Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

312 VINALINI MATHRANI AND VANI PERIODI
Table 14.3
Usage of the Sangha Mané
Village Usage
Marakunda Storing musical instruments, bhajan sessions.
Drying the harvest.
Renting out during festivals.
For adult and non-formal education (NFE) classes.
Keeping Dr Ambedkar’s pictures.
Agasanahalli For NFE classes, crèche.
As refuge for battered women.
Renting to visitors.
Storing cement.
Conducting meetings (by the bank manager, ANM and anganwadi
teachers).
Kudli For night meetings of the sangha.
Legal literacy assembly.
For NFE classes and awareness camps.
Kurukunda EDP programmes.
For kishori camps, nari adalats, ghataka and federation meetings.
For weddings.
As a shelter for women whose houses leak.
For the Public Health Forum.
Dotihalla For the ghataka sabhe, kishori sangha meetings, bhajan sessions,
personal celebrations.
For conducting meetings by PHC staff, bank managers, horticulture
department conduct meetings
GP posts circulars.
Venue for pulse polio immunisation.
Bannikuppe As a crèche, and for kishori sangha meetings.
For literacy and music classes.
Source: Based on primary data collected by sahyoginis.
and stay in the sangha mané if their husbands harass them. The mere fact
of possessing a space, regardless of whether the women use it or not, has
had positive consequences. This is in consonance with the MS philosophy
of enabling grassroots issues to come to the fore.
With regard to the maintenance, in all the villages the women take turns
to sweep the sangha mané. The sangha women whitewash the structure
usually once a year. They use their savings for this. In Kurukunda, they
pay property tax of Rs 300 per annum. In Dotihalla, the walls are painted
with gender-sensitive slogans and the structure is maintained very well.
The women spent Rs 350 on a name board.