Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

70 NEERA M. SINGH
threatening for women who want to speak and articulate their concerns.
A heavily structured meeting or a rigid agenda can hinder the free flow
of ideas and feelings. A strong facilitator can conduct the meetings more
‘efficiently’, in terms of reaching decisions faster, but broad-based
participation and consequently ownership of these decisions cound be
lacking even though the decisions are made efficiently.
For women who attend regularly, the ‘athraha tarikh’ meetings provide
an important outlet and platform from which to venture into the public
domain. Issues of collective concern are discussed here, and they feel that
they have a means to pursue these concerns and find solutions to common
problems. Observations of these meetings also reveal that they play an
important role in terms of providing a space to socialise, exchange news
and generally connect with other women. What gets discussed outside of
the meeting agenda is as important for women’s advancement as political
actors as the formal discussions in the meetings. In the meetings, when
women discussed the non-availability of KL phadis in their area and the
course of action to deal with the problem, the process was critical as it
helped them get a sense of agency, and acquire skills to negotiate through
political spaces and assert their democratic rights.
The growth of individual women leaders over the years has also resulted
in their taking on the leadership at the village level, intervening on behalf
of women who are marginalised, protesting against unfair decisions at
the community level and negotiating for better deals at the time of selling
forest produce. In small focus-group discussions with women on the
experience of attending these regular meetings, it emerged that not only
has the process been important for the women leaders, but it has also
been so for other women in the village, who now feel secure in the knowledge
that they have a fellow woman as a leader who can fight on their
behalf. These women’s meetings have thus played an important role in
fostering leadership skills amongst women, giving them confidence, which
then comes handy in mixed group meetings and helping them venture
into other public spaces.
KENDU LEAVES AND LOCAL LIVELIHOODS
IN THE RANPUR CONTEXT
Kendu leaves are an important source of livelihood for the poor in central
India, especially during the lean summer months when few other sources