Mukti Bazar, a new retail chain in Bihar, arrived on Friday but with a difference. It sells products made by prison inmates in the state instead of those manufactured by big industrial houses.

The first two of its outlets were inaugurated at the Beur Central Jail in Patna and Bhagalpur Central Jail. They boast of guaranteed pure, completely unadulterated — without the use of preservatives — as far as edible goods sold at the outlets.

Mustard oil, spices, snacks, jute and cotton handicraft items, household metal products and agriculture implements, wooden furniture, clothes, candles, leather goods and Madhubani paintings are some of the products available right now.

“A few things were always being made in the prisons in the state, but this is an effort by the Bihar government to ensure uniformity and better quality products under a brand name ‘Mukti’, which means freedom, and provide them a market. Many more stores will come up in the coming months,” Bihar home department additional chief secretary S. Siddharth told The Telegraph.

“The inmates are being trained on the entire production chain and state-of-the-art machines and equipment are being procured for manufacturing, processing and packaging. Some of the prisons had decrepit foreign-made machines and we are going to replace them,” Siddharth added.

The move’s ultimate aim is to provide skills to the inmates and make them capable to adjust with gainful employment in the society after being released from the prisons. The emphasis is to engage convicts who have been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment.

As far as the revenue generated is concerned, it would be spent on the welfare of the families of the inmates, while a part of it would go to the prisoner welfare fund.

“We are going to open three more Mukti Bazar stores at Purnia, Motihari and Muzaffarpur soon. The idea is to have one store in place in every commissionerate or prison circle in the state. Products manufactured in various prisons would be brought and sold at them. These are good quality, completely unadulterated products made in impeccable hygienic conditions and could give any commercial brand a run for its money,” IG prisons and correctional services Shirsat Kapil Ashok said.

At present, something or other is being manufactured in 39 out of the 59 prisons in the state. Around 500 to 1,000 inmates are engaged in each of them — directly or indirectly — in the production process.

Sharing the plans of the initiative, Ashok said that the manufacturing activities would be expanded to smaller jails and there could be a tie-up with Sudha, the dairy brand of Bihar’s cooperative milk federation, if the scale of production goes up.

A printing press is going to start at Bhagalpur central jail where all files, folders and stationery needed by the Bihar police could be printed. Similarly, bakeries could also be started at some of the prisons.