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When everything is getting modernised, the famed Dabbawalahs in Mumbai, who caught the attention of the Forbes Magazine and England's Prince Charles for their efficient tiffin-supply network in Mumbai, cannot be left far behind.
The 5000-strong Dabbawalahs, most of whom are illiterate or school drop-outs, are gearing up for learning the English language and computers.
When you encounter next time any of the Dabbawalahs in Mumbai, the possibility is that he may speak English as the Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU) has taken up the responsibility of honing their English-speaking and computer skills.
This is happening for the first time in the 120-year long history of the Dabbawalahs, who have been feeding the working community of Mumbai but never got an opportunity to take higher education and improve their lot. Classes for the Dabbawalahs will be conducted on Sundays at their office at Dadar besides the office of YCMOU at Grant Road and Agrawal Management Institute at Vikroli in the city.
Although most of workers in that team of 5,000 Dabbawallahs are illiterate or school drop-outs, it was lauded with Six Sigma accuracy of 99.99 per cent by Forbes Magazine in January this year. Earlier, a survey conducted by Forbes showed only one error in 6 million transactions of Dabbawalahs. It received ISO 9001 certification in 2000 for their service to the nation.
Besides, they caught the fancy of England's Prince Charles during his visit to the country in 2000. He had spent his day time admiring their work and invited two Dabbawalas to his wedding party with Camila Parker.
Known for their management skills even without a computerised tracking system, the Dabbawalahs are now being asked to impart lessons on management and business skills to the Corporate world.
One such presentation by Dabbawalahs on time management, customer satisfaction, loyalty, error-free methods and other skills was given to top industry professionals in Mumbai recently and in 2004, they even went to IIM Lucknow to give a presentation of their skills to the management students.
