Chamarkhad is a small village with\nSchedule Cast majority in Kangra block-Palampur District (Himachal Pradesh).\nThe majority of the SC population is a distinct feature of this village in the\nentire Kangra block. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nI entered the village at around 10\nam on my scooter. Most of the villagers were carrying bricks in their\ntraditional basket. After having a conversation with one male worker, I got to\nknow that the work was for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee\nAct (MGNREGA). MGNREGA is a government of India measure which guarantees at\nleast 100 days of wage employment in rural areas. In Chamarkhad, there were\naround ten-twelve women and only two men working on the site. The significant\npresence of women over men left a lasting impression on me. I stopped my\nscooter to have a conversation with the workers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I approached an old lady. She was in\nher late 6Os as seen in the above image. In the same image, the old person who\nis walking behind is her husband. The couple works on their small agricultural\nland and also on the sites of MGNREGA. In the initial conversation, I got to\nknow that she was satisfied with the fertility of the land, availability of\nwater and yield from the land. She also mentioned it was more than enough for\nher needs. Knowing that she manages well in a small plot of land, I felt why\nshe is working for MGNREGA? The old women with her broad smile exclaimed, \u201cFor\ndaily and monthly expenses you need cash in your hand. If you are only\ndependent on agriculture you have to wait for at least four to six months till\nyour yield gets sold in the market. On the contrary, in MGNREGA we get the\nmonthly payment, with the MGNREGA payment we manage our daily expenses and the\nmoney which we get from agriculture get saved in the bank.\u201d The excitement on\nher face was now pouring out. In her exhilaration, she took out her traditional\npurse made up of cloth. From the purse, she slowly took out her bank passbook\nand said, \u201cI have 10 thousand rupees in my bank account.\u201d That was a movement\nof pride and happiness for her. This particular moment was priceless!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later on, I asked her, \u201cWhat did she\ndo before MGNREGA work?\u201d The expression on her face started to change, her eyes\npointed on a tree which was far behind. She said \u201cI used to work on my land and\nin the land of upper-caste landowners in the villages next to ours. I used to\nwalk daily at least 10 km. The wages were also very low as compared to what we\nget today from Sarkar(government).\u201d She also wanted to say something about\nlandowners but she murmured and stopped. To change the topic, I asked her about\nher children. The broad smile on her face came back. She said, \u201cI have 3\ndaughters and 2 sons, all of them are married.\u201d She pointed her fingers towards\ntwo fellow women who were working and said: \u201cthose are my two\ndaughters-in-law.\u201d I asked her about a greater number of females as compared to\nmales. To this question, she gave me a surprised look and said, \u201cMales go and\nwork in the cities as there they get higher wages. We work here on the farm as\nwell as for MGNREGA. If the government increases the MGNREGA wages then they\nmight work here.\u201d She pointed her finger towards him and said, \u201cNow he is not\nfit to go and work in the city so he stays with us.\u201d The old woman gave a\nslight idea about the feminization of agriculture and MGNREGA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The conversation had a lasting\nimpression on me for one more important reason. The passbook, yes, the\npassbook. The passbook that she showed me was engrossed in the dirt with many\nstains and inappropriate folding. It was not just a passbook; it was a symbol\nof economic independence for her. Having MGNREGA in the place she doesn\u2019t have\nto rely on upper-caste male landlords to get her some work. By accessing work\nunder MGNREGA a Dalit woman who is standing on the lowest rugs of the society\nis asserting her right to become economically independent in her ways. It is\nalso a silent rebellion that is unfolding against historical oppression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With these thoughts, I turned on my scooter and left the village with the thought of silent revolution the MGNREGA is bringing in a small Indian village.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The passbook that she showed me was absorbed in the dirt with many stains and inappropriate folding\u2019s. It was not just a passbook for her it was a symbol of economic independence. I turned on my scooter and left the village with the thought of silent revolution the MGNREGA is carrying out in lakhs of Indian villages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":81617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,92],"tags":[259,264,265],"class_list":["post-81600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indian-economy","category-social","tag-mgnrega","tag-rural-development","tag-rural-livelihood"],"yoast_head":"\n