Abstract
The Anandi Collective describes the way feminists and Dalit leaders worked to build a movement of Dalit women. They describe the challenges and successes of the 1,600 Dalit women from a remote area in a very feudal part of India, who have set out to overcome deeply seated prejudices.
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Notes
Anandi is a feminist NGO based in Gujarat, India, working on the empowerment of women through economic, social, and political awareness and mobilization.
Bundelkhand has strong feudal social and economic structures. The nexus between the upper castes, administration, and police, which has thrived on the exploitation of the lower castes, continues even after independence. One of the forms of rebellion that thrives in such conditions is dacoity. Sometimes, the thieves engage in principled targeting of the upper caste, but they are definitely very violent. The dacoit gangs use force to get the poor and Dalit communities to provide shelter, water, and food, as they hide in the ravines. The police harass the poor and Dalit communities to seek information regarding the whereabouts of the dacoits. Later in the narrative, there is a reference to Dadua who was a leader of a dacoit gang. He however had the blessing of the Dalits, as he seldom used force against them and offered better support than the state administration when they had problems.
When Hindu fundamentalist gangs, with the full support and collusion of the state government and police, attacked Muslim homes and businesses, killing and raping hundreds of Muslim women, and displacing thousands of Muslims most of whom are still living in camps, too afraid to return to their homes and villages.
chua–touch comes from chua: touch, achut: untouchable, a phrase to describe a whole range of do's and don'ts about touching, cooking, eating, etc., dictated by location of the person in the caste hierarchy.
The rule is that DMS will only take up a case of someone who will drink water from a Dalit; meaning she truly does not practise untouchability.
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Shows how the Dalit Women's Movement has mobilized to defend their rights
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Collective, A. The Dalit Women's Movement in India. Development 52, 208–214 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1057/dev.2009.21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/dev.2009.21