The story of one woman's perseverance to empower other women of her community provides encouragement for all of India to follow her example, writes Shailendra Sinha
The struggles and achievements of many faceless rural women are largely missing from our mainstream media which has been highlighting the achievements of women located in urban India.
One such movement of struggle and achievement is being led by the tribal women in several villages of Jharkhand who have set an encouraging precedent in community farming. Sushila Murmu is a tribal woman living in a nondescript hamlet called Paharpur located in the Kathikund Block, 27 km from Dumka in Jharkhand. Till three years ago, Ms Murmu was struggling hard to change the mindset of the villagers who had dashed her hopes of a better tomorrow. Today, when she looks back, she notes with satisfaction the entire village's support for her. The journey, however, has been no cakewalk.
The only woman in the entire village to have completed her school education, Ms Murmu was upset at seeing people of her community quit farming due to heavy losses and, worse, being forced to migrate to other States in search of livelihood. She wanted to put a halt on the trend. With her husband, Mahadev Tuddu, she started cultivating the infertile land with the seeds of hope. She devoted days and nights to transform that piece of barren land into a lush green field and put in her best endeavours to inspire her fellow villagers, but without much success.
She did not give up. She started again from the scratch — this time targeting the womenfolk. Day-long chats of motivation and encouragement helped her gain the confidence of the adivasi women. Soon, she was associated with a non-profit organisation called ‘lahanti' and started her own Self Help Group. She called it the ‘Beli lahanti Self Help Group'. She has not looked back since.
In the last few years, Ms Murmu has successfully shown the way to self-dependence through the age-old, time-tested methods of subsistence-farming. With her concerted efforts and the benefits of community farming, a fabulous dream has gradually transformed into reality. The transformation received a boost with the assistance of the Poorest Areas Civil Society Programme, an initiative of the UK Government's Department for International Development aimed at the welfare of socially excluded groups.
Under the ambitious livelihood programme of PACS, Ms Murmu brought together a group of women and gave them lessons in community farming. Her sustained efforts not only empowered women but also encouraged the adivasi community to break the cycle of poverty through concerted and coordinated efforts.
Sharing her experiences, the farmer's role model proudly says, “Tribal women are believed to be the backbone of their community. It was because of such an ethos that we could infuse a sense of confidence and community among Santhals who were struggling to survive. The results — how we turned rocky and dry land into cultivable land through our collective efforts- are before everybody to see.”
While there is a considerable decrease in the seasonal mass migration from the village now, its residents also enjoy a proportionate increase in their collective prosperity. Today, the village is food and financially secure like never before. Villagers maintain that migration prevented their children from staying on in school. Now, self-reliance and collectively farming the vast tracts of land, which were earlier left barren, has helped them earn a livelihood and a comfortable existence.
The villagers are convinced that this is just the beginning of a prosperous future, since their children are now being able to study without interruptions all through the year.
Ms Murmu's self-help group spread awareness about Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and procured job cards for all those looking to enrol themselves. Soon, the group of women spearheaded a movement targeting ills plaguing the community. It launched a movement against the middlemen who had monopolised job cards and pass-books issued in the name of the villagers under the Centre-sponsored rural employment guarantee scheme. Thereafter, the group started targeting exploitative private money lenders whose land-grabbing had devastated the lives of poor villagers.