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Partnership with Peasant Women (and Men) in West Bengal -
Bankura
Consultant: Narayan Banerjee, assisted by Shri Pulak Gupta,
Meghnad Deshmukh, Swapan Chowdhury, Bimal Pakhira,
Representatives of Nari Bikash Sangha and others
CWDS’ engagement and
partnership with peasant women (and men) and with
their various forms of collectives in Bankura and
Purulia entered the 28th year in 2008-09.
The partnership has
primarily focused on the mobilization of poor
women’s collectives at the village level to create
employment and income generating op portunities
through their own organizations on collective basis.
This has involved action in the areas of
organisation building, identifying employment and/or
income generating activities, mobilization of
various resources, marketing of products, management
of enterprise, and the ongoing process of building
collectives, linking with the larger community,
negotiating with socio-political institutions, and
addressing issues directly affecting women and
children.
The partnership presently
deals with the following forms of collectives – the
Mahila Samitis at the village level and their
federation or apex body – the Nari Bikash Sangha at
the regional level; the SGSY women’s groups at the
village level promoted by NBS; and the tribal
women’s groups at the village level participating in
Bagicha programe implemented by NBS.
Over the years, the focus
on income/employ ment generating
activities has changed. For instance, certain income
generating activities have either been given up or are
being carried out at a reduced scale. Tasar culture
emerged as a major employment/ income generating
activity from the very beginning and is sufficiently
stable now. The new income generating activity of
fruit orchards mainly focuses on tribal households
with joint participation of men and women at the
individual household level, but collectivized at the
level of village planning committees and farmers’
co-operatives.
For a few months in the
year the CWDS staff provide technical and management
support to the mahila samitis in their most
important income/employment generating activity of
tasar culture. The women themselves produced 60,000
dfls worth Rs . 2,50,000 to meet their
own needs and the demand of tasar farmers of the
region. In the last
season the women produced
40,000 dfls, 13,00,000 cocoons and earned
Rs.19,00,000.
From their Babui
plantations, seven samitis harvested 175 quintals of
grass worth more than Rs. 65,000, part of which was
turned into ropes with the rest sold as raw grass. A
few samitis make rope from babui grass round the
year as their only livelihood and they procure the
raw grass from sister samitis owning plantation
immediately after each harvest.
The SGSY groups and a few
samitis are engaged in a variety of economic
activities from poultry farming to sal plate
manufacture, bidi leaf collection, vege table cultivation,
goatery, rice processing, nursery raising, paper bag
making, bidi rolling, small trade, tasar
spinning, and so on, both in smaller groups and at
the individual level. The SJSY groups engaged in
poultry farming went through a bad year due to the
‘bird flu’ epidemic, which negatively affected the
poultry industry in the state. The hatchery with
which the groups are in a contract-farming
arrangement could not support the groups due to the
ban imposed by the state government on broiler
farming. It is only by January 2009 that the
relationship and the earlier arrangements were
restored and the groups could earn Rs.3,00,000
through limited rearing.
NBS disbursed nearly Rs.
3,00,000 to 442 members of 20 samitis for the
purchase of seed, fertilizer and implements through
annual agricultural loan programme. An amount of
nearly Rs.19,000 was loaned to 10 members as
business or consumption loan during the year.
With the help of project
staff of Bagicha, CWDS and NBS achieved the target
of setting up 1000 fruit orchards for its Bagicha
Project in 2008-09.
Most of the required
hands-on trainings for the above activities are
imparted by resource persons available within the
NBS network and CWDS and Bagicha project staff.
As part of social
development activity, ten village libraries and
thirteen crèches for working mothers functioned on
regular basis. NBS is also engaged in raising
awareness among MS members in regard to domestic
violence, child marriage, widow pension, provisions
for women workers under NREGA etc.
As part of infra
structure development activity, construction was
undertaken for two tasar rearing sheds, space
augmentation of two grainage units, and a cooking
shed in a crèche unit.
As part of advocacy
programme, NBS and CWDS organized two awareness
generating meets on the Forest Rights Act in
Ranibandh and followed it up with submission of
community claims by three MS about their right given
in the Act over tasar
 rearing
on forest land.
In its land based
activities, CWDS constantly endeavours to facilitate
women’s rights over land in various forms. For
instance, wastelands holding tasar plantations are
exclusively owned by women’s collectives – the
Mahila Samitis. Babui plantations are either fully
owned or held in lease with produce sharing
arrangement. Land on which work sheds, office
buildings, grainages, child care centers etc have
been constructed are fully owned by the mahila
samitis and SGSY groups. Land of poultry units has
been taken on rental basis. The forest land on which
women’s groups conduct tasar cultivation are being
presently negotiated for community ownership right
under the Forest Rights Act. A partial o pportunity to claim
individual right over household land by women has
been provided by the fruit orchard project where
women have been recorded as joint owners of the
orchards with their husbands.
What is narrated above
are the end results during 2008-09. The CWDS staff
performs various other activities on a daily basis
by way of management of enterprises and collectives,
dealing with local politics, social tension and
variety of conflicts, procuring material inputs and
marketing, and supervision, counseling and
maintaining internal linkages.
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