This blind tailor in Bihar has trained 300+ women for free

In Bihar’s Sitamarhi district, a blind tailor is stitching a quiet revolution, training hundreds of women for free while waiting on a government loan stuck over a missing electricity bill.

In Rikhauli, a small village tucked inside Bihar’s Sitamarhi district, the hum of a sewing machine cuts through the afternoon quiet.

Sitting cross-legged behind it is 45-year-old Faken Shah - tailor, teacher, and changemaker.

Faken is blind. He has trained over 300 women in stitching and tailoring, free of cost, for the last 18 years.

What started as a way to rebuild his life after vision loss and personal tragedy has today turned into a powerful, homegrown model of rural empowerment. And yet, Faken’s dreams of scaling his impact are currently stalled — not by lack of will, but by paperwork. The government won’t grant him a loan to expand because he doesn’t have an electricity bill.

From losing sight to gaining vision

Faken wasn’t born blind. His vision began to fade when he was around 20 years old.

After repeated bouts of untreated jaundice and poor access to medical care, he slowly lost his eyesight completely. “At that time, we didn’t have proper hospitals or awareness. What started as a small illness just… stayed. And then one day, I couldn’t see,” he recalls.

A few years later, his wife passed away, leaving behind four children. “I had to keep going. Giving up was never an option.”

Learning to stitch after vision loss

Faken had picked up tailoring skills as a teenager. After losing his vision, he returned to the needle and thread, not just to survive but to stay rooted in something he knew. Stitching, he says, became a new way of seeing. “I measure cloth by feel. The inch tape has tactile cues — button and bead marks. I know how many layers to cut, how much to sew.”

His tailoring shop Shri Mahavir Ajuba Garments and Dress Bhandar gradually became more than a workspace. Women from the village began asking if he would teach them too. Faken didn’t hesitate.

Today, his centre is a lifeline for women with no income of their own, especially those discouraged from working outside the home. Chandni Kumari, a trainee, says, “He teaches us with so much patience and clarity. No one leaves without learning something useful.”

No fees. No government support.

Faken earns between ₹300–500 a day, just enough to support his family and buy materials. He receives a ₹400 monthly disability pension from the government. But he has never charged a rupee for training others.

For a few years, he even travelled across nearby villages on an e-rickshaw, collecting orders from government schools for uniforms. That, too, came to a halt when his rickshaw broke down. He couldn’t afford repairs.

Yet, what frustrates him isn’t just the lack of income, it’s the bureaucratic hurdles blocking his vision for the future.

A loan blocked by a missing electricity bill

Faken has been trying to get a business loan under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana to set up a small garment factory and scale up his work. The local District Magistrate even recommended his case. But the bank asked him for a current electricity bill, something he doesn’t have. His family has electricity at home, but no bills have ever been issued.

Without that one piece of paper, the bank says it can’t move forward.

When contacted, officials from the electricity department promised to “look into the matter” and issue a bill as per rules. But Faken is still waiting.

The bigger picture: Disability and rural entrepreneurship

Faken’s story isn’t an isolated one. Across India, thousands of disabled entrepreneurs — especially in rural areas — struggle to access financial services, mobility, and infrastructure, despite the existence of government schemes. The challenges are layered: digital illiteracy, inaccessible documentation processes, lack of local advocacy, and the slow-moving machinery of rural administration.

Disability isn’t the barrier — systemic neglect is.

If the government truly wants to promote self-reliance and skill-building in rural India, it must begin by removing these structural hurdles for disabled individuals trying to do meaningful work.

Faken Shah is asking for a working loan, a printed bill, and the chance to keep building what he’s already been doing for almost two decades.

“I just want to open a factory,” he says, adjusting his sewing tape between calloused fingers. “I want the women in my village to stand on their feet. That’s all.”

Source: ETV Bharat