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Lucknow: Seema Saroj,
a resident of Pratapgarh district in Uttar Pradesh, was denied
payment under the rural jobs scheme for months. She then joined
Nari Sangh, a women's group working for the rights of people, and
took on the authorities to get her pending dues.
Saroj is one among over 80,000 women
from 666 gram panchayats in nine districts of eastern Uttar
Pradesh who have, under the umbrella of the Nari Sangh, been
successfully fighting corruption in schemes like the Public
Distribution System (PDS) and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).
Launched in 2007 by the NGO People's Action for National
Integration (PANI) with the support of Mumbai-based Sir Dorabji
Tata Trust, the Nari Sangh is a project for empowering rural
women. It focusses on developing leadership qualities among women
and spreading awareness about their entitlements like the right to
work, right to food and right to health.
As many as 522 women from the group have been elected to gram
panchayats.
Saroj told IANS: "Most of us did not know how much ration we were
entitled to and used to take whatever the PDS shop-owner gave us.
Similarly we were told that under NREGA, work will only be given
to men and even they were not paid.
"I attended some of the meetings of Nari Sangh and came to know
what I was entitled to. I then went to the block development
officer in my area and asked why work was not given to women under
NREGA. He then asked the officer concerned to provide us work,"
said the frail woman, draped in a cotton sari.
It was not easy for these veil-clad women to come out of their
traditional set-ups. Most of them had to convince their husbands
and in-laws before they could become a Nari Sangh member.
"My husband was against my going out and participating in such
meetings. Even my neighbours said bad things about me to my
in-laws. Initially, I came out of the house on the pretext of
getting fodder for cattle. We then used to hold small meetings and
talk about problems with other members of the group and how it
should be sorted out," Badka Devi of Azamgarh district told IANS.
Fighting all odds, these women have now earned the respect of
other village residents and are approached by villagers for all
kinds of help.
"Every official from development officer to tehsildar and health
officer to collector of the district knows about Nari Sangh and we
are given a patient hearing if we approach them with a problem.
This project has made us self-confident and we are now aware of
our rights," Chaviraji Devi, a member of the Nari Sangh from Mau
district, told IANS.
Shashi Bhushan, programme director of PANI, said these women have
been doing a tremendous job and the project will soon be extended
to other districts in the state.
"It was a pilot project and we trained women in villages to fight
for their rights. Now these women have taken control of all things
in their villages and are aware of their rights. They are
confident enough to take on the authorities if their rights are
being violated," said Bhushan.
Nayana Chowdhury, senior programme officer, Sir Dorabji Tata
Trust, says the project is very cost- efficient as the annual
spending per family is Rs.240.
"The best part of the project is that it is very cost-effective
and we don't have to spend a lot of money on training women. It
has gone beyond our expectation and we are trying to study if the
model can be replicated in other areas too," said Chowdhury.
(Richa Sharma can be
contacted at richa.s@ians.in)
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