Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Social divide meaningless, say Pappapatti SHGs

By R. Krishnamoorthy

MADURAI MARCH 28. C. Pinnayi belongs to the majority Piramalai Kallar community at Pappapatti, one of the three villages in Madurai district now in the eye of a political storm.

A leader of a self-help group, she finds the talk of social divide between the majority community and Dalits in the village, ``absolutely meaningless''.

Her reasoning: the village economics has already bridged the divide. This view is unanimously shared by the progressive section of the women at Pappapatti. Thanks to the SHG concept, the women, with an enhanced awareness of the dynamics of their economic and social conditions, are not keen on sharing the hardline social perceptions any longer. They are ready to accept a Dalit as their president without much ado.

Reinforcing this is the fact that the SHGs in the village comprise women belonging to both the communities. ``We conduct our activities on terms of equanimity and are striving to enhance the social poise of our Dalit counterparts'', Ms. Pinnayi told The Hindu.

A graduate of the Meenakshi College for Women here, she represents the collective view of the 10 SHGs in the village, including the three formed under the aegis of the Indian Council for Child Welfare.

R. Nilayarasi, leader of the Ochandamman Mahalir Manram, says the SHGs function on the simple practical premise that it is the duty of the economically better off to uplift the social standards of the economically downtrodden. ``The community equations do not matter here.'' ``We ensure that the subsidy component of any loan reaches the needy members of both the communities and the branding of our efforts to erase their timidity authoritarian is outrageous'', says a defiant Ms. Nilayarasi, niece of the late All-India Forward Bloc leader, Mookaiah Thevar.

The womenfolk in the village have come a long way.

The SHG members of both communities join together to celebrate temple festivals of their eities, Ochandamman and Ayyan. There is also an SHG named after Ayyan in the village.

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