Imagine how it would
be for women who could not read and write to become leaders of their places
where once they were under veils and in clutches of perennial patriarchy,
gathering to make comics on their life stories of struggles and triumphs.
This was exactly what the three day grassroots comics at Patna all about.
Women who never
stepped out of their homes, when were persuaded by the village people to
contest election, they came out of their homes and rest as they is history. Most
of the women, never attended school or had any history of reading and writing,
even today, all they can write was their names. When they were elected as ward
members, most of their work was done by husbands and they remained home. But
the NGO trained these women in knowing their responsibilities .Today they have
become confident and are all geared to fight in Panchayat elections scheduled
in May 2016 in Bihar.
“Earlier I panicked
and used to get drenched in sweat whenever I had to talk to sarpanch or any
member in the village. But today I have become confident and at times fight
with the sarpanchs,or mukiyas or any officer. I assert my rights pretty well
now and claim same for my villagers as well.” said Prabha devi and her words
found echo in every women present there.
Gayatri Devi was
perhaps the oldest member in the group. She belonged to the labor class and
once her children grew up, she thought the meager income isn’t sufficient for
their survival, thus she started sewing clothes on charkha. Seeing her
confidence, village encouraged her to fight the ward elections .After her
winning she devoted her life and time in the service of the village. Now she
was gearing up fight elections for the position of sarpanch.
Manju devi, hers was
an interesting story. As a woman she felt for other women. Once a woman, was
beaten by her husband, Manju devi resisted .The man hit Manju devi on her head.
She was outraged and filed an FIR against the man. Seeing her fighting spirit
and fearlessness, people in village asked her to contest the ward election.
They voted for her.
She was off her mark,
she visited school in her village and found the teacher wasn’t teaching and
food wasn’t hygienic as well. The teacher ridiculed her by saying “Nitish kumar
ne kin kin aurton ko auton ko rakha hai”, because of the fact that Manu devi
was illiterate .Even women become so hard on other women she the latter did not
fit her class and status or challenges same.
Manju devi later filed
complaint against the teacher to the Block officer.
Sarita devi, she was
married forty years ago, and was mother to seven children four sons and three
daughters to be precise. In 2011, she became ward member .She was affected by
state of penury, thus she with conviction started working for her village to
make lives of people better.
Akbari khatun from
Muzzafarpur, who lost her husband after few years of marriage, was forced to
live with her parents. Seeing that her father didn’t like the fact she was
staying with him. Thus she started to earn her own bread by mortgaging the hens
and cattle she had .Gradually she became inclined to politics and people voted
for her and she became ward member. She tells that she gets up at 5 0 clock and
works till 8 o clock in the night.
Puniya devi, her
husband was drunkard .She used to sell vegetables to eke out her living .When
she became ward member first year of her tenure was very difficult for her. She
was not literate, like many of her counterparts, thus she wasn’t sure of what
responsibilities and rights she has as a ward member .Village sarpanch remained
indifferent and non cooperative towards her .But after her training with Pahel,
she has become a confident woman who knows her job well.
Talking about Sharda
Devi, she sat next to me and was telling me her story, so that I can pen it
down for her. She was married at the age of 14; her mother in law was very
tough on her. She spoiled left eye, while thrashing her once. She wanted to
leave her in laws place, however she was reminded of definition of a good girl,
thus she chose to stay. Well that’s the thing of the past. After becoming ward
member, she changed norms of her own house by educating her daughter in law and
setting her free.
While talking about
one of the enlightening events of her life, she said “Once we are in workshop
on gender, I got to know, it was not women who was responsible for birth for
girl child but a man and his X and Y chromosome.”She added this was something I
could have never learnt had I not stepped out of my home and would have
believed its woman who was responsible for what sex gets into her womb.
 | |
| comics by Shail Devi |
Having spend almost
two and half days (which of course is a very short period), I got to know how
Panchayati raj and its 73rd amendment has changed lives of women at
the grassroots.
This experience gave
me enough evidence to not agree with the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold
amendments made by the Haryana Government in the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act of
1994, which bars those without formal education or with debts or without toilet
in homes to contest panchayat elections. Such decisions to establish
meritocracy without giving equal opportunities to every citizen shows that
those in the positions of power never took time to see what happens at the
grassroots. This decision would again deprive women, dalits and other
minorities of chance to participate in electoral process.
Another group that
came to this workshop was young boys who were trained under project “do kadam,
barabari ki oor” ,of Nehru Yuwak Sanstha Kendra( NYSK) to reduce gender
related violence amongst men and discourage the usage of abusive language among
men by engaging them in sports and other activities. These were very
enthusiastic and energetic group, they said they travel in village to tell
other men, to respect women and condemn acts of eve teasing and sexual
violence. They said they encourage girls of their village to come out play
sports. They believed that women should have equal access to sports and public
place.
I have seen kids ,when
they hold pencil first time in their hands, the fingers are not positioned well
over pencils, their hands shiver and the first letters or drawing are imperfect
.The same I witnessed ,when these women drew for the first time. They were
scared to draw and were clueless what would they do in the workshop, how can
they make comics on their own. However after two and half days their
confidence was visible on the white sheets.
Gaytri Devi in her
high confident tone began the third day with this song.“Pachayat wala mukhiya
jhoot bole le,block wala BDO ,chor ba…”.This song was evident of fearlessness
of women and they have courage to openly criticize those who are in the power.
Akhbari Kahtoon sang
“Hum beti hain toh kya hua,duniya ko dikhadenge….”Her song gave positive
vibes . Had they been literate, what difference they could have made to
the work they are doing. Women just need opportunities to come out.
These women are doing
great job provided that they are not literate and that they function within
patriarchal set up. However there is immense scope to improve their knowledge
and performance. Like when women were asked how do they get to know about
schemes for their villages, most of them could not tell correct answer. It was
until Sita Devi informed about the procedure, to her counterparts that they got
to know of the procedure. The government needs to invest in grassroots
democratic models instead of just wasting words and exchequers money on
superficial schemes of digital India, Swachch Bharat Abhiyan and smart cities
or bullet trains.
*The workshop was held
in collaboration with Centre for Catalyzing Change and World comics India.
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