A communications initiative for a balanced, planned and stable population
Women’s concerns find a voice in rural Maharashtra
PF organises Mahila Gram Sabhas in Shahapur
The focus of Population First’s (PF) interventions under the AMCHI project has been to increase the demand for effective services, thereby improving service delivery and making the providers more accountable. We have been successful in doing this particularly in the fields of health and education by motivating youth and women’s groups in the villages.
During our field work, we realised that women’s issues hardly ever come to the fore as they are not allowed to speak in public. Our Constitution has provided a public platform to discuss the issues faced by women in the form of Mahila Gram Sabhas. While it is mandatory to organise a Mahila Gram Sabha before each general Gram Sabha, this was seldom being practiced in any of the Gram Panchayats where we work. We felt that this is key to solving the issues concerning women and hence we decided to work with the women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and youth groups to organise Mahila Gram Sabhas in 11 villages under six Gram Panchayats between August 11 and 14, 2009. We ensured this was done in time for the Indian Independence Day on August 15, which is when the general Gram Sabhas are called. The following Gram Panchayats were selected– Gegaon, Bhavsa, Alyani, Apta, Nandgaon, Mohili.
To ensure women’s participation in large numbers, the team held fun competitions and races for women and gave away prizes to the winners. The Mahila Gram Sabhas were planned so as to disseminate information and allow discussion on subjects like health, cleanliness and unauthorised encroachment and the various central, state and Zilla Parishad schemes like Navsanjivani Scheme, Maharashtra Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MREGS), claims received by Village Forest Rights Committee and the publication of the list of beneficiaries.
Women turned up in large numbers to participate in the Mahila Gram Sabhas. The PF team had organised games and enetertainment to ensure their attendance.
For the first time the village women were given a platform to raise their concerns and speak about the problems faced by them.
The PF team oriented the participating women on their right to voice their concerns at the Mahila Gram Sabha and participate in the decision making process. On an average more than 50 women participated in the competitions and Sabhas. They questioned and sought information from the Gram Sevak and Gram Panchayat members on issues like water, roads, education etc. and demanded the presence of women representatives in various village level committees. In some Sabhas, they could not properly articulate their concerns and had to be educated by AMCHI team members on the procedures and preparations needed for speaking in an official meeting. For most of the Panchayats, it was the first Mahila Gram Sabha that was ever conducted.
Kamal Chenne of Gegaon village said, “We are discussing our issues for the first time in a Mahila Gram Sabha. Earlier men did not let women speak and women were scared of expressing their opinions. Now women will start speaking in front of men.”
Sheela Tai of Newra village said, “We will be present in larger numbers for the August 15th Gram Sabha and present our views on various issues. We will also organize a Mahila Gram Sabha before the next general Gram Sabha on 2nd October.”
Most of the Gram Sevaks extended their cooperation in conducting the Sabhas, patiently answering questions and sharing information. However, the Gram Sevak of Bhavsa-Tansa Group Gram Panchayat refused to hold the Mahila Gram Sabha in spite of the village women demanding it. The women are contemplating further action at the Panchayat level regarding the matter.
Our intervention has been very successful in making more than 300 women of nine villages realize their rights and providing them the skills to exercise them. They have been empowered to organize and participate in such meetings where hitherto, only men have been the decision makers. The AMCHI team is planning a few more similar initiatives to help these women organise and participate in the Mahila Gram Sabha. We are convinced that within no time they would be able to do the same on their own.
Bhajans take Laadli''s message to Ganesha
It’s that time of the year when the city seeks favours from its favourite elephant-headed deity Lord Ganesha. This year Population First appealed to Him to save the girl child through a Laadli Bhajan Sandhya- a presentation of religious songs.
The Chetana Musical Troupe’s Prem Rawat penned the lyrics of the songs infused with messages of gender discrimination, stop sex selection and violence against women. They describe the high status accorded to women in mythology drawing references to the Goddesses and Devis. He questions why this is not reflected in our present society and uses informative placards with facts and figures of the sex ratio and how it is falling due to female foeticide and misuse of technology. There were seven bhajans in the Laadli Bhajan Sandhya presented by the team of eight members. The programme duration was approximately an hour and included information on sex ratio and its consequences.
It was held at the following Ganesh pandals:
| Date |
Name of Mandal |
Area |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 25 |
Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal |
Mumbai Central |
| Aug 26 |
Tulsiwadi Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal | Tardeo |
| Aug 28 |
Khernagar Ganeshotsav Mandal | Bandra |
| Aug 31 |
Kanjurmarg Ganeshotsav Mandal | Kanjurmarg (E) |
| Sept 1 |
Shree Sai Dham Anand Sansthan | Thane |
| Sept 2 |
Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samiti | Thane |
This is the fourth year Population First has adopted this strategy of tying-up with Ganesh Mandals to adopt the Laadli theme
during the 10-day Ganesh festival. In the previous years, mandals have either adopted Laadli as the theme for their audio-visual tableau, allotted space for street play performances by PF’s theatre groups, film-screenings or helped organised theme-based competitions and open discussions with women on the issue of sex selection and gender relations.
Laadli Antakshari by Maheshwari community
We are happy to report that following our ward level Consultative Meeting ‘SOS to Stop Sex Selection’ on February 4, this year we have successfully implemented one of the community-level action points. The Laadli Antakshari was suggested by a representative of the Maheshwari Yuvak Pratishtan, which is a Community-Based Organisation (CBO) of the Maheshwari Marwari (MYP) community. The youth group took this initiative to create awareness about the issue of sex selection in their community where son preference continues to be strong.
The Laadli Antakshari was organized on the September 12, 2009 for the members of the MYP. We decided to use a creative and fun approach to this subject using the widely popular game of Antakshari. The game is based on Hindi film songs with teams of participants taking turns to sing a medley of songs. The issue-based Antakshari was conceptualized by Dr. A.L. Sharada, Programme Director, PF and executed by Mr. Prem Rawat of the Chetana Musical Troupe.
The game had seven teams with seven participants each. It had seven theme-based rounds –Relationships, bidai (bidding farewell), mother, free spirit, love, beauty and the celebration of womanhood. The Antakshari was interspersed with messages and data on sex ratio and the practice of sex selection. The programme had an interesting format with different forms of cues to make it a very enjoyable, while informative experience.
Population First would be happy to conduct a similar programme for other organizations. Those interested may e-mail us at info@populationfirst.org
The Laadli Youth Fest 2009 is back!
Population First’s (PF) Laadli Youth Fest is being held in over 55 Mumbai colleges starting September 14, 2009. We have been actively working with the college youth under the Laadli campaign, particularly with the support of the National Service Scheme (NSS) cell of the University of Mumbai. So when we approached the NSS programme officers (POs) they promised their whole-hearted participation. Laadli is recognised as a university-level project for the NSS, thus giving us access to many colleges of Mumbai and Thane. Besides, the Women’s Development Cell and Sociology departments of many colleges are supporting the Laadli campaign and will participate in the event.
The PF team oriented the POs about the Youth Fest and the objectives of the campaign. A kit including posters announcing the various competitions, a handout with the rules and a letter from the NSS cell has been sent to each college.
The Laadli Youth Fest was envisaged as a means to understand how the youth perceive gender issues by giving them an opportunity to expresses themselves through creative competitions. Students participated in the previous Fests with great enthusiasm and we were able to reach out to over 10,000 college students in Mumbai. The most important thing is we have set the students thinking on issues like gender discrimination, inequality of the sexes, female foeticide etc – issues that were hitherto nowhere on their radar. The quality of some of the entries in terms of both creative concept and execution has been excellent, and some of them have been used and mass-produced for the Laadli campaign. As promised, the respective student has been credited with the work, which has motivated colleges to encourage student participation.
Let’s see how Mumbai’s youth respond to the Call for Entries to the Laadli Youth Fest 2009. For more details please contact: Ms. Bhavika on 98677 53554 or Ms. Nivedita on 99694 26028 or email us at info@populationfirst.org
Contact Us
Population First
Shetty House, 3rd floor, 101 M.G. Road, Mumbai 400 001, India
Tel: 91 22 2262 6672 / 76 Fax: 91 22 2270 2217
Email: info@populationfirst.org
Website: www.populationfirst.org
