मोहन गार्डन में निर्माण श्रमिकों के साथ क्षेत्रीय सम्मेलन का आयोजन किया गया सम्मेलन का उद्देश्य निर्माण श्रमिकों की प्रस्तुति व संगठन निर्माण पर चर्चा करना और बोर्ड में द्वारा मिलने वाली निर्माण श्रमिक कार्ड पर विस्तार से चर्चा की गई साथ ही महिला श्रमिकों के घूंघट प्रथा को समाप्त करने पर चर्चा करना जिस प्रकार सती प्रथा बाल विवाह डायन प्रथा समाप्त हो सकते हैं तो घूंघट प्रथा भी समाप्त करने की जरूरत है जब लोग बदलाव के बारे में सोचते हैं तो परिवर्तन जरूर होता है इसी इसी के बाद सांस्कृतिक कार्यक्रम का आयोजन किया गया जिसमें महिलाओं ने बढ़ चढ़कर हिस्सा लिया |
भारत की पहली शिक्षिका सावित्रीबाई फुले ने संघर्ष कर शिक्षा ग्रहण किया, जब जब स्त्री की शिक्षा को लेकर बात उठी तब तब आत्मनिर्भर की चर्चा होती है तो वहां सावित्रीबाई फुले का नाम लिया जाता है, सावित्रीबाई फुले ने महिलाओं के लिए अभियान चलाया महिलाओं को जागरूक किया बाल विवाह, विधवा विवाह, जातिवाद, जैसे मुद्दों को लेकर लड़ाई लड़ी, जिंदगी के आखिरी पलों तक दलितों के लिए उनके कल्याणकारी योजनाओं के लिए लडती रही, आज इसी कड़ी में अंतर्राष्ट्रीय महिला दिवस के अवसर पर 10 फरवरी को विकास नगर में, दिल्ली घरेलू कामगार मजदूर संगठन ने महिलाओं के लिए एक जनसभा कर उनको सम्मानित किया
निर्माण मजदूरो के साथ क्षेत्रीय सम्मलेन का आयोजन किया गया जिसकी जिम्मेदारी लीडरों ने ली जैसे मोबलाइज करना पोस्टर लगाना | क्षेत्रीय सम्मलेन मे निर्माण मजदूरों के मुद्दों को लेकर लीडरों ने अपनी बातो को रखा तथा निर्माण मजदूरो ने नाटक के माध्यम से भी अपनी बातो को रखा सम्मलेन मे युवाओं की भी भागीदारी रही |
किसी भी शहर का विकास पूँजी और श्रम के द्वारा होता है। हमारे समाज में पूँजी की महत्ता तो है परंतु श्रम की नहीं और महिलाओं के श्रम का तो कोई मोल ही नहीं। दिल्ली को बनाने में लाखांे श्रमिकांे का श्रम लगा है परंतु वे अदृश्य हैं। ये श्रमिक आज इस बड़े शहर के निर्माण स्थल, मलिन एवं अनियोजित बस्तियों में बहुत ही बुरी स्थितियों में रहने को मजबूर हैं। Continue reading “Documentation on women construction workers”
CHIZAMI (NAGALAND): Earlier this month, thousands of women hit the streets across Switzerland to demand equal pay, but one of the wealthiest countries of the world would be amazed to know that women in a village in Nagaland have secured what it has been striving to achieve for the last 30 years. The gutsy women of Chizami in Nagaland’s
Equal pay for equal work has been made possible as women of Chizami fought and won parity in 2015, with courage and a little help from like-minded men
CHIZAMI (NAGALAND): Earlier this month, thousands of women hit the streets across Switzerland to demand equal pay, but one of the wealthiest countries of the world would be amazed to know that women in a village in Nagaland have secured what it has been striving to achieve for the last 30 years. The gutsy women of Chizami in Nagaland’s Phek district succeeded in winning pay parity with their male counterparts in 2015 after a eight-year battle, and with the help of sensitive men by their side. But while that’s unlike anything heard of in India, their fight is far from over.
Farmers Tasetshulou Kapfo (centre) and Adile (right) joined hands with other villagers to get pay parity in Chizami, Nagaland
“We never had disparity in pay in the days when we used to practise barter,” says 74-year-old farmer Tasetshulou Kapfo, talking of a time before the advent of cash
changed everything.
“Both boys and girls got three zahe (a measuring basket) of grain for a day’s work. But as cash came into the system, the value of labour changed and we started seeing disparity in wages,” adds Kapfo, who still works in her terraced paddy fields in the village that is about four hours’ drive from capital Kohima.
What the Swiss protest is all about
Women across Switzerland went on strike on June 14, 2019, to protest for equal pay and equal rights. On an average women in Switzerland earn 20% less then men
The protest comes 28 years after a similar action in 1991 when half a million took to the streets demanding equal pay
Post World War I, along with millions of other women in Europe, Swiss women too demanded right to vote, but only got it in 1971
The women farmers of Chizami say men got paid more by projecting that they performed the more laborious tasks in the cultivation process, like ploughing the field. “We argued what women do, men can’t. That it is equally strenuous to sit hunchbacked the whole day and clear the fields of undergrowth,” says Kenzunyipe-uTsuhah,
chairperson of the village women’s society. In the terraced fields of Chizami, it is the women who put in most of the farm work without any mechanical assistance. “We pursued the idea of equal wages with the village council and its welfare forum for seven years, starting 2007, but it was pushed back every time,” she says. “One year men
said it was a taboo for women to demand equal wages. Another year they said we should respect men as the head of the household and not look to be paid as much as them,” said 56-year-old Adile, who took to farming when she was barely six years old.
After an eight-year battle women in the village succeeded in winning pay parity
But seeing their strategy hitting the wall year after year, the women changed tack in the eighth year. “We approached men who were sensitive to our cause. Dr Wethselo T Mero, a paediatrician who works at the district hospital in Phek, became our spokesperson and convinced the village council that Chizami should be a model for the
world,” says Tsuhah.
“The equal wages apply for all kinds of non-specialised agricultural and manual work and is fixed at Rs 450 a day during peak paddy transplanting time (from June 1 to mid-July) and Rs 400 for the rest of the year,” says Wekoweu Tsuhah, the programme director of NEN in Nagaland. Chizami, a village of 600 households and approximately 5,000 residents, is surrounded by hills carpeted with alder and oak trees. “About 20-30% of Chizami’s households depend on farm labour in addition to working in their family fields,” says Wekoweu.
Wage parity in India
Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 promises equal payment to men and women for the same work done. However, it is rarely implemented on the ground
Agricultural labour
Women are paid 22.24% less than men
Non-agricultural labour
Women are paid 24.06% less than men
Source: NSSO Survey 2017
Statistics show what the women of Chizami have achieved is no mean feat. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) in its ‘India Wage Report’ released in 2018 says the gender wage gap in the country remains very high by international standards, despite declining from 48% in 1993–94 to 34% in 2011–12. Of all worker groups, the average daily wages of casual rural female workers is the lowest, it adds.
“What this village in Nagaland has achieved is unheard of in the entire country,” says Ramendra Kumar, national secretary of Trade Union Coordination Centre, which works in 20 states across India. Despite the Equal Remuneration Act of 1976, enforcement on the ground is missing and discrimination is widespread, Kumar added. “The difference in wages can be anywhere between Rs 50 and Rs 100. The discrimination has been internalised and women don’t ever question the pay gap,” he says.
Women of Chizami, the village inhabited by the Chakhesang tribe, talk about newfound respect and confidence since the epochal decision of 2015. “Women from other villages have been inspired by Chizami’s achievement and are demanding equal wages. What is most important for us is that we feel happy and proud that our work is
given equal value,” says Adile. “We can say to our children and grandchildren that in our generation we addressed the issue and achieved pay parity,” she adds.
The women of Chizami argue that farming is as strenuous for women as it is for men. They have to sit hunchback the whole day and clear fields of undergrowth
But for Chizami’s women, the fight still continues as many men in the village find it difficult to swallow the idea of equal pay and are challenging the move, says women’s society chief Tsuhah. “Even last year, some men wanted the equal-pay decision revoked but the chairperson of the village council — the apex decision-making body of a village — put his foot down. Our struggle hasn’t ended, but we are going to hold on to this achievement with our lives,” she adds.
For now the women of Chizami have a friend in Welhite Naro, the village council chairperson, who is sensitive to gender rights. A master’s in sociology from Jamia Milia Islamia in Delhi, Naro has two women members in the council and plans to increase women’s representation in the body. Asked about the challenge to the equal pay decision, Naro said: “There is no question of going back on the wage-parity issue now.”
A small village in Nagaland’s Phek district, Chizami, has been scripting a quiet revolution in terms of socioeconomic reforms and environmental protection for almost a decade. A model village in the Naga society, Chizami is today visited by youth from Kohima and neighbouring villages for internships in the Chizami model of development. This model focusses on health issues, women’s rights, community programmes, food security, and environmental conservation.
A small village in Nagaland’s Phek district, Chizami, has been scripting a quiet revolution in terms of socioeconomic reforms and environmental protection for almost a decade. A model village in the Naga society, Chizami is today visited by youth from Kohima and neighbouring villages for internships in the Chizami model of development. This model focusses on health issues, women’s rights, community programmes, food security, and environmental conservation.
What is unique in the Chizami model of development is that economically marginalised women have played an important role in bringing about this transformation that is rooted in traditional practices of Nagaland.
The Chizami village is perched in the upper reaches of the densely forested hills of Phek district in Eastern Nagaland. It has around 600 households with a population of 3,000 that is largely involved in Jhum cultivation, a slash-and-burn type of agriculture that is traditionally practised in the hilly terrains of north-east India.
Chizami’s village council comprises of six khels (the Naga word for clans within the same community) who have equal representation in the council. The council plays an important roles in the village governance. The village council prohibits hunting and trapping of birds and animals and imposes strict fines on those violating norms as proclaimed by a sign board at the entrance to the village.
The seeds of socioeconomic and environmental reform in Chizami were planted back in the late 1990s. In 1994, Monisha Behal, women’s rights activist and founder of North East Network (NEN), landed in Nagaland to improve women’s health standards in the state. Noticing the collective strength of women in the Naga society, Behal decide to use it to do something about the deplorable health and sanitation environment that prevailed in the state that time.
In 1996, Behal met Seno Tsuhah during a workshop on organization building, reproductive health, tackling alcoholism and community development in Pfutsero town. Seno was a representative of the Chizami Women’s Society (CWS) and worked as a teacher at the government primary school in Sumi, a village adjacent to Chizami.
Their interaction developed into a partnership that developed into a partnership that set up the Nagaland chapter of the NEN.
At that time, Nagaland was coming out of conflict after six long decades. Behal and Seno knew that the main challenges ahead was to engage and empower the youth to bring about socioeconomic change. After initially focussing on improving health, sanitation and nutrition, they expanded their work to other areas as well.
NEN, working with CWS, started skill enhancement programmes such as bamboo craft, food processing, organic farming, rooftop water harvesting and low-cost sanitation. Discourses on governance, women empowerment human rights issues were also organised.
It took eight years for Seno to convince the village council to accept that women are entitled to equal pay as men in unskilled farm labour. In January 2014, in a landmark move, the village council passed the resolution for equal wages in agricultural labour and next year, another milestone was achieved with the induction of two women as members in the Enhulumi village council.
In Naga society, women work largely in the unorganized sector that includes farming, food processing, and weaving, a skill that is omnipresent in every Naga household. Though Naga shawls and the traditional mekhela (wraparound) enjoyed cult status in the apparel market, traditional weaving in the villages was languishing due to the lack of viability and entrepreneurship.
In 2008, NEN started Chizami Weaves, a decentralized livelihood project to create sustainable livelihood opportunities for the marginalized women in the district as well as preserve the unique textile tradition of Nagaland.
Starting with seven weavers, Chizami Weaves today has a strong network of more than 300 women in Chizami and 10 other villages in Phek district.
Realising that it was time to look beyond shawls, the weavers have diversified into products such as stoles, cushion covers, belts, bags, mufflers, coaters, table mats and runners that are now shipped to emporiums in New Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Mumbai. The team has also got experts from Delhi and Mumbai to help them develop new products and also to infuse new colours into the products apart from the traditional Naga red, black and white.
‘Chizami Weaves’ also promotes textiles made by one of the oldest looms – the loin-loom or the back-strap loom – that is still traditionally used by the Chakhesang Nagas and other tribes of the North East India.
The portable loom gets its name from the strap pulled around the weavers’ back that holds the whole structure of the loom with the required tension and enables a sturdy weave pattern. Due to the nature of the loom, the width of a fabric is normally woven at one time and do not exceed more than 18-20 inches. Smaller strips are stitched together to make larger pieces of fabrics.
The project has also helped bring in new perceptions of gender justice to women. Not only do the weavers support their families through their weaving, they are also making their presence felt within their homes and in community’s public spaces by raising their voices on issues of health, livelihood, and environment.
NEN is also working to address another major concern of the villagers – food security. The fragile mountain ecosystem in Nagaland has been increasingly experiencing the wrath of climate change with irregular rains and rising temperatures. Traditional farming practices have also declined in Nagaland with the advent of the more lucrative cash crop mono-culture, which gives better economic returns.
NEN is now working to revive millet-based biodiverse agriculture in the villages of the district. An integral part of Naga culture, millets are highly climate-resilient and nutritious crops.
Among crops, millet is the only one that is edible even after 30 years of storage and can provide nutrition at the time of drought. Efforts to raise awareness have resulted in 150 farmers from eight villages coming forward to participate millet-based farming.
Interestingly, a group of female farmers are spearheading sustainable agricultural practices by managing traditional seed banks in Chizami. These women can recognize indigenous seeds from other hybrid or inferior varieties. Not only do they select and store the best seeds for future use, they also share their knowledge with other farmers who approach them for help.
Chizami has also revived Ethsunye, a five-day millet festival, as step towards bringing the focus back on millets. Several other steps to revive and enhance traditional agricultural practices have also been taken. Alder trees have been planted in jhum plots to enhance soil fertility. The jhum farms grow paddy in the first year, millets in the second year is for millet and rice beans, or Kholar in the third year. Mixed cropping of leguminous and leafy vegetables that are a part of traditional Naga cuisine, such as edible ferns (Riikiga, Thenipiiga and Thusiigakhu), curry leaves (Gasii), and leafy green (Tsiiga), have also been planted.
The efforts of the NEN-CWS partnership to bring about a positive change in society have been recognized by the central government. The Ministry of Women and Child Development awarded Seno with the Stree Shakti Puraskar in 2004, 2005 and 2006 for her “dedicated and selfless work in the field of women development and empowerment in the face of extreme difficulties and challenges”. However, Seno believes that it is more important for the farmers to receive some kind of state recognition for practising sustainable agriculture.
Today, Chizami is at the forefront of championing women’s rights, supporting sustainable livelihood and restoring traditional food systems and agricultural practices in Nagaland. The NEN resource centre in Chizami, built in 2005. is a beacon of development and change in the state. The village also celebrated Chizami Za (day) for the first time on 8 January 2015 under the aegis of the Chizami Village Council. The colourful fiesta had a theme which reflected the aspirations of the model village – “Recognizing history, celebrating the present, and inspiring the future”.
DELHI SHRAMIK SANGATHAN 