By IANS
New Delhi : The winds of social change are blowing since women in a village have led a campaign against alcohol abuse while a Dalit youth elsewhere took a conscious decision to improve the health and education scenario.
These are few of the heartening stories, which were discussed along with other issues pertaining to the marginalized sections of society during an international conference organised by the Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) in the capital that is on Feb 27-29.
The three-day conference titled “Re-visioning Social Transformation in the 21st Century” – the meet is the fifth of its kind to be held in the country – saw participation from members of the civil society groups, academicians, students and those interested in the issues.
Andre Ling who works with a civil society group called Seva Mandir in Rajasthan shared some of his experiences while dealing with the people of a village called Delwara including the challenge to bring them together, win their trust and finally work towards improvisation of the existing system.
“The panchayat is a culturally embedded body, quite distinct from the community. It was quite a challenge to make the people understand that their responsibility doesn’t end in electing the leaders,” Ling told IANS.
“We had to make them realize that they must demand their rights, be it supply of safe drinking water or building of toilets or schools, which they have started doing. One of the most positive developments was the enthusiasm showed by the women of the region who wanted to do something for local development,” he said.
Similarly, Bhumika Jhamb of the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, Delhi shared her experiences in a village in Nainital where the women led a campaign against alcoholism.
“The women of the village were tired of putting up with their drunk husbands. They couldn’t bear their hard earned money being spent away carelessly. That’s why they decided to start a campaign against alcohol abuse.
“As a part of the campaign, they raided the liquor shops and were manhandled many times. But they refused to give up and approached the block development officer. These are stories which can be emulated elsewhere for overall development of society,” Jhamb said.
Besides the sunshine stories, discussions also took place around the challenges.
“There was a Dalit woman who was elected to the panchayat in the reserved category. While it should have been a happy occasion, sadly it was not as the woman failed to articulate herself.
“We tried guiding her, but it didn’t help. Probably she was under pressure from the male members of her family who put her on the pedestal but were running the show themselves. Therefore, the moral of the story is that women have to be empowered first so that they can take decisions,” Ling said.
Some of the topics being discussed are social transformation through economic development, accountability in rural wage employment programmes in India, youth development programmes, globalisation and women’s livelihood.