NEW DELHI: Putting their tailoring skills to work to deliver on stringent deadlines, around 56 women from villages - Khajri, Aam Chaupra and Balakot in Damoh district of Madhya Pradesh are busy steering the fight against Covid - 19 by churning out the much needed protective gear kits to supplement reserves for health workers and administrative staff in the field.Of the over 6377 protective gears made by 26 self help groups (SHGs) under the National Rural Livelihood Mission across districts in the state so far, around 4000 have been made by women and their families in Damoh district alone. From providing each item separately, SHGs also package the protective gear which includes gowns, gloves, shoe covers, head cap and masks into kits.This is just one example of how villages in far off corners of rural India are stepping up the fight against Covid – 19. As per data available with the union ministry for rural development, over 57,753 pieces of protective gear ranging from aprons, head caps, gowns, gloves, masks and shoe covers have been made by 386 SHGs involving nearly 1700 women. These have been made based on orders and specifications of the health department in 12 states including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka , Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Haryana, Punjab Jharkhand , Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Mizoram.Besides this over 1.70 lakh women from more than 35,000 SHGs from 28 states and union territories have so far manufactured over 4.26 crore masks. These include 2 and 3 ply woven and non - woven surgical and cotton masks.While the SHGs started making masks and sanitisers from mid March, over the last two weeks they are much in demand for protective gear with district administrations across states reaching out to them with their specifications. Infact, the women from MP's Damoh till earlier last week had manufactured nearly 1000 three layered full body suits based on specifications provided by the health department. The SHGs from two three other districts in MP are also involved in making these kits. All protective gear is prepared based on the specification of the health department and as per the approval of the authorities.Stories of how women are taking on the challenge to deliver on protective gear emerge from villages of Punjab too. Around 75 women from villages - Ahli Khurd, Hussainpur Bulle and Kala Sanghian were quick to get behind their tailoring machines when the district administration of Kapurthala approached the state rural livelihood mission's district officials to respond to their demand for 1300 aprons and 700 surgical masks for doctors in the civil hospital on March 19. Using a special hand woven natural fibre casement called "khaddar", these women stitched the aprons as specified by the health department within 7 days to meet the deadline.Women in villages of Mewat , Bhiwani and Hissar in Haryana too are busy stitching gowns, shoe covers, gloves and caps to pack into PPE kits to cater to the requirements of the chief medical officer of their districts. MoRD shares that Meghalaya 's state mission has reported to have supplied 200 face shields to the district medical health officer and Karnataka has also reported production of 125 face shields.