Thursday 30 May 2013

Binalakshmi Neparam: Helping Gun Widows in Manipur remake their lives



Original Source:  http://www.thebetterindia.com/6424/tbi-heroes-binalakshmi-nepram-helping-gun-widows-in-manipur-remake-their-lives/



Researcher- Avantika Lal




Sometimes all it takes is one incident to transform one from being a mere spectator to a participant in change. For Binalakshmi Nepram, that moment came on a gloomy Christmas eve of 2004 in a village near Imphal, the capital of Manipur. As an academic researcher she was talking to a group of women activists, when gun shots shattered the peace. In the flash of a second, one of the women in that meeting – Rebika Akham, 24 – had become a widow.
Nepram recounts what happened, “We were at Wabgai. The gun shots sounded less than a kilometre away, leading to the death of a 27-year-old man.” The victim, Buddhi Moiranthem, had been dragged out of his car battery workshop by three assailants and shot at point blank range. To date, his wife and family have no clue about who his killers were, or what their motive was.
“Rebika, all of 24, stood with us, shell-shocked. Amid the crying, I remember her mother’s helpless words, ‘Now how will I feed you?’ That was the turning point of my life,” says Nepram. It was then that she decided to set up a support system for women left isolated because of the violence around them.

Binalakshmi Nepram, the woman behind the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network, a unique intervention that helps women, who have lost their fathers, husbands and sons to gun violence, get back on their feet. (Credit: Azera Rahman\WFS)
Growing up in Manipur – a state that shares borders with Myanmar, as well as with the other north eastern states of Nagaland, Assam and Mizoram – which is possibly one of India’s most conflict-ridden regions, Nepram understood even as a child that life was uncertain given that armed violence was a regular occurrence. “My parents tell me that even on the day I was born, there was a conflict raging and my father had to scramble for the medicines that my mother had needed. Violence cast its shadows on our very minds,” she says.
When she joined the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi in 1997, she shared some of the realities of the region with friends and classmates, who often could not comprehend the extent of violence that marked everyday life in Manipur. “They could not believe it when I told them that people could actually disappear and not be seen alive again,” remarks Nepram. In JNU, Nepram began systematically researching into the situation, often travelling in the state to collect primary data. But despite her research, she was unprepared for those gun shots that rang out in 1994, changing a young wife into a widow in an instant.
Soon after that killing, Nepram collected Rs 4,500 to buy a sewing machine for Rebika Akham, so that she could earn an independent income and stitch together the pieces of her life again. With that the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network also came into being. Nepram points out,
I realised there is no point in doing endless research if there was to be no intervention. There are so many young women, just in their twenties, who have been widowed overnight. Children have lost their fathers; mothers, their sons. These women needed help to start their life afresh.
She also realised that monetary relief was, at best, temporary relief and that soft loans were perhaps more appropriate. The Network then took on the role of providing small loans to women victims and helped them open their own bank accounts.
The lives of many women were turned around in the process. Take the case of Huidrom Tanya Devi, 18. Her father’s untimely death 10 years ago shattered her young life. A karate instructor, he was gunned down by the armed forces in 2001. The young girl still asks in a haunted voice, “Even today I don’t know the reason for my father’s death. I ask everyone, what crime did he commit to meet such an end?”


The Network gave her mother, Huidrom Geeta Devi a loan of Rs 3,000 in 2007 with which Tanya was able to start a small business. As the months rolled by, her confidence as an entrepreneur grew. This April, she became the proud owner of a shop that sells embroidered dress materials, incense sticks and household goods. Two other women have similarly set up their own shops with the Network’s help.
Mumtaz, another victim, whose husband, a lecturer by profession, was killed in gun violence in 2009, was in a similar distress. With five children to look after, she couldn’t be more grateful when the Network extended her a loan of Rs 8,000 to run her business.
Her success as an entrepreneur has whetted Mumtaz’s interest in public life. She now wants to contest the local panchayat elections in order to help bring change in her village in the Thoubal district of Manipur. She also links up affected women like her to the Network and is, in the process, contributing to the expansion of an initiative that had started small with 25 women survivors of gun violence and today reaches out to over a thousand.

Women of the network at a meeting, holding photographs of the sons and husbands they have lost in gun violence in Manipur. (Credit: Azera Rahman\WFS)
The first of its kind in South Asia, the Network has 150 are active members, most of whom had been victims themselves. The assistance they render is multi-pronged. The immediate need of women who have been bereaved is a support system – some regular source of food, the continuation of their children’s education, and the like. Then comes the need for a sustainable income. Loans are provided to address this requirement, with the money put to use in setting up a small vegetable vending enterprise or acquiring a loom to weave cloth.
The Network also provides legal assistance to the women to fight their cases for justice and compensation since they themselves are most often too poor to afford lawyers. Medical assistance is provided to take care of the health needs of the affected women. The Network does this by entering into arrangements with doctors who are willing to provide free check-ups or dental care.
In order to function smoothly, meetings are held every two months in an informal setting – like the courtyard of a member’s house – to discuss individual problems as well as general issues, like the treatment accorded to widows in society. Nepram comments,
In many parts of India, when a woman who has lost her husband wears bright clothes or takes up employment outside the home, eyebrows are raised, questions asked, and motives ascribed. This is simply unfair – it is only right that women in such circumstances try and reclaim their lives. Girls, as young as 21, are widowed in an instant. Surely they have the right to live a normal life?
The Network meetings are not just to discuss problems, but are also meant as a time of togetherness over tea and snacks. The idea is to reach out and explore ways to address common problems. “We can only reach a limited number of women. If the government wants, it can connect with lakhs of them, but that would need political will,” observes Nepram. She emphasises that the Network is apolitical. In any case, politicians generally stay away from such interventions. Not only has no Member of Parliament come forward to be associated with the work the Network is doing, ministers in Manipur have actually mocked its efforts. But for Nepram this only points to the great lack of sensitisation among politicians to the gender dimensions of violence.
The lack of political response has not, however, discouraged the women members of this unusual Network. Right now, they are busy studying government schemes for women and children and searching for ways in which they can benefit from them.

Wednesday 29 May 2013

Mission Kashmir :Voice for Women

 For years they have silently borne the scars of terror. Now, one among them has decided to speak out.
Looking after the home and children while their men battle militants, women in the Valley have suffered trauma, threats, rape and murder. They have braved the bullets of both the militants and armed forces, while the government remained a silent spectator. Even during election time, their voices and pleas for redress found few takers among political parties.
Shameem Begum is determined to change all that. She resigned from the Jammu and Kashmir police force to contest the elections on a BJP ticket from here. “I resigned because I wanted to do something for the women. We have suffered, perhaps more than the men have. But nobody has forcefully put across our point of view. If I win, be assured you will have a voice in the corridors of power,” Shameem said to cheers from a handful of her compatriots. They are her only security. The men in khaki, wielding guns, are conspicuous by their absence.

The only woman candidate in the constituency, Shameem has a mission: to lift Kashmiri women from the morass they have been forced into. “Khaki mein kitne log mare hain. Lekin hum auratein roz marte hain. Hamare bachhe roz marte hain. Chahe who militant hain ya chahe police aur army wale (Lots of men in khaki have died. But we women are dying every day. Our children are dying every day. Be it in the hands of militants or police and army personnel),” she said on a visit to the home of a resident.


Since 1990, when militancy raised its head in the Valley, women have been the most vulnerable targets. Some have been killed, others terrorised and raped. Recently, they suffered acid attacks by terrorists for not donning the veil. Death threats followed when they still defied their diktat.
The threat outside is reflected within their shattered homes with most women widowed — or “half-widows”, as is the case of Kashmiri women whose husbands have gone missing.
The latter are forced into a life of uncertainty and are not entitled to any compensation from the government, unlike those whose husbands have been killed in action.

In June last year, the state government along with the Centre did evolve a scheme, Sawadhar, for the socio-economic and psychological rehabilitation of militancy-hit and traumatised women. But it has not been heard of since then.
For women, the prospect of remarrying, too, gets mired in the divide among Islamic scholars. There are two schools of thought: one allows remarriage if the woman’s husband has not been traced even after four years, the other insists that the woman wait for 90 years.

Take the case of Shakeela Badyari. Twenty-two years old and a mother of three, Shakeela’s husband Abdul Hamid was a taxi driver who went missing in January 2000. Her youngest daughter, Sumaira, was born three months after her father disappeared. Living in a one-room wooden tenement in Srinagar, she now washes clothes to feed her children. There are hundreds like Badyari whose lives Shameem aspires to change for the better.

“I want to help women, I want to help the widows who have been left in the lurch by the government. I now want to spend the rest of my life in the service of women who are suffering. I may never win. But I will continue, rukungi nahin (I won’t stop),” she says.
Women constitute over 46 per cent of the electorate in the state, but the election manifestos of the National Conference, BJP and the Congress have nothing to offer them. “We simply listen to what is discussed at home,” said Nasreen. “Can you believe there were no women candidates in the first phase'” she adds, before leaving in a hurry to catch Shameem’s cavalcade.

Shameem does not aspire to become famous like Mehbooba Mufti of the People’s Democratic Party, which advocates a clean government within the Indian Union.
Nor does she want to become another Asiya Andrabi of the Dukhtaran-e-Millat, an orthodox Muslim group that advocates women’s empowerment and demands Kashmir’s secession from India.
“I personally feel, women can do a lot to bring peace to Jammu and Kashmir,” she asserts.
“Women come out to protest, not when a terrorist is killed, but when there is a human rights violation — when someone (who) was not a militant or when he was trying to change his life (is killed).”

Leaving the police force was tough for her. “I had thought a lot before taking the plunge into politics,” Shameem says. While the women have welcomed her, the men are sceptical as she represents a party widely perceived to be anti-Muslim.

Wednesday 22 May 2013

Young Entrepreneur Revives Old Craft in Kashmir


Original Source- 

Arifa Jan began making namdas, rugs created from felted wool, when she knew that the traditional craft was at a low point.
Just 10 years earlier, 98 percent of the namdas that were produced in Kashmir were exported, Jan says. But since then, this had fallen to 2 percent.
"This was a huge decline," she says.
Jan became interested in namdas during a research project on declining crafts while getting her master's degree at the Craft Development Institute in Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital.
She learned that conflict for two decades in Kashmir had steadily damaged business and hurt the product's quality. An artisan working with the traditional wool would earn the equivalent of $1 to $2 a day. That couldn't support a family, so the artisans began using cheaper materials.
"The artisans were then mixing cotton with local wool," she says. "The quality suffered, and this made the namdas less durable. They also used local dyes, which made the color bleed when exposed to water."
Exports began to plummet.





As part of her research, Jan was required to introduce innovations to increase the marketability of Kashmiri namdas. So instead of using local wool, she used 100-percent merino, a type of sheep prized for its wool quality. She also used dyes free of azo compounds, a chemical used in dyes for its vivid colors, so they wouldn't be harmful or bleed.
"You can hand wash our namdas," she says. "They won't lose their color. You can even vacuum them, things you can't do with the ordinary namda you find in the market these days."
For embroidery, she opted for a superior thread and a style called crewel, often used on curtains.

Reviving Patterns

She also revived patterned namdas, in which patterns are cut from felt of different colors and then combined in a felt base. She experimented with these patterns and with various types of embroidery on these namdas.
Jan prepared 300 namdas as part of the project. In 2010, she took some of her work to a handicraft exhibition in New Delhi.
"It was a sellout," she says. "I had taken 60 namdas with me, and I sold them all. And the response was so good."
After the exhibition, Mohammad Saleem Sofi, a pashmina artisan and trader, was impressed. He decided to lend Jan the equivalent of $970 to start production. Gulshan Nanda, chair of the Crafts Council of India at the time, also became a backer. She offered to lend Jan $2,800 to start product
With this funding, Jan recruited workers and doubled their wages.
"I have seen how hard they work and how little they are paid," Jan says. "They should get paid well. Only then will the crafts survive."
Since childhood, Jan had dreamed of venturing into business. Born to illiterate parents, she obtained her bachelor's degree in commerce at the University of Kashmir with the goal of starting a business in the future.
"I studied commerce, thinking I will start a business of my own one day," she says. "But at that time, I had no idea that I will work with namdas."
Jan's form of success is unusual in Kashmir, where nearly 70 percent of young females surveyed reported that gender discrimination deterred them from pursuing entrepreneurship, according to a 2011 survey conducted by the Start-up Kashmir Youth Entrepreneur Development Project, an anti-poverty group.

Promoting Entrepreneurship

The Jammu and Kashmir State Women's Development Corporation implements various governmental schemes to identify and promote female entrepreneurs.
"We have got tremendous response from women regarding entrepreneurship," says Nahida Soz, the corporation's managing director.
Since the organization focuses on disadvantaged groups, employment is always a challenge.
"It is challenging to make these women self-reliant as they belong to a low socio-economic background," she says. "The women are not qualified or skilled. But the women of Kashmir are well-versed in various handicrafts, and there is a lot of potential."
The organization trains women and gives them credit to start their projects. It also helps the women market their products by organizing fairs to ensure income generation.
Jan says her own training has given wings to her dreams. Even though her main focus is on namdas, she is already on the path of diversification.
Together with Sofi and another artisan, Farooq Ahmad Ganai, Jan has started Incredible Kashmir Crafts, a venture that makes namdas and other items, such as embroidered canvas bags, tops, pashmina stoles and shawls, cushion covers and wall hangings. Their focus is on design and innovation, as well as the preservation of Kashmiri handicrafts.
"We have been experimenting with various weaves and designs in pashmina," Sofi says. "The pashmina we are using is all handspun, and everything we deal in is handmade."
He says this is unique, as machines have doomed local handicrafts.
And Jan's not stopping at diversification of quality goods and fair wages for artisans. She also wants to start an organization for women working with handicrafts, especially women in difficult situations as a result of the region's conflict.

Monday 20 May 2013

Broken Promises: The Plight of women In Sri Lanka and its Economic Costs

Original Source- http://www.ips.lk/talkingeconomics/2013/03/broken-promises-the-plight-of-women-in-sri-lanka-and-its-economic-costs/


Researcher- Avantika Lal


On 28th of February 1909, the first ever National Women’s Day was celebrated in the United States to honour female garment workers who protested against their poor working conditions in New York a year before. The United Nations celebrated the first International Women’s Day on 8th of March in 1975. Since then, the International Women’s Day has been celebrated each year on the 8th of March, all across the world. On this day, women are recognized and appreciated for their past struggles and achievements in the economic, political and social spheres. Most importantly, International Women’s Day is an opportunity to highlight issues and problems faced by women all over the globe. “It is an occasion for looking back on past struggles and accomplishments, and more importantly, for looking ahead to the untapped potential and opportunities that await future generations of women”.[1] The theme for the 2013 International Women’s Day is: A Promise is a Promise: Time for Action to End Violence against Women”.

What is Violence against Women?
Article 1 of the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (DEVW), declared by the UN General Assembly in its resolution 48/104 of 20 December 1993, defines the term Violence Against Women (VAW) as: “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life”. VAW is usually categorized as being physical, emotional, verbal, sexual, economic, and digital (Information and Communication Technology).[2]

Sri Lanka has ratified all key international covenants on human rights. The country has ratified four major international covenants, which have relevance to rape and other forms of gender based violence [International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights-1966, Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)-1979, Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) -1989 and the Convention on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment -1984]. Further, Sri Lanka has signed the Vienna Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women in 1993, the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act No. 34 of 2005 (PDV) was passed, and the Forum against Gender Based Violence was set up in 2005. A separate Ministry was set up to work on women’s issues in 1983 (The Ministry of Women’s Affairs – currently this Ministry is known as the Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Affairs). Several initiations have been taken to combat VAW by the governments and civil society organizations.

Despite the promise of more action, the promise of aligning ourselves with international statutes and conventions, the reality of the situation remains dire. According to the Gender Based Violence Forum in Sri Lanka, rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment, sexual violence, forced prostitution and trafficking are the most prevalent types of VAW in Sri Lanka.  The Forum further states that these crimes are not specific to a particular region or locality, but they are reported across class, race, religion, and ethnicity.[3] Prevalence of domestic violence in Sri Lanka, ranges from 27% (Perera, 1990), 32% (Samarasinghe, 1991) and 40% (Jayatilleke et al., 2010) to as high as 60% (Deraniyagala, 1992).[4], [5] In the case of VAW, obtaining reliable data is difficult mainly because victims are reluctant to reveal such incidents due to social stigma. However, Sri Lanka’s Demographic and Health Survey (2006/2007) conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics has revealed that regardless of background, women are highly susceptible to violence (see Figure 1).

This is partly because a majority of the women, regardless their level of education or income has the perception that a husband may be justified in hitting or beating his wife. Fundamentally, VAW is a violation of human rights. It effects negatively on a woman in many ways. Violence against a woman damages her health and well-being, thus hindering her empowerment. Further, it also has an inter-generational affect. Violence against women damages not only the health and well-being of women, but also health and well-being of their children.




*Note:   Women were asked if a husband was justified under at least one of five  scenarios: 1) if she goes out without telling him, 2) if she neglects the children, 3) if she argues with him, 4) if she refuses to have sex with him, or 5) if she burns the food. Source: Department of Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka, Demographic and Health Survey  2006/07

Economic Costs of VAW
The Economic costs related to VAW can be broadly classified as ‘Direct Tangible Costs’ (e.g. health care costs), ‘Indirect Tangible Costs’ (e.g. lower earnings due to lower productivity), ‘Direct Intangible Costs’ (e.g. pain and suffering, and the emotional impairment due to violence) and ‘Indirect Intangible Costs’ (e.g. negative psychological effects on children who witness violence which cannot be estimated numerically). [6]  Therefore, VAW has a significant impact on an economy. For instance, in the United States of America, the annual cost estimation of intimate partner violence amount to US$ 5.8 billion. [7]The economic burden of VAW and their children to the Australian economy was estimated to be US$ 13.6 billion in 2012.[8] As most cases related to VAW are hidden and untold, the real economic impact is likely to be much larger.  The economic costs of VAW occur in different forms (see Table 2).

Table 2: Economic Cost of Violence against Women (Cost Categories)
Cost category
Types of costs included
Pain, suffering and premature mortality
Costs of pain and suffering attributable to violence.
Costs of premature mortality measured by attributing a statistical value to years of life lost.
Health costs
Includes private and public health costs associated with treating the effects of violence on the victim/survivor, perpetrator, and children.
Production-related costs
Includes costs associated with:
·     lost production (wages plus profit) from:
·     absenteeism;
·     search and hiring costs;
·     lost productivity of victim/survivor, perpetrator, management, co-worker, friends and family;
·     lost unpaid work;
·     retraining costs;
·     permanent loss of labour capacity.
Consumption-related costs
Includes costs associated with:
·     property replacement;
·     settlement of bad debts.
Second generation costs
Includes private and public health costs associated with:
·     childcare;
·     changing schools;
·     counseling;
·     child protection services;
·     remedial/special education;
·     increased future use of government services;
·     increased juvenile and adult crime.
Administrative and other costs
Includes private and public health costs associated with:
·     legal/forensic services;
·     temporary accommodation;
·     paid care;
·     counseling;
·     perpetrator programs;
·     interpreter services;
·     funerals.
Transfer costs
Includes ‘deadweight loss’ to the economy associated with:
·     government payments and services;
·     victim/survivor compensation;
·     lost taxes.
Source: Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Australia (2013)

Almost from the very beginning, women have played an important role in the economic development of Sri Lanka. Women form the backbone of the Sri Lankan economy (associated with tea, garments, and remittances). Especially in such a backdrop, it is rather alarming to observe that 83 % of females in the estate sector are victims of gender based violence; 57 % of female garment workers experience sexual harassment at the work place, and 11% of returnee migrant women are sexually abused.[9] Further, 62 % of female employees in the industrial sector have experienced unwanted and unwelcome sexual advances at the workplace at some point of their lives.[10]  Exposure to VAW at the work place hinders the productivity of the worker, while also resulting in the discontinuation of the job and eventual withdrawal from the labour force. This in turn means lower income levels on a household level and lower female labour force participation on a national level. There is no doubt that economic development will be hindered for as long as VAW persists in society.

Incidence reports appearing in newspapers, and complaints made at police stations are just the tip of the iceberg; the magnitude of the problem is much greater and most of the time hidden and unspoken of. While it is true that there have been continuous efforts made by various parties to eliminate VAW from the country, available data, literature, and anecdotal evidence prove that prevalence of VAW is still high in Sri Lanka. In this context, it is important to mobilize the community through better awareness and effecting attitudinal and behavioural changes. It is also important to fully grasp the economic implications of VAW, and to understand that the nation as a whole has to cover the cost. [11]  

The sooner we begin to implement effective policies and programmes, along with a national effort to instill an attitudinal change to end VAW, the sooner we can begin to reduce the economic costs of VAW.

Sri Lanka made a promise to its women when it became a signatory to the international conventions protecting the rights of women. However this has been left on the backburner for too long and the plight of the country’s women is beginning to exert a very real economic impact on the country as a whole. Policy makers and implementers might find that it is always better to keep a promise, rather than bear the costs of a fall out.



[1] United Nations (2013) ‘International Women’s Day’ [http://www.un.org/en/events/womensday/history.shtml ] Last accessed on 26th February 2013
[2] Act Now (2013) ‘What is VAW?’ [http://www.actnowsrilanka.org/en/vaw/whatisva] Last accessed on 26th February 2013
[3] Daily News (2008) ‘International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women Today’ [http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/11/25/news23.asp] Last  accessed on 26th February 2013
[4] World Health Organization (2013) ‘Gender Based Violence (GBV) , Basic Information Sheet Sri Lanka [http://www.whosrilanka.org/linkfiles/who_sri_lanka_home_page_gbv_country_factsheet.pdf] Last  accessed on 26th February 2013
[5] Jayatilleke A.C., Poudel K. C., Yasuoka J., Jayatilleke A. U., and Jimba, M. (2010), Intimate partner violence in Sri Lanka, BioScience Trends. 2010; 4(3):90-95.  International Research and Cooperation Association for Bio & Socio-Sciences Advancement (IRCA-BSSA), Tokyo, Japan
[6] Day T., McKenna K. and Bowlus A. (2005)The Economic Costs of Violence Against Women: An Evaluation of the Literature, United Nations [http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/expert%20brief%20costs.pdf]
[7] World Health Organization (2013) ‘Violence and Injury Prevention 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence’ [http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/global_campaign/16_days/en/index6.html ] Last accessed on 26th February 2013
[8] Australian Government, Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (2013) ‘Economic Cost of Violence Against Women and their Children’ [http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/our-responsibilities/women/publications-articles/reducing-violence/national-plan-to-reduce-violence-against-women-and-their-children/economic-cost-of-violence-against-women-and-their-children?HTML#1 ]Last accessed on 26th February 2013
[9] Perera, J., Gunawardane N. and Jayasuriya V. (eds.) (2011) Review of Research Evidence on Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Sri Lanka , Second Edition . Sri Lanka Medical Association Colombo [http://whosrilanka.healthrepository.org/bitstream/123456789/434/1/GBV.pdf] Last  accessed on 26thFebruary 2013
[10] Ibid
[11] Day T. and et al (2005)