Working with Dalits for a Better Tomorrow
By Rev. Thomas John, Companionship Facilitator, India
The struggle for progress. Photo: CHETHANA
Chethana, the Joining Hands network in India works with the most marginalized groups in society and tries to empower them and raise their voices. Amongst those groups are the Dalits, the most dispossessed and despised, “untouchable” caste group in the caste hierarchy.
Chiguru (sprout) is a member organization of Chethana, and was established in 2009 for the social, political and economic empowerment of Dalit women. The story of its inception and growth is very much connected with the life story of Prabhavathi, who braved all the hurdles that a patriarchal society would put before a woman, particularly coming from the Dalits. She rose from such a situation to become a source of empowerment for Dalits in general and Dalit women in particular in the Bangarapet Taluk in Kolar District.
Chiguru works with 700 women organized into 35 women’s groups (Women’s Sanghams) to address the issues of Dalit women. Its activities extend to 30 villages in the Bangarapet Taluk of Kolar District in Karnataka state. Chethana has been providing her with the necessary accompaniment in the growth and ministry of this organization, since 2004. “Chethana provided me with fellowship, perspective, and skills to continue my work among my people,” said Prabhavati.
Prabhavathi was born in a poor Dalit family to illiterate parents who eked out a living as daily wage laborers, coolies. She lost her parents very early in life while she was still a student in school. She could only study through the 10th grade. She lived in a segregated slum for Dalits, and suffered all sorts of indignities as a Dalit girl. In school, play ground, market, public road, wherever she went, she was reminded of her caste status. But she persisted and got through the 10th grade and soon after, in 1998, she joined TREES, an organization that was started for the social, economic and educational empowerment of Dalits, as one of its field workers. It is from this organization that she learned the essential skills and knowledge for organizing people. “The field was my training ground,” she said.
There were no bore wells in Dalit villages; Dalits were not allowed in temples; they were not allowed to walk in the thoroughfare; they were not given water in vessels, rather they had to stoop with their cupped hands to receive water. Dalit women suffered more indignities. Even when they were subject to sexual harassment, their husbands or male members in the family were helpless in defending them. They could not buy or sell milk or yogurt. Their main occupation was removing skin from the carcasses of animals and tanning them, which were considered to be menial tasks. Most of the families were sold into bonded labor. This is a practice in which landlords would give high-interest loans to workers, and then in return, the entire family of the debtors would be forced to labour at low wages to pay off the debt, which never happens.
One of her first tasks with TREES was to organize her people to liberate themselves from bonded labour. This had to be done discreetly without alerting the landlords/upper castes. She brought them together to talk about bonded labour, its causes, and how they would be able to escape from its clutches. “When one of the family members becomes sick or when the monthly ration of provisions becomes available, they are forced to avail loan from the landlord. We first tried to economically empower them by their own thrift and savings and also by some external help to provide them with financial resources when they are in dire straits, thus helping them with alternative sources of financing so that they would not become bonded to upper caste money lenders,” she said. Thus, she was able to extricate the lives of many from bonded labour.
By 2004, TREES developed a movement of women called Adima Shakti (Indigenous Power) to address specific issues of Dalit women and she became its leader. Adima Shakti was soon brought into the fold of Chethana. “It was Chethana that first helped me learn to conduct surveys, identify the needs in our communities, to build awareness among our people and to fight for our rights as human beings. It is after joining Chethana that I, for the first time in my life, travelled to the city of Bangalore, which is only seventy eight kilometres from my place. The first training program that I attended was one that was organized by Chethana on Advocacy at Indian Social Institute in Bangalore,” Prabavhati acknowledged.
Adima Shakti mass rally for access to drinking water. Photo CHETHANA
Under the banner of Adima Shakti, one of her first initiatives was to organize women for their rights to drinking water. Adima Shakti held a mass rally to put pressure on the bureaucracy and the politicians to attend to the need for drinking water in one of the villages, Dandikahalli, in Kolar District. In her own words, “In ten minutes, we were able to make them sign an agreement to dig a bore well in that village.” Then the upper caste people tried to install a motor to draw water from the same bore well and divert it to their lands; this surreptitious move was foiled. Subsequently, Adima Shakti took up the issue of landlessness among Dalits. It was able to secure housing sites for 150 families and 2 acres of agricultural land each for 40 families. Efforts are going on for more housing sites and farm lands for Dalits in this area. Adima Shakti is indebted to Chethana and Indian Social Institute for supporting these efforts and for training them to work for land rights.
Atrocities against Dalits, particularly Dalit women, also became a key issue for Adima Shakti. An upper caste man wooed a Dalit woman, Hebbani Lakshmamma, and in that wedlock she became pregnant. He insisted on abortion and she refused. To save his honour, he murdered her. The upper caste man in collusion with the police tried to hush up this incident by giving one acre of land to Lakshmamma’s parents. Knowing this, Prabhavathi organized a massive rally of the Dalit women on March 8, Women’s Day, and they walked from Hebbani to the district head quarters in Kolar, about 18 kilometres and submitted a memorandum to the District authorities, forcing them to register and re-open the case. The most crucial evidence for sexual abuse and murder became the land that the alleged had gifted to Lakshmamma’s parents. The case is still ongoing. This became a land mark struggle which conveyed to the police and the public that the atrocities against and sexual abuse of Dalit women will not be tolerated. Prabhavathi proudly says, “Now I can boldly go to a police station and talk to the authorities. They even call me to settle disputes among Dalits and deal with incidents of atrocities against Dalits.”
In 2009, due to extenuating circumstances, Prabhavathi left TREES and the leadership of Adima Shakti, and formed Chiguru. Amidst these crises and organizational changes, she continued her work among Dalit Women and also stayed on with Chethana as one of its very zealous partners. She is today a member of the Core Team of Chethana.
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Prabhavathi braved all the hurdles that a patriarchal society would put before a woman, particularly coming from the Dalits. She rose from such a situation to become a source of empowerment for Dalits. Photo: CHETHANA
Prabhavathi lists the achievements of Chiguru as follows:
- Dalit youth (5th grade to 10th grade) have been organized and a sense of dignity has been instilled in them. They are provided with tuition/remedial education and computer training so that they could take advantage of the affirmative action in employment.
- Training workshops in legal awareness, disaster preparedness and land rights were held for the youth.
- Labour Cards were secured for construction workers so that they can avail the benefits of government welfare programs.
- Training workshops were provided to Dalit women for their effective involvement in the local government (Gram Panchayat).
- 400 handicapped persons in Mulubagal Taluk in Kolar district were organized to claim the pension due to them from the government.
About the motivating factors in her relentless struggle for Dalit rights, Prabhavati says, “I am a Dalit. I have gone through the pain of being a Dalit, and our children should not go through the same suffering.” By her leadership and mobilization efforts, threat from the upper caste has been considerably reduced. Though initially the upper caste and the bureaucracy looked upon her as an enemy, today, they respect her more for her humanity transcending caste, class and gender. She says, “our constitution guarantees freedom for all; I work to realize this freedom.” Prabhavathi has learned over a period of time to walk into the corridors of power and advocate for the poor without any fear.
She works from a 10ft x 8ft room; most of the room is taken up by sewing machines. It becomes a place for local women to learn tailoring part of the day. During a certain period of the year, the room becomes a place for children to acquire computer knowledge. The computer training was provided by another NGO. The walls of the room are taken up by photos of Chiguru’s activities. In short, she manages her umpteen activities with limited resources provided by Chethana and other non profits. She has only one part time employee to assist. She would like to have more staff to assist her, which has been hard, as it is difficult for smaller organizations like hers to access funds easily.
Prabhavati would like to learn English, which she feels would empower her to deal with administrators in the city. She is a Buddhist by faith, and acknowledges that she is not good in practicing all of its tenets. Most of the Dalits who are part of Chiguru are newly converted Christians. She explained it as a response to not being allowed to enter Hindu temples to worship God. About religion, this is what she had to say: “Religion should not be superstitious; it should be an instrument for liberation.” Chiguru, as a sprout, holds promise for a better future.
Listen to Prabhavati’s Song “Just Give Us an Answer”
Notes:
Caste system in India: Caste is a hierarchical stratification of society assumed to have divine sanction and maintained through endogamy, non-commensality, hereditary succession of an occupation, and exclusion based on cultural notions of purity and pollution.
Dalit: ‘Dalit’ literally means the oppressed or the crushed; it is a term of self representation that “untouchable” caste groups, who fall outside the fourfold caste stratification, use to define their identity and politics.
Taluk: ‘Taluk’ is an administration division consisting of a certain number of villages (Gram Panchayat), the smallest administrative units. Many ‘Taluks’ together form a ‘District’; many ‘Districts’ together from a ‘State’.
Panchayat: Gram Panchayats are local self governments at the village or small town level.
