semi-processed foods.

The OSOP outlets offer products specific to the area and include artefacts made by indigenous tribes, handlooms by local weavers, handicrafts like world-famous wood carving, chikankari, and zari-zardozi work on clothes, spices, tea, coffee, and other processed and semi-processed food items/products indigenously grown.

In north-east India, for example, varieties of Assamese Pitha, traditional Rajbongshi Dress, Jhapi, local textiles, and jute products are available on OSOP stalls. In Jammu & Kashmir, Kashmiri Girda, Kashmiri Kahwa, and dry fruits are famous. In southern India, cashew products, spices, and Chinnalapatti handloom sarees are catching the attention of passengers. In the western part of the country, embroidery and zari zardozi, coconut halva, locally grown fruits, processed foods, and bandhani are famous.

For Bengal Jute bags, sweets and other famous stuff will be made available at the store.  The OSOP scheme is a step towards encouraging and promoting local products and creating a sustainable income source for marginalised communities.