Okay first, let me clarify that
the dream I mention in the title is not my own… The dream is that of the tribal women of Lamtaput
and Nandapur Block of Koraput, Odisha- to be their own superior… to create and run a
successful cooperative which will enable them to a better livelihood… simple-
yet possibly one of the most challenging tasks they have taken up on themselves
in the last few decades…
These women
folks and villagers are no weaklings, they have waged wars on the Govt/Capitalists
for the last 50 odd years to claim their forest lands… something which is
rightfully theirs as they have been custodian of these lands since eternity….
And after decades of struggle, the Govt through the Forest Rights Act 2008 have
actually promised to grant ownership of these lands… it’s a different story
that our Govt has failed to deliver on that promise… like it fails on deliver
almost everything it promises, except for newer and fresher corruption schemes
they keep running in their maze of ministries….
My project in SPREAD, Koraput is about
setting up a Cashew Processing Cooperative, to be run by women members who are
currently part of Self Help Groups (SHGs) and Women Federation. So all is well
with that…good idea… good objective… cashew is available in abundance in the
area… people are motivated… everything is good to look at from the outside…
what doesn’t really work for them?
The biggest challenge…. Almost 98%
of the women I work with are illiterate…they use thumb impressions and are
willing to oblige and put it on any document if I request them to…. All because
I work with SPREAD and they trust SPREAD…. Now, that is just a great branding
for SPREAD as an NGO… but then I feel extremely uncomfortable with this whole
thing…. While this speaks volumes about the credibility of the organization, I
think this is a perfect recipe for disaster… there is absolutely no joy in
having an entire generation of population totally illiterate…. SPREAD as an NGO
work on Rights based approach, mainly on Right to Food, Work and Land. So good
thing is they have maintained their focus area and have done an absolute marvelous
job with regards to these issues. However, I do not know why a 1000 other NGOs
who work in the same region or SPREAD has never decided to work on education
(especially adult education). Only recently we have seen some initiative on
Rights to Education where we are focusing on delivery of so called “quality
education” in Primary schools in the area.
While we remain romantic and
continue to claim that “the tribals live their life just fine without formal education”,
I refuse to buy that argument… in an age when the tribals are increasingly becoming
vulnerable in this greedy Us and Them game, I feel its cardinal sin to keep
them away from education, or not make them realize the importance of it. So
what if they are all at a “beyond school” age? We simply cant wait for the next
generation of “educated” tribals to grow up and then address their issues… that’s
gonna take too long…. The need of the hour is to create an environment where we
can introduce these people to formal literary programs, to make them aware of Arithmetic,
a bit of History, Geography and maybe some Political science and Civics… Given
my way, I would like to introduce my SHG women to even simple concepts of
Accountancy and Economics (they surely need to understand Debit Credit in their
Bank Passbook, and the importance of Opportunity cost)….
I am unsure how we can expect a successful
cooperative to be formed which is transparent in its potential dealings worth
crores of rupees while our people struggle to calculate 4 times 4 and read a basic
loan contract? So if I go by the original six principles of a Cooperative
Society, spreading education is one of its major functions, as it deals with the
balancing act of being a part-Social and part- Capitalist body. Now
traditionally we have interpreted this as educating its members about (a) cooperative
propaganda and (b) Cooperative principles and practices. I think it’s time we
reinvent this definition- Its time we spread “formal education as a need and requirement
to be part of the cooperative” which is engaged in economic activities to
create sustainable livelihood… I did try to do a bit of googling to figure out
if such models exist, but then I wasn’t successful in tracking one… If you know
any, do let me know?
Let me tell you what I have done
so far… I have spoken to 2 Self Help Group members, bullied them a bit… coaxed
them slightly… and explained to them the importance of them learning a bit of
reading and writing… to do a bit of maths and to know a bit about the social
and political surroundings which they are part of…. In order to run their
Cooperative well and manage their funds… Surprisingly, they have taken my “interference”
well so far… and have agreed to take classes in their leisure time in the
evenings… (even the grandmother at 65 years was eager to participate). So with
that, I spoke to the Village Primary school teacher, the Sarpanch, and have
been trying to arrange for these classes to initiate… and hopefully by next
week I will get things in place….
But what am I lacking??
I am no educator, I am no MBA and
No engineer (which makes me unqualified for anything decent in this world), but
am just a graduate, with modest marks in my result sheets, and from a modest
college… I have no idea how to run an adult literacy program in Oriya, a
language Greek to me and I do not know how to make the lessons more interesting
and activity oriented so that the women grasp them and are able to understand
the relevance of knowing these things in their daily life… I need to make this
sustainable, and if I am successful, I will replicate this approach in the
other villages where I am currently working… But desperate that I am, I am also
clueless… and I certainly don’t have any budget for the program either…
But as an entrepreneur, I guess I
have a thick skin and a shameless attitude… I don’t much care about failures
and am willing to beg anyone I meet asking for help, and I will welcome any
sorts of freebees I can get… And I am using these qualities here in this blog
post once again… I need YOUR help to get this education program arranged, organized,
interesting and relevant…. I want an effort from you who are reading this post…
Let me tell you what I Don’t need
as well.. I don’t want any false promises if you don’t have the caliber or
potential to deliver…. So stay away if you only speak and do little… I don’t need
you, there are plenty of others who will love and pet you….
For any advice, assistance,
contacts, materials, donations, pledge, volunteering interests do drop me a
comment, or email me here…. I am eager to hear from you…. Thanks….
