The prevailing perception about Bihari women in a sub-urban/ rural setting reduces the different dimensions of their persona into fossilised gender identities like ‘left-behind women’. In other words, they are mostly considered as the passive recipient of exploitative patriarchal actions in a traditional, patriarchal society of Bihar. However, a closer look at the society of Bihar would suggest that the[Read More...]
Introduction Though India had a distinction of electing a woman Prime Minister in 1966 (Mrs. Indira Gandhi) and an Indian (Mrs. Vijay Laxmi Pandit) became the first woman President of the UN General Assembly in 1953, the position of women in India is very low and their rights are rarely protected. Problems like dowry, sati or self-immolation of widows, child[Read More...]
Addressing the requirements arising out of Covid-19 Pandemic, in a populous country spread across the length and breadth, has received substantial economic, and social support from the self-help group(SHG)/Samuh members. Rising to these testing times, operational challenges like financial delays must be done away with, driving sustained empowerment of the most vulnerable. Restructured in 2011, as DAY-NRLM(Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural[Read More...]
There is a tempest in India’s farmlands even as their tillers wage an extraordinary crusade for alleviating age-old distresses. Away from the bustle of the raging storm in the Delhi-National Capital Region is a small semi-literate group of women farmers in a remote hinterland who are assiduously managing a farmer producer company (FPC) to help alleviate the woes of other women growers[Read More...]
Bhubaneswar: 9th December-A unique Gram Sabha on gender-based violence was organised across 17 districts in Odisha where the meetings were being led by the women as they were holding centre stage to discuss issues that concern them the most. The objective of these Gram Sabha were to ensure the involvement of women in Gram Sabha and place issues that concern[Read More...]
As the Lok Sabha polls in 2019 showed an overall improvement in the political representation of women, it became obvious that we have come a long way but there is still a long stretch to cover. In all of our misplaced understanding of just “helping” women to ensure we empower them, we forget that empowerment lies in building agency, above[Read More...]
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of weak health systems that were ill prepared to withstand the onslaught of the pandemic. As documented by the Pulse survey of the WHO, the pandemic has resulted in disruption of essential health services, including sexual and reproductive health services, in most countries. Weak and perpetually poorly resourced health systems have escalated the[Read More...]
The World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreaks a global pandemic. In India, during the last six months had a tough time for everyone as government had announced the lockdown in the month of March because of day by day increasing in the number of cases of coronavirus. Pregnant women have more stress about the effects[Read More...]
During my professional engagement with rural India, I found that one of the most useful resources at the grassroots level was an Anganwadi worker. I would always begin my village exploration with a visit to an Anganwadi and would be rewarded with a finer introduction to the local community. I have always regarded Anganwadi workers as the most efficient last-mile[Read More...]
“We don’t need Afghan-style burqas to disappear as women. We disappear in reverse – by revamping and revealing our bodies to meet the externally imposed vision of beauty” – Robin Gerber Existentialists argue that everything we are today is the result of our choices, and we build our own values with the available choices and resources that society gives us.[Read More...]
