Women's Tribunal Against Poverty - India

Date: 17 October 2007 (International Day for the Eradication of Poverty)
Time: 9am to 5pm
Venue: Indian Social Institute, Lodhi Road (Behind Sai Baba Mandir), New Delhi
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Brief report

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"Women's concerns should be focal in all major policies & programs", said women from across marginalized communities while briefing the President of India, Pratibha Patil on the occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.   They were representing the experiences of more than 400 women from across 20 states of India who had come together to mark this occasion by sharing their personal experiences of poverty and deprivation, and resolving to join hand to ensure that the women's agenda is central to the efforts of the government to end poverty & social exclusion.

A Jury comprising of academicians, political thinkers and social activists noted that while the country is growing at phenomenal rates, the lives of the most marginalised women are further impoverished. Poverty is no more secular. The process of exclusion and discrimination particularly affect women from Dalit, Adivasi, Muslim communities & Nomadic Tribes - and these identities have their right to life, security, dignity, livelihood and development. Within these communities, women who are single or disabled experience a further disadvantage. The Jury consisted of Annie Raja, Dr. Ruth Manorama, Dr. Gopal Guru, Kamla Bhasin, Nikhil Dey, Dr. Rose Dzuvichu, Dr. Rose Kerketta & Sheba George.

Chunmun Devi of Khagaria district, Bihar was among the 50 women who recounted their personal experienes of poverty and exclusion as part of the Tribunal. She narrated her desperation in sustaining a household of four children and her disabled husband on a handful of grain every day. In the context of the recent floods in North Bihar, she stated that her family has lost even the meager belongings that they earlier had. Relief and rehabilitation have not reached the Dalit hamlet where she belongs.

Prabhasheela Besra of Jharkhand spoke of the need to revive some of the positive 'Santhal'  traditions that protected the right of women to own land and assets. She lamented that the earlier tradition of the family gifting women with a piece of land or plot for farming to ensure that she was able to fend for herself across all stages of her life, is fast diminishing and needs to be reinstated and 'replicated' by the government by ensuring agricultural land entitlements for women who currently form a significant part of the landless agricultural labour in the country.

Nijhula Kachua drew attention to the labourers and their families residing in the tea gardens of Assam. She highlighted that there is little awareness and almost no access for these communities to the national government schemes such as NREG (National Rural Employment Guarantee) and NRHM (National Rural Health Mission) that are operational in other states of India.

Noor Jahan from Hyderabad, Andhra drew attention to the victimization faced by youth from Muslim communities as they are constantly tagged to terror, further increasing their exclusion from socio-economic opportunities and arousing a feeling of mistrust among other communities.

The Jury recognized that without a focus on reaching women and marginalized communities development is not possible within the country. There is a need to recognize and institute the independent identity of women as independent citizens, not just linked to their families. Land is critical to addressing poverty and right to cultivable land for women from these marginalized communities is a must. Appalling occupations like manual scavenging – which is mostly carried out by women - needs to be eliminated urgently and the persons involved should be rehabilitated on priority basis. The process of displacement related to development, SEZ and forced eviction need to stop immediately. Post conflict in Gujarat, there has been more or less a complete failure of restorative justice issues and rehabilitation. The apathy of the state and bias of the bureaucracy against the minorities is apparent.

To know more, please contact:
- Pam Rajput ( 0172-2545425 / pamrajput@yahoo.co.in )
- Lysa John (011-46082371 to 74 / lysa@wadanatodo.net )

And the Organizing Committee of the Women's Tribunal Against Poverty: Action India, Action Aid, AIDMAM, BMMA, CADAM, CARE, CBGA, CDSA, CHSJ, CWLR, EIDHR, Ekta Parishad, ICRW, NAWO, OWSA, OXFAM, PWESCR, SANGAT, THP, TPMS, WNTA

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