New Unemployment Benefits Hailed in Rural India
Sangtin Feminist Movement Credited for Winning Relief for Poor
Feb 4, 2009
On January 20 the members of the SKMS ended their sit-in (dharna, in Hindi) in the office of the Chief Development Officer in the Sitapur district of the Indian state Uttar Pradesh. This after the Commissioner for Rural Development, Manoj Kumar Singh, had signed an order releasing Rs. 15 lakhs (about 30000 US dollars) in unemployment benefits to 826 families in the district, thereby acceding to a key demand of the protestors.
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
The SKMS members based their claim on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) of 2005, which determines that the state must provide people with at least 100 days of employment at minimum wage, or else pay out the stipulated unemployment benefit. A myriad of officials that include village pradhans, Block Development Officers and Chief Development Officers benefit from the projects intended to provide employment under NREGA, and are therefore inclined to resist the payment of benefits, according to Richa Nagar of the University of Minnesota. This was only the fifth time that such a pay-out was made since the passing of the act in 2005.
On a visit to South Africa Professor Nagar explained that although this victory will not end rural poverty in India, it is nevertheless meaningful to the families involved, as the daily minimum wage is about 2 US dollars. "This victory also disturbs the oppressive relations imposed by the caste system, as more than 90% of Sangtins belong to the so-called untouchable dalit caste, who now will insist on and get respect from the state officials," she said to Suite101 in an interview on 3 February 2009.
According to the official website of the government of Uttar Pradesh, there were about 8 million women living in the state in 2001 of whom more than 57% were illiterate. These more than 4 million women, who struggle to find jobs, are all potential beneficaries of the success of the SKMS.
Movement of Women Farmers and Rural Workers
Professor Nagar was also able to share background information about the SKMS that points to a much wider potential significance. As the name indicates the Sangtin Kisan Mazdoor Sanghatan is a movement of women farmers and rural workers. Sangtin actually means a woman who is a close friend and comrade in a difficult struggle.
The movement started in 2004 out of a process where 9 women co-authored the book Playing With Fire: Feminist Thought and Activism Through Seven Lives in India. Through the writing process the “sangtins” came to terms with their experiences of the sexism, capitalism and hierarchy that rip apart the lives of especially rural women. The problem, they began to understand, was not only the greed of capital and the authoritarianism of the state, it was also the reproduction of these kinds of relationships and behaviour within the Non-government Organisations (NGOs) formed to “empower” women.
Sangtins Against Hierarchy and Oppression
The sangtins began to imagine creating relationships that exclude hierarchy, oppression and greed in favour of equality, freedom and solidarity. Out of imaginings they began working for a new society by taking up struggles such as the dharna for the unemployed. The movement has grown to include 5000 members of whom 45% are men.
Revolutionary Shift
Instead of waiting on members of elites to take action, the Sangtins have made a revolutionary shift of attitude by not only showing a possible way to alleviate the shock of job losses, but by becoming active in shaping the kind of society they live in.
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