WUNRN
Via Women's Feature Service
INDIA - WOMEN LEAD FLOOD MANAGEMENT
GROUPS IN EASTERN INDIA
13 April 2010
Having
lost everything to the floods in 2000, the women in villages of
Nadia: had been almost a decade and Pramila Das, 38, still
cannot get over the pain of losing her daughter, who was just two-and-a-half
years old. The mother is in tears while she narrates her heartbreaking story.
West Bengal experienced heavy floods in September 2000 and the entire
Self Help Groups that are part of Nawadeep Haritha Mahila Unnayan
Samity (NHMUS) going door-to-door collecting important data, in villages in
Nadia as part of the flood management programme/ Photo credit: Soma Mitra/ WFS
"Everything
was washed away. My daughter Pallavi drowned. She was rescued from the waters
but no one in the village knew how to revive a drowned person, and she
died," says the tearful mother.
Pramila isn't
the only mother in the village who is bearing the burden of loss. Almost every
family in Mahisura and other villages in Nawadeep block had had tragic
encounters with those floods that year. Many lost their dear ones to the
swelling waters, while others were victims of the aftermath.
But Pramila
displayed extraordinary courage when she decided to channel her grief into
doing something constructive for her community. She formed the Kalyani Self
Help Group (SHG) in January 2001, just four months after the floods. Although
she admits that women joined the SHG initially because they thought they would
be able to secure relief material from the authorities by doing so, Pramila
points out how they gradually understood that the SHG was not there for seeking
doles but for making people self reliant. So they decided to take
rehabilitation efforts into their own hands and device ways to tackle the
dangers of future flooding.
Initially, each
member of the 10-member group compulsorily saved Rs 10 a month (US$1=Rs 44.3)
and a tiny amount of Rs 2 as a group fund. Every woman saves some money from
household expenses and contributes their share. And any member who needs
financial assistance can tap into the SHG kitty.
"Members
of NHMUS have divided themselves into different task forces. Each force
recruits members from various flood-prone villages"
Today, the
Kalyani SHG is one of the many groups in villages like Malatipara, Majdia,
Pansila and Kalinagar in Nawadeep, and have banded together to form an umbrella
organisation called Nawadeep Haritha Mahila Unnayan Samity (NHMUS), a
federation of about 500 SHGs. Moreover, with some infrastructural help from the
local panchayats (village councils), NHMUS has tied up with SPADE, an
organisation that works in flood prone areas.
Members of
NHMUS have divided themselves into different task forces. Each force recruits
members from various flood-prone villages. Take Minati Debnath, 48, of Pansila.
This mother of two – one son and daughter - heads the Research Task Force and
more than 100 members work under her. Their main agenda is to collect data from
the grassroots. Before the monsoon sets in, members of this particular task
force visit every household to collect relevant information about each family
in the flood-prone villages of Nawadeep.
The data
collected would include the number of children and old people in the family,
whether there is a pregnant woman in the household, and so on. The task force
also surveys the village thoroughly to identify 'pucca' (permanent) houses and
possible sites for setting up makeshift camps.
The result of
the hard work of data collection has been admirable. Says a proud Debnath,
"During the 2003 floods not a single pregnant woman died. We led our
rescue team and expectant women were the first to be rescued. Each of them was
brought to a nearest camp and was immediately provided with first aid."
The critical information that was now available helped to make rescue
operations more effective.
Tapati Biswas,
40, of Kalinagar heads the Early Warning Task Force. Initially, she was very
reluctant to join up. Her husband had died in the 2000 floods and she was
absolutely shattered. "I did not even know how to run the family at that
point. However, my neighbours forced me to join the NHMUS. Today, it is not
only a source of income but also gives us the courage to fight against all
odds," says Biswas, who lives with her two sons – one is college-going and
the other in school – and her mother-in-law. The job of her task force is to
access the river gauge station.
"Of
course we cannot stop the floods but our effort has helped us immensely. We
lost everything during the 2000 flood"
During the
monsoons, members of the force check the water level of the River Ganga on a
regular basis. They also work closely with the irrigation department. As soon
as there is a rise in the water level in the irrigation canal, the head of the
team is informed and all the team members across various villages are contacted
immediately. Villagers are alerted mainly by the blowing of conch shells, which
indicates that they should prepare for evacuation.
"Of course
we cannot stop the floods but our effort has helped us immensely. We lost
everything during the 2000 flood but could not get a single paisa in terms of
relief because the flood waters had washed away documents like ration cards and
voter ID cards. Now we know how to store valuable documents. During the 2003
floods, we could avail of rehabilitation benefits from the government because
we had the necessary documentation," says Kabita Saha of Malatipara
village.
Every year,
NHMUS organises general training camps in every flood-prone
NHMUS has also
formed its own rescue team. It is headed by a woman - 19-year-old Chaya Malita,
who has actively participated in rescue operations. "My three-year-old
sister Lalita died before our eyes. We could not save her in the 2000 flood. By
the time the rescue team could reach us it was all over," recalls a
tearful Malita. When the SPADE team visited her village, Malita insisted that
they recruit her in the rescue team. "I did not want a recurrence of 2000
in our village," says Malita, by way of explanation.
Interestingly,
all task forces under NHMUS are headed by women. This is also a
well-thought-out move. Dipti Malita, 39, a social worker from Kolkata, who is
attached to NHMUS explains that the reason women are in these task forces is
because they are always available for training and training sessions are
extremely important for developing the required skills. In fact, international
agencies like the UNICEF organise regular training sessions for the NHMUS
teams. The making of a 'shalpi' or raft is one of the activities in these
training sessions. Villagers are trained by SPADE to craft a 'shalpi' out of a
piece of tin and wooden blocks. 'Shalpis' come in very handy during rescue
operations.
Angura Bibi,
who heads the Camp Management Task Force, is happy with the progress. "Now
we hardly need government officials to manage these camps. We have our own
first aid materials and are trained to use them. The WATSAN (an indigenous
method of water purification) training was of great help. We also know how to
purify water," she says.
People living
in the Nadia district have had to face floods almost every year, but so far
they have been spared the ravages perpetrated by the floods of 2000. That year
proved to be a turning point since it forced them to search for an adequate
response to the threat posed by rising waters.
Best of all,
these regular training programmes have done more for these women than increase
their survival skills. They have taught them the benefits of living
harmoniously as a collective.
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