The highpoint of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton?s first official visit to India will perhaps be her walk-down-memory-lane trip to SEWA?s (Self Employed Women?s Association) modest outlet at one of Mumbai?s toniest localities?Napean Sea Road.

Surrounded by the women members of the NGO and flanked by the septuagenarian founder of the NGO, Ela Bhatt and her daughter-in-law Reena Nanavaty who has recently stepped into her mother-in-law?s shoes as the general secretary of SEWA, Clinton, in true American style, waxed eloquent about its achievements. From anointing it ? a lifeline for rural women across India with valuable skills but too few opportunities to use them and to realise income from them,? to hailing it as the representative of an innovative and successful approach to sustainable, inclusive development? , Clinton played brand ambassador for SEWA to the hilt. Quick on the uptake, Ela Bhatt further cemented the ties by describing Clinton as a ?friend, supporter and guide.?

Clinton?s tryst with SEWA began 14 years ago, when she visited India as the then US first lady and wife of former President Bill Clinton.Over the years, Clinton has maintained her contact with the NGO. Undoubtedly, SEWA has done some sterling work for poor women by creating for them economic opportunities and its small loans programmes have gone a long way in increasing their economic and personal freedoms and given them self-respect and dignity. With over 1.2 million members in nine Indian states, SEWA and its emulators are becoming a role model for similar women?s groups the world over. The organisation, however, is not devoid of its fair share of controversies?from irregularities in implementing a government funded scheme to the low profile it chose to keep during the Godhra carnage in Gujarat in 2002.

Clinton?s brief but obviously very cosy interlude with SEWA this time round has catapulted the organisation onto the global stage once again. SEWA deserves recognition and it helps if a high profile figure like Hillary Clinton weighs in to give it a bit of publicity.

?jyotsna.bhatnagar@expressindia.com