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What are you drunk on tonight?

"We believe in five principles", Sumati started again with a smile (she was amused that she had to repeat it), "We make collectives. Our collectives bring us strength. The strength helps us to get access to resources. These resources help in bringing solutions to social problems. And finally the solutions bring peace in the long run". Several of the gathered women repeated the principles with equal ease. Sumati and the others present have formed a village level organisation to struggle for their rights, which they call Mahila Sangathan.ERW program

The Mahila Sangathan did not only take up issues of five entitlements, that they call their resources, which are, 100 days' job card, ration card (access to subsidized food-grain), Mamata card (health entitlements), houses and land patta (registration) but also worked towards sorting social problems such as excessive drinking among men. They have made sure that although their God still needed an offering of liquor, the men don't drink more than that is offered, which is merely a small bowl. What a brilliant idea! The tradition maintained but the ill-effects are curbed. They could do this as they stopped selling of "kuchiya mada" (liquor by small owners) in their locality. "Didn't the men stop you from doing so?", I asked. "They asked but could not stop us. We are in a group", was the answer. They were pretty drunk on the new found power of collectives. The Mahila Sangathan members were happy that they could go to the Police and inform about their moves against liquor shops beforehand and Police cooperated. 
Let me contextualize it a bit. These women are from the Kondha tribe of Turaikela area of Western Odisha. Kondha is the largest tribe group of Odisha. According to a website that talks on them, "Liquor is a necessity for all Kondha. It is considered as food and at the same time a ritualistic food to satisfy deities and spirits. It is considered a social necessity and therefore consumed by them irrespective of sex and age." Therefore the efforts of Sumati and her fellow women were no less than a mini revolution in this region dominated by the "crimson" brothers working for the bigger revolution! Till that come, the women of the area carry on their struggle. 

After close to 15 years in the sector it does not move my heart any more when I hear, "We would have ran away had you come more than a year ago but now we are here, sitting with you.". Please don't misunderstand me. I truly think it is indeed an achievement for women and men from a tribal group to be able to face people from mainstream societies who speak a different language, dress entirely differently and ooze confidence that borders on aggression. But my ears strain themselves to hear some more after all these years. And that's when voices of Sumatis rescue me. They never fail to surprise me and make every visit to the field area memorable. These voices make me unlearn the cynicism that I pick up from time to time. 
Village after village I have come across women who think the liquor shop is their enemy number one. The moment they have a group, the first spontaneous agenda is against that shop, which keep them away from a fair share of their men's income at the end of the day. That shop, which keeps their children away from their two square meals. They fight against it with all their might, at the first opportunity. All the frustrations of being beaten on an empty stomach by a drunk man surface when they attack the menace. There is no dearth of enthusiasm. At the same time, my experience teaches me I should not to be too hopeful about the community ban on liquor, in spite of their best efforts. With a government aggressively pushing sell of liquor and help opening liquor shops at every nook and corner of the state, especially rural and tribal areas, people of Odisha have little to hope for. And the irony? Government of Odisha claims they will use the revenue generated in children's education in the state.  

Do you think they meant education of the children whose parents are dead drinking?
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Location: Balangir, Odisha, India

Comments

  1. SouravDecember 10, 2012 at 9:25 AM

    WIll definitely read contributing quality time....well...seeing the poverty striken child on her mother's lap & concluding that you must be doing something for them made me very happy that there are people who r for them...keep up

    ReplyDelete

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