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Women and Poverty: a Conference organized by Social Development Foundation and Centre for Alternative Dalit Media at the India Social Forum on November 12th, 2006

The background
India Social Forum became a meeting point of different perceptions and ideologies. The issue of poverty has wide ranging affect on the women and marginalized.No doubt, poverty is normally discussed in terms of Dalit and marginalized and not really in term of women, it was clearly evident that women’s voices are now growing and demanding their share. Any anti poverty programme would not succeed if women are treated shabbily and made exclusive.

Women suffer from two disabilities, being a woman in addition to her caste. The issue of right over natural resources, the growing urbanization pattern and unsustainable development has led to further marginalization of women and children. A society which is feudal in nature and subjugated women for centuries, can not accept changes that easily. Unfortunately, the globalization has not helped them. In fact, it has inflicted further wounds in their psyche. Not only the gap between the rich and poor has increased, the entire poverty has been feminised. Women has the burden of carrying the culture, keeping the family intact and taking care of children. Therefore, how come our policy makers and government does not take care of it. In the name of women, we find mere representation of women in meetings and not their participation.

The meeting was envisaged keeping this view point, that women will speak and share their issues. There was not prefix format except that several experts spoke on the occasion predominantly women and shared their experiences.

The Participants

The meeting attracted participation of nearly 400 women from different parts of the country. It also reflects the influence of both SDF and CADAM that the speakers came from very active background. There was justice Shiv Raj Patil who came to hear the voices of the poor for he had been hearing

from us through various petitions in the National Human Rights Commission. As a Judge in the Supreme Court, Justice Shiv Raj Patil along with Justice Dharmadhikari had delivered a landmark judgment of justifying Ceiling imposed on M/s Escorts Farms Ltd, in Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar. The Dalits in the area are still fighting a battle and SDF has been mobilizing the community to get justice. Baby Tai Kamble is one of the most respected faces in the Dalit women movement in Maharatra. Despite her ill health, she was here to bless the meeting. Prof Ram Puniyani has recently retired from IIT Mumbai and has been very active against

 the communal forces who are trying to destabilize the communal amity between the different communities and dangers of communalization process. Prof Suresh Pathare, is from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Feminist writer Sudha Arora has been writing on the women’s issue in the mainstream Hindi magazines and journals. Chhaya Khobargade came from Nagpur Maharastra and is working for the rights of Dalit women.

Speakers apart, the main participants came from different Dalit communities from all over the country. There were girls from Scavenger community in Ghazipur who now aspire to become a social activist and study further. There were women from Muslim community who acknowledged that anti poverty programmes should reach to Muslim women also. The Tharu, Kol, Mushahar and Bansfor women from Uttar-Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand also participated and shared their experiences of struggle for livelihood.

Women’s Voices

An activist from district Reewa, Madhya Pradesh said that in 2001 Madhya Pradesh government gave land entitlements to dalit and tribal. But that exist on papers only. They don’t have any possession of their land.She informed that 1500 families in the 52 villages face this problem. Due to this these 1500 families are compelled to work out side. They tried every possibility to resolve this problem but were unable to occupy their land.

The power and energy of the activist reflected in their revolutionary songs, which talked about poverty, empowerment and issues of exploitations. An activist Lata Pratima shared her experiences from Maharastra. Lata worked in various grassroots movement including that of the Narmada valley. Now she is working on the issue of Bahujan women, the women from Dalit OBC sections in Maharastra.

The issue of brutal killings of a Buddhist Dalit family in Nagpur had shaken the entire country and its shadow reflected in the India Social Forum and its various programmes where Dalit presence was substantial. Obviously, it reflected in the presentations of the activists from Maharastra in our conference. Ms Maya, a Dalit woman activist from Nagpur narrated the horrific events of Khairlanji. Despite brutal killing, the police refused to take action against the guilty.

 ‘Instead, the activists, are targeted by the police in the false cases’, she lamented. Why SC-ST prevention of Atrocities act was not used in the first place. It could have stopped the incident since the persons who maltreated Bhotmange family would not have got released. It also brings out another sorry state of our life that people get bail and go on rampage. This reflects poor on the lower judiciary.
She said that brutal killings of Dalit family in Khairlanji which was 20 Km far from Bhandara district headquarter, was not only due to their poverty but also because of their castes. The women were raped and paraded naked before they were killed very badly. A group of upper elite of the society, in others words a golden group killed them because of their land. The poor family had 5 acres land, which was a bone of contention for the upper castes who could not accept the fact that even a Dalit family could acquire that.

Pressure was put on the Dalit family under the pretext of various issues related to village but yielded no result. The tension was building up in the village and finally woman’s chastity became the issue to target the family and move them away from their land.
The fictitious FIR and their release from the jail ensured that the villagers were ready to avenge the humiliation. After 15 days arrested people were come to the poor people’s home.
They saw not any man in the home. They started to beating both the mother and her daughter.After beating both of them they were not satisfied, they torched them inhumanly. When two men come to protect them they were also brutally murdered. A major point for notice, is that police was played a major role to close this case.


Role of PACS Programme

Mrs Kiran Sharma, Programme Director, PACS programme, Development Alternative, Felt that illiteracy is one of the major causes of violence against the Dalits and women and we need to work on that. She felt that organizations should work on the issue more sincerely. Also she informed that women’s issues need to be strengthened and her organization was ready to cooperate with the grassroots organizations on the issue.
She further said that PACS programme has helped the civil society organizations of the marginalized communities in general and women in particular.She praised her partner’s commitment to the cause of women. She focused on the issue of Education and was willing to join hand with organizations like National Human Rights Commission. She said that ‘we want to strengthen the collective voices of women. If I look back, I still feel 

we have not achieved enough. We must educate women. Nothing can be achieved without education. There are 2,50,000 women in our programmes but only 3-4% are educated.”

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Aspiring high

A student of 10th class Deep Mala comes from a scavenger community, from Ghazipur. SDF is supporting her to pursue her studies. She has learnt computers and is brimming with confidence. She was very skeptical about the government schemes for the scavenger community as just 5% people got the benefit of these schemes. Deep Mala want to study further and work as a social activist to help her community leave the age-old tradition of carrying night soil.
Lata Pratima hails from Maharastra and has been working on the issues of Dalit Bahujan women in Maharastra and said that caste system was prevalent in our society and women are victim of the same and that the situation has not yet changed.

 In the past women were exploited due to their caste and gender identity and in the present women situation has not changed. In present women situation continuously going bad to worst. Many years ago women struggled for their rights against caste system and at present women fight for her rights against male chauvinism and caste system. She said that even the prestigious institutions like All India Institute of Medical Sciences is not untouched with caste bias as Dalit doctors continue to face humiliation and exclusion. One Dalit woman doctor was continuously harassed in the AIIMS because of her caste despite the fact that she was an extraordinarily talented girl who always stood at the top during her studies. The general reference to humiliate the Dalit and OBC student is 

that they are ‘quota’ people or ‘reserved’ people, which means that they do not possess any knowledge and quality except their caste.She asked the activists to find ‘what is the condition of the farmer’s women after their males members had committed suicides in Vidarbha’.

Role of NHRC and Civil Society

Justice Dr Shiv Raj Patil, former judge of Supreme Court and now acting Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, Delhi released the book Ambedkar Ayodhya aur Dalit Andolan written by Mr. Vidya Bhushan Rawat. Justice Patil also appreciated the work of Mr. Vidya Bhushan Rawat in the field of dalit and women rights. He discussed the preamble on the of India’s constitution which says in the first sentence “we the people’. He explained, “we the people” includes all the humans, whether they belong to any caste, any sex, any community. They all have equal rights. But people get the benefit of their rights only when they know about that. He said that there was a need for cohesive efforts by different organs of society. He said that were Executive, free press, civil society & NGO’s, proactive judiciary, honest & committed law implementing agencies.He said that the Prime minister has promised that end of the 2007 scavenging will be eliminated completely and added that Planning Commission would also give the funds for complete rehabilitation of the community.

Justice Shiv Raj Patil said, “I want to congratulate you for this programme to discuss your fight. Dr Ambedkar was the architect of India’s constitution, which talks of each and every citizen of the country. It is for every one and not for some specific class or caste or religion, he said. “ We the people’, mean all Indians irrespective of our castes, class, gender and region, Dalit, poor, marginalized, all are equal. We must raise awareness generation and become aware of our rights provided in the constitution. There are laws but they are not rarely implemented fully. To get it done, every community must have a consciousness. It is equally important that NGOs/Civil Society/ community organizations, a meaningful and objective media, all should join hand and work together. 

Justice is still there and you will always get it”. Dr Patil also said that NHRC has taken a project for Abolition of Manual Scavenging, as promised by the Government of India. According to the government, they would be able to eliminate manual scavenging fully by 2007. Dr Patil also agreed with Ms Kiran Sharma that Education is a must to understand our right. He said we must focus on education. He said ‘, those who get education ultimately become powerful. Education means to understand your rights, government schemes. Apart from these, change of mindset and attitude is a must. We must believe in equality, As Gandhiji said to wipe out the tears of every one. He further promised that as a Member of National Human Rights Commission, he would always do justice to the cause of poor, and the marginalized. He said that he would help take up these cases in the Commission.
Threat of Communalism

According to Dr. Ram Punyani the communalism is a new name of the bramanical systems. He said that the fight for the rights of dalit, women and advises is a big issue. Today the main aim of political forces in the name of Hindutva is to exploit the innocence of the poor people. They oppose the Christian schools in the Adivasi areas and not in the cities because they do not want the children of the tribal to get English education.

Professor Suresh Pathre from Tata Institute of Social Sciences gave the new definition of the poor. Poverty has geography and urban and rural differences. The poverty of an urban man cannot be the same as that of a rural family. Similarly the poverty index of a family 20 years back is not the same as that is today. Today, those people who don’t have the education, employment, are considered poor. But till some years back, it was assumed that the person didn’t have food, cloths and house, they are poor. This definition is totally changed. He gave four reason of poverty. First many people think because of their bad ‘karma’ in our pervious birth that’s why in present birth we are poor. 

Second, some people think it’s an opportunity to do good work. Due to this work, we earn some money. Third, due to lack of education and modern technology, we do not find right way to progress. Fourth, Economic system is not correct. Here in this economic system some people are earnings more while others find it difficult to survive. Echoing the words of Justice Patil’s, Prof Pathare said that ‘poverty is a cycle’. And need to break this cycle. Education is the best weapon for breaking this cycle. According to him, we should work for poor people to make them self-dependent not dependents. Citing his own experience he said, “ I am a teacher at TISS and we discuss everything about poverty. We do research but I am uncomfortable to discuss it here. Poverty is relative in nature. A poor of US cannot be the same as a poor of Mumbai for Delhi. A poor of an urban town is different than a poor of a village. 2/3rd of the global poor do not have access to Education, health. They do not have any work and hence no wages. Hence anti poverty measures differs in different conditions.’ He further said that Karma theory was a dangerous idea along with other religious notions that God loves poor. Such thesis romanticizes poverty, he assumed.

Guidance and not charity

Mrs Prem Lata Morya from Mau spoke about the problems that women face at home. She said that woman is born out of a question and remain as an enigma all her life. But women herself is that the answer of this question. She said that women’s right cannot be achieved through charity. Rather than charity, it would be advisable that people are guided to do new things particularly self-employed work and developing entrepreneurship. It will help people make their life better and increase their earning. Citing her own example, she said that the more we struggle the better we learn. She also said that poor would not get strengthened with charity. Instead, we have to educate them in their human rights. PACS programme of Women’s Empowerment has enough potential. 

She understand the meaning of saving as every single pie count and gives her strength and satisfaction that she has been able to save something for her children and family.”


Ms Sumitra Rajbhar, Dalit Mahila Mukti Manch, Maryadpur, Mau spoke about the issues in Rajbhars and fishermen communities. The people have no work to do. Alcoholism is a big issue. Men beat women at home. The local programmes are not reaching women. ‘We have been organizing meeting for awareness of the people. No ration card, no age- old pension to real needy people,’ she said. There is a need to evaluate and monitor the government programmes for the poor communities and we must ensure participation of women in these programmes.

Mrs. Sudha Arora is a famous Hindi writer who spoke about prevailing gender bias in the media.She shared her own experience of an article meant for publication in Hindi daily Jansatta. She said that though she was not a Dalit but her life was a life of struggle.

Today, she is neither a Dalits nor a poor. But still she faces many problems because of her gender. She gave the example of famous Marathi writer Urmila Panwar who is a reputed officer inPWD. But she faces difficult problems. In her office her officer assistants have never given her a glass of water. That mean Dalit women suffer not only from economic and gender bias but most importantly from the caste bias and even after achieving success in their lives, the upper caste’s attitude against them has rarely changed.

Baby Tai Kamble spoke in Marthi. She said woman is a soldier. Woman also fights for her family similarly as an army soldier fights against the enemies on the border of the country. According to her women who live in cities should helps to the woman who live in villages. Changes are visible in the cities as workshops, lots of programmes and workshops and seminar are organized regularly resulting in growing awareness among the women. She suggested that these kinds of facilities should be provided in villages also. According to Baby Tai, we need to take Ambedkarism to the village to enlighten the village women who are living miserable life in the darkness of illiteracy. It’s a necessary to free the women from the bondage of customs and traditions like men. We must not sit silently against fight against the injustice of the society.

Mrs Sahodar, Lakhimpur Khiri came to the India Social Forum to narrate the plight of the forest community Tharus. Sahodar, an old woman in her sixties, questioned the module of development. What kind of development is this, which makes us indebted, she said. Obviously, women were was cheated by the local bank officials and that makes them Apprehensive of the SHG schemes and other credit programmes.

Sahodar was deeply pained by the attitude of developmental activists and officers who are given the charge to spread awareness and welfare of the poor.“Self Help Groups are not good for us she lamented as they trap the poor into the vicious circle of debt. The Subsidy given by the government for the purpose are being appropriated by the government officials. It is shameful that many of our friends just got Rs 900 for Rs 20,000/-. We must find out who is grabbing the credit”. The issue of displacement and its impact on communities also dominated the conversation. Sahodar narrated the plight of Tharus who face threat from the forest department. “WE had been living in the forest and yet the forest department people do not allow us. 

Our livelihood is being snatched in the name of eco tourism and by allowing to develop wildlife sanctuaries.”Despite this, Sahodar remain a woman full of energy and aspirations. She also sang a song.


Challenges of Fundamentalism

Mrs. Gea Miers, founder member of International Humanist and Ethical Youth Organisation (IHEYO), Brussels, shared her experiences from Europe and danger of the right wing religious forces in subjugation of women. She thanked the organizers for inviting her to participate in the assembly. She also said the issue of woman and poverty are very major as well as important issues. Emphatically quoting from a report from the World Bank she said that in the Africa or Asia 60% to 80% of the production and in the Latin America 40% of the production is done by the women but their share in earning is only 1/10. It’s a major reflection of women face discrimination. But she hoped that woman situation would improve further. She said that fundamentalism was a threat to women’s freedom and development. 

According to her every human has its self-respect and dignity. We should fight against the fundamentalism and respect the human rights. She also suggested that NGOs and civil society from Europe and developing countries should interact and join hand in highlighting the issues of women and poverty world over. She pointed out the difference between the cultures of the West and East. It is a different Experience for a person who has come from Europe. Nevertheless, Everywhere, issue of women is the most important issue. Women do most of the work at home and work and yet less for the same. 50 years back it was nearly impossible for women to work out in my country after marriage and children. Now, almost all women work. There are certain forms of discrimination in wages etc yet women are largely independent. This happened in two generations. It will take some time but it will happen here also.




Dalit-Bahujan Heritage

Artist activist Sujata, who came from Mumbai, opined that a nation is made stronger its culture.The society of dalit & adivasis is very strong by culture.Their music, literature and dance must be protected and spread all over the world. Sujata was off the view that Dalit Bahujan community was creative and working masses. Most of India’s art and craft is a heritage of this community which is being exploited by the upper elite of the society without taking them into account. Therefore, marketing the handicraft item and other forms of art would not only help preserve the art and culture of the Dalit-Bahujan communities but also give employment to hundreds of artisans who remain workless today.




Issue of NREGA
Women activist from Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh spoke on the issue of discrimination in the National Employment Guarantee Scheme. Women are not given equal wages along with their male counterparts. They are treated unequal partner and unproductive worker. It is therefore important for civil society to monitor and evaluate the impact of this scheme and fight against injustice. The NREGA cards were not complete. Women from Jaunpur mentioned how the village Sarpanch had taken the cards of the entire village and filled it one day. Some people got work for 5-10 days and the Pradhan filled the entire pay role. This is dangerous and we must do social auditing of these schemes.
The issue of property rights for women also came up for discussion. The programme went up till 5 pm much beyond its schedule as almost every woman participant wanted to speak and share her experiences.
It is clear that women are now coming up to take the challenge. They already know that they work harder and now they want to change their destiny. Programmes like PACS gives immense opportunity to women and other marginalized group to come up and challenge the status quo. It is time to evaluate the government scheme and involve women in monitoring these programmes only then we will be able to eliminate poverty and discrimination.
There is no doubt that today’s rural woman want her share in development programming. She is not ready to sit ideally and accept what is given to her. The voices of change are visible as civil society is growing and providing women some alternatives. One hope that we will not sit after this appreciation but explore more to the questions raised by the participants. It is a fact that poverty issue cannot be tackled unless addressed by women because they face the consequence of it directly. It is they who work on the field and forest and any programme and scheme without women’s participation and representation is bound to fail. Therefore, it is essential that this enthusiasm of women must be tapped and used for the elimination of rural poverty.



Conclusion:
Following are the conclusion drawn from the Assembly on Women and Poverty

1.  Dalit women suffer from dual identity: one being a Dalit in addition to women where she face gender bias.

2.  Government schemes are not reaching the women and marginalized and corruption level is very high.

3.  Autonomous bodies like National Human Rights Commission should involve civil society organizations in fighting against poverty and gender discrimination.

4. PACS programmes are helpful in organizing people in rural areas and should have emphasize on gender aspect.

5. Dalit women are also fighting against not only neo liberal policies but also the indigenous caste system, which denigrate their work and occupation.

6. Fundamentalism and communalism are threat to the development of women’s right and poverty alleviation programmes.

7. Urban women must take the issue to rural areas for the emancipation of women.

8.  As the Dalit women asserts more about their identity and success there will be more attack by the fundamentalist forces.

9. Women need guidance and self-entrepreneurship and not charity. Land Reform should be feminized so that women have access to land and market.

10.There should be constructive programme for women’s development. All government programmes meant for women do not have their participation.

11.Strengthen the networking of grassroots organization. They must share information and help each other.

12. Civil society must do social audit to programmes like NREGA and check whether women are getting fair deal or not.