The Hindu : Women take lead to empower themselves

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 26, 2003

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Women take lead to empower themselves

TEHRI MAY 25. In the remote hilly regions of Uttaranchal, where constant struggle for life is an everyday affair for most women, a social forum has succeeded in changing their lives by connecting its activities with their daily routine.

``We have connected our activities with `Jal, Jameen, Jungle aur Zindagi','' says Kusum Rawat, state coordinator, Mahila Samakhya, a five-year project of the central government.

Born out of this Samakhya is Sahara Sangh, initially a replacement for the former, but has slowly emerged as a powerful pressure group that protects women's rights.

``We wanted to maintain the tempo created by Mahila courts and other programmes of Mahila Samakhya even when the scheme did not remain in the picture,'' says Rawat, noting that the Sangh has managed to incorporate all the values of Samakhya and added some more features of its own, all at the intiative of the local women.

The impact that Sahara Sangh has had on the daily lives of women in these hilly districts, can be felt everywhere - ranging from stopping of child marriage to rallying around a fellow comrade when her family subjected her to harrassment.

The Sangh has monthly meetings on the 8th of every month which are attended by representatives from every village in and around. These meetings are crowded with everyone wanting to get a word in on how they had contributed to the cause in the past one month since the last meeting.

Rajashree narrates how the Sangh in her village helped to stop her daughter being abused by her husband by sending him a letter and issuing an ultimatum that if he did not stop his behaviour he and his family would have to face social ostracisation.

In fact, social boycott is a very effective tool that has helped in keeping the anti-social elements in villages at bay, says Rawat, noting ``even men who come drunk at marriage party are not allowed inside the ceremony.''

In a sensational case that rocked Jakhwal Gaon a few years back, 19-year old Maya was allegedly murdered by her mother and stepfather in order to get her share of the property, but when the administration seemed unable to do anything to bring the killers to book, the Sangh stepped in.

``We knew that the authorities were not keen on finding the real culprits, so we decided to take matters in our own hands and boycotted both the mother and her husband. We warned the village elders that we would not attend any marriage that they were a part of,'' says Parvati.

The Kishori Sangh, which is a group for teenage girls too is growing in the rural areas and as Unita Damwal, a 15-year old says, it has stopped many an injustice by the simple technique of dialogue.

Talking about the problems which the Sangh has effectively tackled, Rawat says passing on water harvesting techniques to village women, as also the practice of clearing mountains of twigs to prevent forest fires and protecting the ecology around the village have helped women identify with the Sangh.

``The fodder problem here is so bad that some years ago, a couple of girls committed suicide for this reason. Women have to walk for hours to get water because of the harsh terrain. We have tried to solve all these problems through the forum of the Sangh,'' she says.

While the Sangh still gets all its help from the Samakhya programme, Rawat is confident that even when Samakhya phases out the Sangh will remain as a dominant platform for the women to express their voice on issues that affect them the most.

``The women are now slowly gaining confidence that their destiny is in their own hands. In fact, a few days ago when they suspected that a sarpanch of a neighbouring village had embezzled Rs 27,000 from the panchayat funds, the women sat on a dharna in front of his house and demanded that he give back the money. The pressure was so intense that he had to relent,'' says Parvati adding with a twinkle in her eye that the entire amount was returned to the panchayat.

The money may seem to be trivial to a lot of people, but the amount of confidence it brought to a group of women who have hardly had their way in life can not be measured. — PTI

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Women take lead to empower themselves