Continuing on the
theme of learning that has emerged from the Padayatra, we come to the glaring
aspect of a fractured society. As
usual, we would also welcome a dialogue with the readers of these sitreps..
Romantic films and
books have long eulogized utopian ideas of villages in India being homogenous
societies. The idyllic,
innocent, rural life is always contrasted with the disjoint, lonely and aimless
lives of people in cities. This is the conditioning with which a majority of
the Indians have grown up. This is the
image that is carried into rural areas. However, these concepts take a severe
jolt when one looks closely at the realities. The fact of the matter is that society in rural areas is as
fractured, if not more, as compared to the urban society. Think of the criteria and you will find
division…
·
Men and women
have clearly unequal space and say in public (and we daresay private) life.
·
Caste
considerations, now toned down at least in most parts of Maharashtra, hold
clear and unchallenged sway over peoples transactions. This consciousness is
not reducing in any way : if anything it is increasing. Off late more and more
people, including children have been asking us ‘which caste do you belong to?’
·
Land owners are
clearly a different class as compared to the landless and artisans. In fact
irrigated land owners are clearly the uppermost class of people.
·
No sooner than
some leadership emerges, political parties rush in to claim that as its very
own. A few sops and titles here and there and another ‘leader’ bites the dust.
In short the society
is fractured and slowly being conditioned by circumstances to think in terms of
narrow self interests. Development actors, through self interest or compulsions
or misguided thinking end up reinforcing the divisions. Here is how…
·
Projects working
with women alienate men and think that this is correct strategy..
·
Schemes for those
Below the Poverty Line, merely alienate those not included or incite them to
defraud by claiming BPL status..
·
Watershed
projects don’t look closely at the aspirations of the landless…
·
Sponsorship
projects end up differentiating between the ‘haves children’ and the ‘have nots
children’.
·
Caste based human
rights groups completely alienate and antagonize the ‘upper’ castes
We don’t claim that
there should not be focus on the weakest sections of society.. that is a must
since affirmative action clearly has its advantages… Further we are not arguing
that this fracturing is deliberate… but it is what happens.. A bit more
planning and sensitivity would help prevent rifts within society… One aspect is
clear, it is getting increasingly difficult to mobilize the community to
reflect and act on issues that affect it in its entirety. No one has the energy
to think beyond ‘what is in there for me?’
A dangerous fall out of this is that opportunists and self serving people use the natural divisions, enlarge them to breaking point and end up feathering their own nests. The poor and un-empowered remain so..
Clearly this should not be acceptable. We feel that the time has come
for all development actors – government, NGOs and increasingly corporate sector
to reassess their strategies of dealing with these issues. Wanting to address
issues of exclusion of sections of population should not result in excluding
a fresh set of people… at least not in the long run… after all the Platform
for Action espoused by the Fourth World Conference for Women, in Beijing in
1995 did identify working with men to promote equity and empowerment of
women. That strategy can and probably
must be adopted across the development world.
In the
next Sitrep we will deal with the total lack of leadership at the grassroots..
The MAHARASHTRA
VIKAS NIDHI (MAHARASHTRA DEVELOPMENT FUND) awaits contributions from all of
you… Watch this space for further updates. Do also watch the updated
blog at www.greenearthconsulting.org/padayatraprogress.htm.
Also read a compilation of some stories on www.empowerpoor.org
grnearth@vsnl.com, 020-25466103,
09422521703
Dushkaal Hatawu :
Manoos Jagawu
(Eradicate Drought :
Save Humanity)
February 08, 2006