The
origin of Ama Sangathan and its role as an apex organisation can
be traced to a struggle that was met with victory by the women
of Mandibisi, a village in the Kashipur Block. They were successful
in gaining control over the procurement, processing and marketing
of MFP (in this case, hill brooms) after a long battle with the
government and contractors.
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BACKGROUND
Agragamee's efforts for capacity
building and people's organisation has enabled tribal communities and
more significantly, women to address issues like minimum wages, the proper
delivery of government programmes as well as rights over water, natural
resources and their own land. In due course of time, it was felt that
some sort of institutionalisation and formalisation of such groups must
be introduced.
The tribal villages that were taking up these issues took the necessary
measures to register their groups as mahila mandals (women's groups) and
yuvak sangathans (youth organisations).
What followed was the village level groups strengthened their organisational
base by coming together at the panchayat level. As a result, if one village
had a problem, the people from entire the entire panchayat would express
solidarity with them, ensuring they could make a strong stand on the issue.
Some of the issues taken up in this manner include the effective functioning
of the PDS for essential commodities and the implementation of government
work through village committees instead of private contractors. The involvement
of women gave the people's organisations much strength, as women were
not easily politicised, making them more sincere to the members and functioning
of the group.
Agragamee stressed on the importance of encouraging women's leadership
and membership to these groups. Over time, tribal women began to come
forward, articulating their needs and aspirations. Thrift and savings
groups were also formed and women found that found that if they got together
across villages, they could collect a substantial amount of savings. This
was encouraging for a section of the tribal community that could barely
scrape together enough to keep their own households running.
They soon started marketing their own products, which are several in tribal
areas and were able to overcome exploitation by the ubiquitous middlemen.
Soon, a grain bank was born, whereby the tribals could meet their own
agricultural requirements in times of need. Agragamee was there all along,
guiding their efforts and keeping them on the steady path of development
and self-sustenance.
Agragamee also helped introduce simple processing activities, so that
they could have value addition and increase the shelf life of the products.
Gradually, women's groups began to address the various issues that affected
them and grew in strength. The initiative came from the people to establish
a block level federation of different groups so that they could make an
impact at a larger level, and speak in a common voice on issues that mattered.
Thus was born Ama Sangathan. |
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