ARPAN

Bindu Devi, a 39-year-old Dalit woman lives with her husband and five children, whose age ranges from nine years to 20 years.  Her husband is a daily wage labour. She herself works as a labourer and also has a cow. Bindu was married off at the age of 16 years and since then she has been struggling a lot.

Her husband was a habitual alcoholic and she had to struggle to make the two ends meet. Bindu has studied till class 8th, but she understands the importance of education. All her children go to school. During the initial struggling period when she did not have enough money to pay fee for her eldest daughter. She had to drop her studies after completing her 12th standard. Now she helps her mother in the household chores.

Bindu was selected as president of parents association in the primary school of their village. Her interest and positive attitude impressed the teachers and they encouraged her to move forward. She got a small work of repairing the roof of the school building and had to get a signature of the pradhan of the village on the form. The pradhan refused to sign and stated that her husband should get the work done.

As she was the president of parents association, she talked to the school teachers and junior engineer who had to inspect the work and they supported her. She began the work on her own and completed the task with great dedication and sincerity.

Bindu now motivates other women in the village to join and strengthen the farmer group. The struggle for livelihood and a decent life for children has turned Bindu into a strong woman with determination. Now she is motivated to strengthen the collective voice of women farmers in the village.