A history that was not just made by our forefathers but also by our foremothers.

Today, as one celebrates International Women’s Day, one would have to ask these very important questions; What is the comprehensive history of International Women’s Day? When was it declared? Which event does it commemorate? And what is its significance in the present day context?

When one searches for answers to these questions, one notices a deafening silence in our ‘official’ history and why would it not? This history was after all, stories of the ruling elites who, apart from a few exceptions, are male. These exceptions we see in the form of Queens and rulers, like the Rani of Jhansi and Indira Gandhi or others who rulers loved, like Mumtaz Mahal in whose memory the Taj Mahal was built.

But what about those un-named millions, those faceless women who toiled in the home, in the fields, in the factories; who struggled to break the chains of their servitude, who laid the foundations of the participation of women in public life and politics through their blood, sweat and tears? Yes, what of these women who shaped the course of social movements, who advanced the epochs, who actually made history? The history books are silent about them and their struggles remain unsung.

It is the struggle of these women that we sing of on March 8. International Women’s Day is the recognition of the path-breaking struggle of the working class women of USA at the turn of the previous century. Forced to work unending hours in subhuman conditions in factories, for a pittance, it was the garment and shirtwaist makers of New York and Philadelphia who, realising the power of their collective strength, heralded the fight -not just for shorter hours, better wages, better working conditions and the vote – but also for Socialism, and for the end of all exploitation. And within that struggle they waged another – to assert their freedom from the domination of their fellow men.

In India there have been many social reform movements led by people like Rammohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra, Ranade and Agarkar who advocated the abolition of sati and child marriage, and promoted the education of girls and widow remarriage. These movements were gradually eclipsed by the more powerful and reactionary Hindu revivalist movements led by Dayanand Saraswati’s Arya Samaj which was spearheaded by an orthodox Brahmin intelligentsia. These movements strove to limit the advancement of women within the framework of Hinduism by promoting the ideal of Sita. These movements promoted the remarriage of child widows, but not of adult widows. If they encouraged education for girls, it was with a view to help them become better householders.

It was the anti-caste movements led by Jotiba Phule, Dr. Ambedkar and E.V. Ramaswamy Periyar that actually challenged the oppressive structure of caste society and Brahminical patriarchy that governed every aspect of social life. Phule opened the first school for girls of the ‘untouchable’ castes namely Mahars and Mangs as early as 1849 in the face of fierce opposition from the Brahmin orthodoxy.

Decades later, in 1903, Dalit women fought alongside their men to assert their right to enter and worship at the Kalaram temple in Nasik. The District Magistrate, at that time, banned demonstrations in the vicinity of the temple. Defying the ban, a group of Dalit women tried to force their way into the temple and were arrested. All of them was sentenced to a short term of rigorous imprisionment, including a 75-year old woman. In 1927 hundreds of Dalit women enthusiastically participated in a massive satyagraha led by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar to assert the rights of the Dalits to use the waters of the Chavdar tank at Mahad and defy the prohibition imposed by Brahmin leaders.

Periyar called for the rejection of the mangalsutra as he saw it as the symbol of women’s enslavement to their husbands and introduced the concept of self-respect marriages, where the consent of the girl was equally important as that of the man’s. He urged similar dress codes for men and women, suggested that male names be given to girls and female names to boys and called upon men to help with housework and take equal responsibility for child care.

But this is only to speak of the struggle of the ‘public domain ‘, a struggle that was visible. Women had to wage another struggle which was invisible and has gone largely unrecognised – the struggle of the ‘private domain’. In India, this ideology is embodied in the personal laws of the various religious communities and more blatantly in the decrees of the ancient law-giver Manu, “Her Father protects her in childhood, her husband in her youth and her son in her old age, a woman is NEVER FIT (emphasis added) for independence”.

Thus every woman who stepped out of her traditional confines to join the struggle in the ‘public sphere’ had to first struggle in the private domain to adjust housework, convince or defy the husband or father and many other such things. In many instances, the struggle of the private domain travels through the public domain as well, where once the struggle in the public domain is over, the women are expected to get back into their roles of mother and wife. Thus every toiling woman who takes part in political life has had to wage not just a double, but a triple struggle – the struggle alongside men against the oppressive and exploitative system, the struggle within their organisation or union against male domination, and the struggle in the private domain: of the family, of domestic labour, of reproduction and sexuality.

Today, as women struggling for revolutionary change in India, be it a Soni Sori, or standing up against the Khairlanji Atrocity or the women of Kudankulam, Jaitapur and Srikakulam opposing nuclear projects, or the women of Bhopal who are fighting against the state and a huge Multi-national Corporation, or women who have been at the forefront against the POSCO (the largest FDI in India till date), or those many Dalit women struggling for Justice, we need to reclaim our past and celebrate our lineage of resistance and struggle. Too long have they, and we, been kept away from information and knowledge which can weld us into a fighting force for a new society.

A One Billion Rising of song and dance is important for celebrating the woman, but it is equally important for another one billion to rise and reclaim what was truly ours; a history that was not just made by our forefathers but also by our foremothers.

TISS: Reimagining Futures

Been quite a while since i have written a post. So thought that i should write on one of the most fabulous news that came as part of the Union Budget! TISS being given the status of Center for Excellence which comes along with an Award of 100 Crores!!!  Or it might be the other way round, but the end result is that TISS along with a few other universities have got richer by 100 Crores which that can put to good use in building more infrastructure and amenities to the students at the new campuses (read, Guwahati and Hyderbad).

There has been as always suggestions abut how one should now put this money to good use and even my ‘revolting’ mind kept thinking of what should/could/must TISS do with this huge sum! And i could think of  few ideas.

1. They should start building their campus at Guwahati and it should initially focus on constructing a Guest House with conference hall facility which would be regularly given out to people who would want to organise conferences/workshops and meetings.
2. A state of the art Hostel for students who would be aspiring to get to TISS. The hostel should have a capacity of atleast 100 on one floor and the building should have 10 floors! Rooms to students must be alloted in the first 3 floors and the rest must be kept vacant for people who come in for conferences and meetings at Subsidized prices.
3. Constructions of roads and laying of pipes and other OFRs should be done initially and then there must be some changes that had to be made and the whole place re-dug and relaid and this can be a repetitive process at various periods in the academic year.
4. Construct a Convention Center with a capacity of more than 2000 so that on that one day of Convocation everybody can sit inside and watch the convocation ceremony.
5. A dining hall that would have all the facilities that any five star hotel would have in the kitchen, and it would be completely ‘managed and run’ by students!
6. Last but not the least, a field action project that would focus on the entire North-Eastern India which would work towards building peace process between the Indian State and the Secessionist groups. Building capacities of the tribal population and help in their co-option in the ‘mainstream’. Re-imagining the future of the North-East by doing socio-economic assessments of all the huge development projects that have been planned in the region.

So, this is a very short list of things that TISS can do with the very small sum that they got as part of creating more regions of excellence and this is all our Tax-payers money! So please do feel free to add more of the things that TISS can be which might just become a ‘policy’ document of TISS and its way forward in re-imagining futures!!!