AROEHAN is creating public awareness about the silk industry and get government subsidies for farmers. In collaboration with the Silk Development Officer, a study tour was conducted for farmers at Pimpurna village in Dabhosa Gram Panchayat, Mokhada.
AROEHAN conducted a тАШCapacity Building of Frontline Health WorkersтАЩ workshop for Anganwadi workers across 6 Gram Panchayats across Dahanu. The two-day workshop was facilitated by Mr. Shailesh Dhekale and Mr. Swapnil Vyavahare from SATHI Organisation, Pune. The first day of training was kickstarted by asking participants to introduce themselves by their first name and their motherтАЩs name, to symbolise the bond between mother and child. This was followed by a slew of innovative activities to learn about human anatomy and roles of internal organs.
The facilitators talked about the body growth and associated structures of multiple organs that form the entire body system. AROEHAN Team sang and enacted the song ‘Me Aye Jaduwala’, written by Dr.Mohan Des, with Anganwadi workers which is a whimsical way to remember the crucial information about body parts and also to teach others.
On day 2, facilitators covered various types of germs (bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites), the diseases they cause, and the antibodies and medicines available to treat Anganwadi workers. They spoke of the indicators of identifying malnutrition and how as frontline health workers it can be combated. During the course of two days, the participants were encouraged to talk about the challenges in their line of work. They raised serious concerns like the epidemic of child marriages, reluctance of the community to take medical help, superstitions, underage pregnancies, systematic challenges to avail necessary schemes to ensure safe motherhood, apathy of some public representatives and government officials, among other concerns. AROEHAN activists along with Anganwadi workers, performed a play to raise awareness about Nutrition Rehabilitation Centers (NRC) and its importance to combat malnutrition among children. The purpose of such training is to ensure optimal growth of pregnant and lactating mothers and holistic development of young children as well as to expand the capacities of frontline health workers. 36 Angwandi workers were present from Agwan, Ashagad, Asave, Chari Kotbi, Raitali Chandwad and Ranshet Vadhana Gram Panchayats in Dahanu.
Marriage is said to be one of the happiest moments in a person’s life. Some call it a sacred bond. But this true story of a marriage is shocking showing the blackening of humanity. It mirrors the perverse mentality of exploiting and oppressing girls and women (especially tribals) in society by taking advantage of their poverty and helplessness.
This is the story of a 17-year-old minor girl from Katkari Wadi of Mokhada, a tribal-dominated taluka of Palghar district. 5 to 6 Kms from the Taluka location lies a village called Poshera. To the east of this village is Katkari Wadi with a population of around 600-700. It was reported that a minor girl named Abla (the name is changed) was being forced to marry in exchange for money and the girl was being pressured for it. A social worker from AROEHAN came to know about the situation. Realizing the seriousness of the incident, the activists of the organisation reached the village immediately. They met with the minor and her family. The reality of the situation was shocking.
It was reported that an unknown person from Chalisgaon-Nagar Deola in Jalgaon district has a connection with a middleman in the tribal community to take the advantage of the poverty and helplessness of tribes. The minorтАЩs aunt revealed that the suspect gave the father Rs. 15,000 in exchange for marrying the girl to him and would give Rs. 50,000 more after the marriage. The father signed the affidavit for it. (This affidavit is available but we do not have a copy with us). The minorтАЩs mother passed when she was young and was looked after by her aunt. The fatherтАЩs financial condition is poor and is an alcoholic. He does not pay attention to the girl and agreed with the marriage proposal in exchange for money. None of the rites of pre-wedding took place, the girl did not even see the person once. To impress the daughter and the father, the person used to send photos of expensive clothes and sarees and pressured her to get married to him as soon as possible. The girl talked with the boy a couple of times on the phone. As the situation looked suspicious, the relatives told the mediator to make proper arrangements to see the boy. The broker instead told the father to go to the boyтАЩs house and do the тАЬKumkum ceremonyтАЭ. The father said they cannot have a such ceremony without the daughter. Upon insistence, both father and girl went to boyтАЩs house but there were no people responsible for the ceremony present. The aunt became suspicious about the situation and asked the girlтАЩs father to take a hard look at the situation. He thought about it and decided not to marry the girl.
After the rejection, the broker pressured the family to return the Rs. 15,000. The father and the daughter were shocked. They could not return the money as it was already spent. They reached out to AROEHAN and we gave them support. We asked them not to give him any money. The broker came to the village and AROEHANтАЩs activists had a conversation with him. The broker was warned not to pester the family anymore or there will be legal action against him. He publicly agreed to not ask for money again. Though the issue was resolved it brought attention to a bigger issue here. ThereтАЩs a suspicion there is criminal activity possibly backed by a gang or individual to sell/traffick tribal girls in the name of marriage going on. Because we came to know from many people about the occurrence of such incidents in the area.
According to them, every year in Jawhar and Mokhada many tribal girls go missing. A muffled discussion could be heard about it now and then. These incidents do not come forward due to the dire economic condition of the tribes, lack of awareness among people, and also issues like alcoholism play a role in it. It is said that parents of girls fall prey to the lure of a small amount of money and engage their daughters. Even if there is any sort of opposition, the parents sometimes take the culpritтАЩs side as they have taken the money. They also get afraid of the brokers and the other party thinking they might harm the family or even murder them, and they don’t come forward with the issue. WhatтАЩs more numbing is that the brokers who arrange such marriages to take advantage of poor people and minor girls are often from their own community and locality. Due to sheer unawareness and fragile conditions, sometimes parents donтАЩt even realise their daughters are been taken advantage of and there is no question of anyone complaining. This terrible reality is not publicly read or recorded anywhere. Even after 75 years of independence tribals are making such bargains for their daughters and their wings are cut before they even get a chance to fly. What kind of freedom do we live in? ItтАЩs high time we look at such situations carefully and act now.
AROEHAN organised a free health check-up and treatment camp on the eve of Dussehra at Pachghar village in Mokhada. The theme of the camp was ‘Health is Wealth’. AROEHANтАЩs activist Pradeep Khairkar explained the importance of health to people as the programme commenced. He urged all to take advantage of the medical examination and the treatment. The camp was facilitated by Dr. Ajinkya Dhangar and Dr. Keken from Sahyog Hospital, Virar. They diligently examined participants and the patients were provided with the necessary medications. Children, elderly, women, men, people of all age groups were part of this camp. Over 125 people were treated from the┬а Pachgar village area.
saEvery year on 8th┬аMarch, the world celebrates International WomenтАЩs Day to honour the women in their lives. We at AROEHAN, also love to take the opportunity to celebrate it with the people we care about i.e. our community in different hamlets in rural Palghar. The board members of AROEHAN felicitated the resilient women of Dholara. Some of them included mothers, homemakers, teachers, and deputy sarpanch.
The villageтАЩs children lined up a slew of performances for the locals and AROEHAN activists present. Some of the girls were dolled up in the Maharashtrian traditional wear Navari Sari to perform a folk dance. The school-going children put up a puppet show to explain the importance of cleanliness in society. Most of the performances carried a social message as well as a bulk of entertainment. The young girls performed a sketch performance to explain the importance of Bachat Gat with a punch of humour that left the audience in splits. One of the performances also called out the patriarchy and outdated custom of marrying off girls right after she comes out of school which is still practiced largely in rural India.
AROEHANтАЩs CEO, Mr. Amit Narkar delivered a moving speech about women being such an integral part of society and yet they are put on a pedestal. While the women in villages carry the backbone of the country i.e. agriculture, men prefer going off to the city while the women solely take care of the farming and family. He also pointed out that even though the panel sitting in front of them has more men than women, one day there will be an equal ratio. He elaborated on the history of WomenтАЩs Day and how it made its way around the world. He also told the villagers that women donтАЩt want to be worshiped as goddesses or be higher than men, all they ask for is to be treated equally and that is why a day like womenтАЩs day is important.
The deputy sarpanch called out the basic injustices women face on daily basis. In her speech, she did not hold back and called out women keeping themselves after their families and that is not okay. She explained to them that the key to a happy household is a happy and healthy wife and they must acknowledge their worth first only then people around will do so. The way women are raised, they donтАЩt realize how much patriarchy is internalized within them and they donтАЩt learn to question otherwise. ItтАЩs a day like International WomenтАЩs Day and a celebration like this that helps us to pave the way to generate awareness, to make them feel special as they are, to value them, and hope they would value themselves and as would people around them. As Swami Vivekanand once said тАЬA nation cannot thrive without women. A bird cannot fly with one wing.тАЭ And he was right, thusly so.
Water is a basic necessity, but for some it is a priceless commodity!
Background:
The Mokhada block in Palghar district is witness to heavy rainfall during the monsoon months, but by the time the year comes to an end in December the water crisis steps in. The non-monsoon months force the villagers to migrate for 5-6 months to nearby brick kilns or companies in search of menial jobs. Water in all forms for domestic use, potable purposes and irrigation is out of reach for many.
A study on water availability conducted in 2018 by IIT CTARA and AROEHAN supported by Siemens India Ltd, revealed the villages with mild to severe water stress areas. This also led to the erection of over 196 water conservation structures like check dams, cordons, wells, ponds, sub-surface bunds and farm ponds in at least 13 Gram Panchayats of Mokhada alone. Lifting solutions made it feasible for water to be supplied to distant places thus reducing the hard work and time put in by women to fetch water for their daily needs. This is just the beginning, the road to completion is still distant.
The CORONA pandemic:
The Corona pandemic has added on to the already existing woes of the poor tribal farmers. Due to the country wide lockdown announced on the 23rd┬аof March, all the activities including construction, even in the villages came to a standstill. If the water conservation structures were not ready by June, it would not be possible to retain rain water for the non-monsoon months.
The AROEHAN team decided to wait for some leeway during the lockdown and at the first opportunity in the end of April, decided to get permissions from the government authorities for transportation of construction material, allocation of resources in the form of local labour and also for travel of staff within the block limits. Once the permissions were granted, national directives for work places were put in place and people were asked to follow them stringently. The construction work started in full force in the selected villages of Mokhada by the team led by our Project Officer, Chetan Bhoir and supervised by Program Manager, Nitesh Mukne.
With funding support from Siemens India Ltd and the involvement of local labour and the team, we were able to put up 11 new structures┬а[New check dams (5), New wells (6)]┬аand refurbish 5 existing ones,┬а[Refurbished wells (3), Refurbished ponds (2)]┬аby the end of June. This will surely help solve the water stress in these villages and also reduce the thirst days leading to reduction in migration in the non-monsoon months. This also helped the villagers to earn income staying in their own villages during the pandemic.
The structures have a total storage capacity of┬а3.15 cr litres, which will ensure water supply to┬а11┬аhamlets with┬а695┬аhouseholds and a population of┬а4033┬аbeneficiaries.