Muslim women in Mewat speak up

By Gargi Parsai

KHILUKA (Mewat), JULY 15. Giving representation to women on village panchayats is the best thing that has happened to the population movement. Though the official stance is again getting mired on the question of incentives and disincentives, it was clear from a visit to this predominantly Meo-dominated backward Mewat region that women have begun to speak up. Despite a low level of literacy, they are breaking barriers and coming out of the veil with visible impact.

The sarpanch and the chairperson of the Halugo panchayat, Ms. Jamila and Ms. Maina, are the ones who are setting examples by limiting their families and urging others to restrict theirs. They have no hold over men, they admit. Neither do they have on women who believe that having as many children as they can is a gift of god (Allah ki daen). But the two catch hold of women wherever they can, at the village well, the weekly `haat' or the `sabzi' shop and slip into their hands pills or even condoms, called `bhokna' in jest, for men. In that sense they are supplementing the efforts of the village anganwadi worker.

In a village where the average number of children a women has is six, Ms. Jamila has four and Ms. Maina has one. Both are illerate and were shy to speak out in the open. But, with a little coaxing, they took to the mike to address the gathering of men, women and children. They were vocal about their demand for water, electricity, a local hospital, bus service and vocational training for girls (instead of education).

The Haryana Government had recently handed over education to the panchayats. ``This was basically to get rid of the problem of teachers seeking selective transfers and postings, lack of teachers in schools and the high drop-out rates,'' the Deputy Commissioner of Faridabad district, Mr. S.C. Jain, told The Hindu.

The move had weaned students away from `madarsas' where the focus is more on religious teachings, to formal education centres, he said. One such co-education school in Hatin sub-division now has 45 per cent girls on rolls, the proud principal, Ms. Vjay Singh, said.

But this is not common. The Khiluka school is only up to fifth class. The attendance of girls is low and the drop-out rate high, as parents are wary of sending girls to formal schools. They are not sure about the safety of their daughters in the custody of teachers. Whereas the `maulvis' in `madarsas' have the trust of the parents. Mr. Jain said this was a temporary phase. Now that education was in the hands of panchayats, the vigil on teachers was closely monitored. And once word spreads that serious schooling was being done, parents will begin sending their daughters as well.

Ms. Uma Shakti, research student from Rohtak, said the status of women was low in the region. But with schools opening up, the elder generation of women was keen that their daughters were educated. She said there was no distinction between boys and girls in the Meo community but because many children were born to a woman in quick succession, the children were weak.``Being a closed society, neither do they go to a hospital nor consult doctors. As a result child mortality rate is high. And that is one of the reasons they bear as many children as they can. They are even wary of immunisation thinking that the shot will affect their fertility.''

The visit to Mewat was arranged by the National Population Commission under the Planning Commission for spot assessment of the impact of the Commission's efforts at convergence of various schemes for an overall impact in population stablisation. ``We wanted to establish the approach of holistic development for a population of this nature with low literacy rate, low status of women and resistance to family welfare methods,'' said Ms. Krishna Singh, Member-Secretary of the Commission.

``We wanted to see on the ground whether an alternate strategy could be worked out and whether the health and family welfare delivery system would work better if crucial elements like education, nutrition, health were handed over to panchayats,'' she said.

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