Chhattisgarh, also known as ‘Rice Bowl’, has a traditional way of extracting rice from Dheki. Earlier, every house in village had a Dheki, which processed rice tastes delicious and nutritious, so there is a good demand for Dheki processed rice even today in metropolitan cities. This has been started to make women self-reliant from Dheki processed rice in Dantewada district. The Dheki based rice processing unit has been started by State Government in Katekalyan Gram Panchayat in 2022 in which 15 Didis of women SHG are working. Paddy required for process is being brought from nearby villages, benefitting indirectly more than 100 women.

 

Over 90 Dhekis are ready to use which will give employment to more people. Dheki based Rice is being launched in market with brand name DANNEX i.e. Dantewada NEXT, a Dantewada-based brand. Farmers in Dantewada are using organic manure for producing rice that is chemical-free and is completely healthy. Organically produced indigenous species are used to prepare Dheki processed rice. After harvesting, the work of cleaning and packing the rice has also been given to the women. It is worth mentioning that Dheki is an old-style rice mill. It is made of long hardwood and is used by pressing with the foot on one side and an iron pestle is fixed on the other. Paddy filled in an oval-shaped wooden container placed just below the iron pestle. When iron pestle weight hit with force to the paddy, the golden husk separates from the rice.