Skip to main content

Marathwadi women show the way how to cope with challenges posed by COVID-19


By Moin Qazi*
The COVID-19 crisis has spurred an entrepreneurial wave across the country. Rural women, particularly the farmers among them, have also latched on to this bandwagon. They are, in fact, better placed to cope with the crisis as their own uncertain lives poses every day challenges and keeps testing their resilience. They carry the greater burden of nature's cruelties and also have matching emotional abilities to come up with amazing responses.
Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP) has been one of the front rank nonprofits that has been training rural women in drought prone Marathwada belt of Maharashtra to adopt climate-smart and drought-resistant farm practices. These women are now stewards of a new revolution that is resurrecting traditional farming and reviving traditional knowledge that has sustained these communities over centuries.
Many of these women saw COVID-19 as an opportunity to scale their work and use their insights to prepare their communities for the long battle ahead and steer them through the impending food crisis.
Here are a few stories from villages in Maharashtra where women are serving as beacons in the smog that envelopes the hinterland.

Cultivating nutrition gardens during the #COVID19 pandemic!

Jijabai is an Arogya Sakhi (health friend) from Madki village in Nanded district. With her training on nutrition gardening, she grows her own vegetable and fruits. With her knowledge, she empowered other women to start their own gardens. Today, these kitchen gardens are helping families cope with the hunger crisis.
Arogya Sakhis, members of self-help groups and community leaders in partnership with government front-line workers are helping vulnerable families in rural villages by creating awareness about crucial aspects like prevention, hygiene, social distancing, combating stigma and providing dry food & hygiene essentials.

Families in our village are aware about the seriousness of COVID-19, exclaims Geeta Chavan

Geeta Chavan is working in Mohtarwadi village in Osmanabad district as a Community Resource Person. She works with Gram Panchayat as a leader in her village. She has been creating awareness about pre & post safety measures about COVID-19 pandemic. Through demonstration she has increased awareness in her village.
With the support and contribution from her Mahila Shetkari Gat (Women Agriculture Group) members, she collected grains and vegetables and distributed to the neediest families. The group also collected funds from big farmers from her village and distributed to over 80 families. The members also stitch masks and distribute in their villages.

Leadership is the key to success, says Priya Khot

COVID-19 Lockdown paralyzed the life of the poor and people are finding it very difficult to survive every day. Panchincholi is such a village in Latur District, Maharashtra.
"Why people are not coming to help in time for the poor?" asks Priya Khot, a Community Resource Person of Swayam Shikshan Prayog from the village who gave her PDS allocated food items to three poor families as a sign of solidarity. Motivated by Priya’s action, 14 women from Mahila Shetkari Gat (Women Agriculture Group) came forward and mobilized food for 25 poor families and distributed. She runs a flour mill and provide free service for everyone in the village for making wheat powder on 15th and 16th of every month.
Encouraged by the response from the people, a training on mask making was provided by Bhagyashree Mahila Griha Udyog, an NGO in Nilanga. Back to the community, Priya trained six women for mask making. The group made 600 masks that is being collected by the NGO for distribution. When Panchincholi Gram Panchayat Sarpanch, Mr. Shrikant Salunkhe noticed Priya's commitment and action, he recommended neighbouring Panchayat to use her skills in community mobilization and relief effort.
"I was so shy and hesitant to go out and meet people. The changes happened in me when I started getting involved in SHG meetings and activities and become a Community Resource Person.” Priya is overwhelmed with the response and recognition she got from her community and Panchayat to do more work for the community. She has encouraged CRPs in her neighbouring villages also for working with communities and support to GP.
"I am proud of what I am doing. Panchayat and community has given me respect and I have to give it back to my community", says Priya Khot.

Selfless, in the times of crisis…

Work from Home has hit the widows in Marathwada, the most. They had lost their daily jobs and small businesses faced closure. When people do not have enough, who is to look out for widows and their children?
In neighbouring district of Solapur, twenty widows in Boramani village had no one to look to. They would lose their dignity, if they asked their neighbours.
Seeing their plight, Usha Gurav urged the members of self help group to step in. She said “wasn’t mutual aid the reason why we formed this group?“ She motivated her group to dig into their precious savings and made a plan to support twenty widows and others. In presence of their Panchayat, they procured and distributed fifty grocery kits enough to feed well over 200 people.
Unstoppable, these leaders went on to help the Panchayat to look after migrants who have travelled back bringing back nothing with them. “They are not outsiders, they are after all, our people”… says Usha about people who have returned from cities.
---
*Development expert

Comments

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani*  A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid*  We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

40,000 Odisha adolescent girls ask CM: Why is scheme to fight malnutrition on paper?

By Our Representative  In unique a postcard campaign to combat malnutrition, aimed at providing dietary diversity, considered crucial during adolescence, especially among girls, signed by about 40,000 adolescent girls from over 10,000 villages, have reminded Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik that his government's Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG), which converged with Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman  ( POSHAN ) 2.0 in 2021, is not being implemented in the State.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das  Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.