I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress women achieved. Dr.B. R. Ambedkar Women religious life is very difficult as any religion cannot give them the right to live freely. Religion confines women’s life through the traditions and cultural norms, which are mainly  created by men and from the patriarchal perspective. Religious systems tend to foster and promote the power and voices of men at the expense of the women who make up the majority of adherents. When we talk about the Indian context, people of many religions live in India. Every religion has different aspects, ideology and different practices. A majority of Indian people have faith in one or the other religion, they live a religious life in private and public domain. For instance, in the Hindu practices, they wear religious thread on their wrist, they wear ashtgandh (saffron colour) on their forehead and they wear religious clothes also.

Through all this we recognize the religious people. It shows that they carry the religious identity every day. The question of women’s religious life remains controversial because women’s religious life has been controlled by men. In many religions men run the human culture, most aspects of human culture have been run by men, who have often used them to control women. The reason I am talking here about men and religion is that through this paper I am trying to understand the gendered aspect in the religious lives of Ambedkarite Buddhist women. In the contemporary period, women have gained awareness about their rights in every aspect, such as religious, political, social, educational and economical rights. Women have begun making choices about their life, and try to follow the path they have chosen. But many women  still live their life under the control of men, because they are not financially independent.

They  have spent their all life in doing house chores and looking after their family. Therefore, they have not been to live freely. So they have had to be dependent on their husband’s earnings and have also been subjected to the family pressure that women should work in four walls and take care of their children, husband and in-laws. Within this larger context of women’s lived realities in the Indian context, I seek to explore why it is important to understand Ambedkarite Buddhist Women’s life. I argue that the majority of Ambedkarite Buddhist Women are very educated and have become financially independent as s direct consequence of following the Ambedkarite Buddhist ideology.

Their education and financial independence has thus ensured they are not bound by the social constraints that society has historically imposed on women and they are able to achieve a greater degree of freedom in their everyday lives than earlier. I argue that these achievements of the women in my sample are rooted in the fact that Buddhism teaches us to engage with life’s challenges rather than escaping them. Such teachings havem deeply inspired these women. They have therefore also found the path that gives them greater freedom in their everyday lives. As my respondent discussed, the Buddhist Path gives them freedom from all custom-based practices.

They have faith in the path that Dr. B. R Ambedkar showed them through Buddhism. His life inspired them and helping them to find a meaningful life. The Hindu caste system in India has created a system of unequal status by birth to human beings. Therefore, finding the ways to overcome and dismantle such a system became very important for these women to find the intellectual and meaningful life. Conversion of Dr. B. R Ambedkar in Buddhism Dr. Ambedkar was one of the most educated person in India. He acquired advanced degrees in social sciences. And the law from the best universities in the UK and the US. And through this he studied all social aspects in India and has written many books on the inequalities in Indian society and its religious problems.

In his exemplary and pioneering works, he has brought out how deeply Indian society is based on the caste and religion, where there is a high and low status assigned to people and people are discriminated against on the basis of their caste in the society. He himself experienced discrimination while getting education, because he belonged to a lower caste. Untouchability was practiced with certain castes and Ambedkar belonged to one of the caste among them. Therefore, he spent much time and energy to study the religions in India in great depth and finally decided to convert in to Buddhism. He finds that only the Buddhist path would lead better life, because in Buddhist religion all are equal, man is in centre of the Buddhist religions. Therefore, he embraced Buddhism along with half million people and showed the new path to live life.

Dr. Ambedkar was also concerned about women’s lives in India because women could not move freely in the society, were prevented from getting an education, and they had a secondary position in society. Within the patriarchal structures of Indian society women were considered inferior and therefore confined to the domestic domain. Such discriminatory practices placed women’s lives entirely under the control of men. So in independent India Dr. Ambedkar wrote the Hindu Code Bill to legally codify women’s rights in various domain, but most of the educated people of the time, who belonged to the dominant castes, opposed the idea of Hindu Code bill and ultimately it was rejected in the parliament. Buddhism however does not restrict either educational opportunities of women or their religious freedom. Ambedkarite Buddhist Women and their life. For this research paper I have interviewed four Buddhist women.

Their names are as follows. Suvarna More, Sonali Mhaske and Deepali Chavan . Dr. Suvarna More has completed her PhD in Gender Studies from Pune University and now she is working as a research fellow at the same University. Dr. Sonali Maske, lives in Aurangabad. She has completed her PhD in History dept from Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University and now she is working as a guest faculty in the same university. Deepali Chavhan has done her Master’s in Social work, and a one- year Diploma in gender studies. She is now working on women farmers issues with a well known organization. While interviewing Ambedkarite Buddhist women, I could understand that all of them are well educated.

Three of them have completed their PhD. Now they are employed in reputed Indian educational institutions. One has done her masters and doing job in well recognized NGO. All four women whom I interviewed are aware about the gender / human rights. Apart from their jobs, all four of them are associated with social movements and socially engaged with Buddhism. They are recognized within social, academic and political circles as activists who fight for the equality.

When I asked them about which of Buddha’s teachings they follow the most in their daily life, they all answered that they like the Buddha’s teachings like “Att Deep Bhav”, Maitri, Karuna, Anitya (impermanence) the most and they practice these teachings in their daily life.

They also believe in the path that Ambedkar has shown them of liberty, fraternity and equality. All of them have mentioned about this principle in their interviews. None of them believe in the religious ritual, they all reject it. They believe in being rational and carry the identity of being Buddhist. For them, to live as a Buddhist is not to live religiously, but to live in a rational way. Like many Buddhist people do meditation, All are inspired from the Dr. B. R Ambedkar’s life and his work for the society. He encouraged people to be graduates and work in the academic spaces. He also helped lower caste people in getting jobs in the government sectors. He made us aware about the varna system and taught us to fight against such discriminatory practices towards some communities.

Dr. B. R Ambedkar’s philosophy stands for equality, liberty, fraternity and justice which lead to the path of enlightenment. Therefore, many people call themselves as Ambedkarite Buddhist and these four women are among them. Buddha’s teaching and the path shown by him is a framework for the transformation of society. Since people in India have historically been divided into castes, and people look down upon them on the base of caste, caste-based practices are discriminatory. For instance, people from upper caste people practise  untouchability towards lower caste people and we have been fighting against this for long time. Untouchability is still practiced in the society by particular castes. Therefore, Dr. Ambedkar not only fought for the equality but he also changed his religious identity and became a Buddhist because he considered Buddhism an egalitarian religious system.

The women I interviewed are associated with Buddhist Sangh’s. Two of them are associated with Bauddh Sangharsh Samiti. Sonali is associated with university level Phule-Ambedkar study group that studies Buddhism through the lens of Dr. Ambedkar. Through their association with such groups (named above) they all work to spread the Buddhist teachings among people. They lead the people who wants to become Buddhist towards conversion and living a Buddhist life. They organise retreats on the weekends in different areas where they teach the path of Ambedkar and Buddhism. In this way they meet number of people across the regions and bring them into the group where they can read and understand Buddha’s teachings and can gradually become Buddhist. Such groups mostly have been formed by the educated Buddhist people.

On account of the education they have acquired and the prestigious jobs they hold in the line with their Ambedkarite Buddhist identity, thier personalities appear strong and inspiring and there fore positively influence people who want to adopt Buddhism. Many educated young  people have adopted the Buddhism, they converted to Buddhism and have officially become Buddhist. They are officially recognised as Buddhist, because they took part in the conversion ceremony which is mainly organised in public domain and entails adopting Buddhism through some rituals.

Those who became Buddhist earlier were Hindu i.e they earlier belonged to a religion entrenched in the caste system. So this is the kind of significant and transformative work that these Ambedkarite Buddhist Women are doing. They provide the material to newcomers for reading and studying Buddhism. Through the reading and observing how the Buddhist people are living their lives, the newcomers are initiated into and become Buddhist.However, it is important to note that often people called themselves as Buddhist, but actually they continued to practice the Hindu religion and believed in God. Ambedkarite Buddhist Women on the other hand have denied the existence of God. Once they become a Ambedkarite Buddhist, they don’t believe in God. They become rational and develop reflective thinking.

They give importance to becoming more Ambedkarite and Buddhist. These four women belong to the lower social strata as per the traditionally imposed norms of Hindu society in India. Lower social strata means that in Hindu religion there is a Chaturvarna system, which has four varna’s, Brahmin, Kshatriy, Vaishya and Shudra which the hindu scriptures defines as follows. Brahmins means priests, Kshatriy means solders, Vaishya means traders, and Shudra means menials. Dr. Ambedkar states that these four varna’s made principle of graded inequality the basis for determining the terms that associated life between classes. Under this four varna system, Shudra is not only placed on the bottom of the gradation, but they are subjected to innumerable ignominies and disabilities so as to prevent them from rising above the condition fixed for them by varna system.

So Dr. Ambedkar studied many religion and their respective philosophies and he found that it was the Buddhist path that met his complex requirements of reason, morality and justice. Buddha’s dharma for Dr. Ambedkar was its emphasis on rational choice. So, he decided to embrace Buddhism which would give him a dignity in the society and the ability to lead a meaningful life outside the varna system. The women I interviewed for this paper also place a high value on being rational. But in India being Buddhist is not valuable for varna system, because for the varna system, caste matters the most. As the caste system is followed in every religion except Buddhism. people in the mainstream still view these women as coming from lower castes and discriminate against them on that basis.

A large number of Hindus live in India and they caste inequality in in graded in their mindset, they continue to see people from the graded caste perspective. In such a society, women were given a secondary position, so we see that women were deprived of their basic rights. Therefore, such women give more importance to becoming an Ambedkarite Buddhist in search of their way of liberation, because becoming a Ambedkarite Buddhist means on the one hand to fight against such caste system and on the other hand to live a conscious and rational life by imbibing the Buddha’s teachings. Being women, we all know how we live our life. These women are happy and feel proud of being Ambedkarite and Buddhist.

All the women I interviewed are the first-generation learners in their families. They said that because of the education they acquired, they were able to study the social issues in the practises of religion. They also said that they could learn to see differences on the basis of class and caste. They said that women who don’t get education are not able to fight against the customs of the society, when you get education you become a competent person, and can fight for your rights. Through it, women find their ways where they find the way to liberation and a meaningful life.

Therefore, Buddhist women in India give more importance to become Ambedkarite Buddhist because Ambedkar embraced Buddhism and showed a new and liberating path in India. They said that being a Buddhist in India is a distinction. As Buddhists we learn two things. One is that being an Ambedkarite Buddhist means we move forward in response to the discrimination that exists under the caste system, and the other is that we as Buddhists follow the Buddha’s path shown by the Dr. Ambedkar, whereby we look at our lives as they are and find a way that empowers us to live. Also, while living a religious life as a Buddhist, they say that many times negativity arises in life, but we make a way out of negativity, the negative feeling in us never ends.

Conclusions – Ambedkarite Buddhist women look to Buddhism as a hopeful way of living in such aprecarious world. They look upon Buddhist path as meaningful and peaceful way. Their identity stands out from other Buddhist women as a strong identity. They live a revolutionary life, trying to make others adopt the same path that they have got through becoming a Buddhist. The change in the lives of these women can be seen due to education. Through education they could understand Buddhism better. They all find the Buddhist teachings very effective which lead their life toward emancipations. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s influence can be seen in their life today, and being an Ambedkarite Buddhist means living a self-respecting life for them.

Dalit Women doesn’t come under the Varna system, they were known as Untouchables(now popularly known as Dalit),in Constitutional term Dalit women come under the Scheduled Caste(SC).Among women in India Dalit Women is the most oppressed Women in India, Dalit women face triple discrimination on the basis of Caste, on the basis of class and on the basis of Gender. Dalit women has to fight for everythinng for their survival.as a whole Dalit community face discrimination, atrocities but Dalit women face the worst. according to recent data from NCRB(National Crime Record Beauro),there is increase in the crime against the Dalit community, everyday 10 Dalit Women are being raped, this are the case which is recorded, imagine the case which are not recorded.

Dalit has faced humiliatation, discrimination since thousands of years. when Constitution came into existence discrimination, untouchability has been outlawed by the Constitution but even today Dalit face discrimination, humilation, atocities, Untouchability in the society. According to recent census of 2011,Dalit makes 16.6% of the India’s population,and this population of India face discrimination, humilation, atrocities in every part of the Country. Dalit women fought for their rights in the society and they also fought against the Britishers but unfortunately the Savrana community has forgotten their contribution for the society, the women like Jhalkaribai devi, Uda Devi Pasi, Mahabiri devi Bhangi, they all fought against the Britishers and for equality in the society but unfortunately this women has not given importance by the historian, only because they  were Dalit Women.

Dalit women has shown resistence against the brutal Caste system because Dalit Women faced the worst, the Perpetrators think that if you want to humiliate the particular community then humiliate its women. In South the women from Dalit community were not allowed to cover their Breast, they had to give Breast tax,even today the condition of Dalits in South is not well and most particularly in TamilNadu, recently the people from dominant OBC community threw Human Excreta in a tank used by Dalits. Dalit Women faced the worst kind of humiliation, discrimination, atrocities, Untouchability in the society.

When Savarna women started movement for demanding equality in the society, Savarna women claimed themselves as the mainstream Feminism but Savarna Women have neglected the issues of Dalit Women, the experience of Dalit women is different from the Savarna women, Savarna women are not being discriminated on the basis of Caste, Savarna women doesn’t get humiliated on the basis of Caste, they don’t face the brutal form of Caste violence from the society. The experience of Dalit Women is very different from the Savarna Women, the emergence of Dalit feminism has taken place only because Savarna Feminist were not taking the issues of Dalit Women, Dalit Feminism sees everything from the intersectional perspectives. We find many a times the Savarna Women silent on the daily atrocities of Dalit Women.

In this Patriarchal society Dalit Women is the most sufferer. every year there is increase in the crime against Dalit and particularly against Dalit Women.the crime against Dalit women include rape,brutal sexual assault,gangrape,sexual harrasment.Constitution has given Constitutional safeguards to Dalits,but even though Dalits face discrimination,atrocities and Untouchability.the society treat Dalit as worst than animals,to teach Dalit Community lesson,firstly perpetrators do violence against the Dalit Women,they think that if we humiliate the body of a dalit women the Dalit community will be humiliated.everytime whenever Dalit community started to raise voice against the injustice,the people who have Castiest Mindset started to do violence against the dalit community and particularly against Dalit Women,the Castiest Mindset people doesn’t want to see a Dalit in a better position,they don’t want to see Dalit aquiring land,they don’t want to see Dalit studying in good schools and colleges.the Castiest people thinks how a Dalit can stand up against them.

The more Dalits are getting aware about their rights,the more violence are taking place against Dalit and particularly against Dalit Women,the Castiest people thinks how a Dalit who is doing menial work,started to assert the rights as a human beings,so they harras,rape Dalit women to teach dalit community lesson.it is not that only common Dalit women are facing atrocities by the Castiest Mindset people,also Dalit women who are in prominent postition faced the castiest slur from  people mainly from the Savarna community.Kumari Mayawati a tallest leader who comes from Dalit community faced most casteist slur by the people from Savarnas community.when you see in social media,most Casteist slur have been used against Kumari Mayawati only because she is a Dalit women,among all the politicians she is the only women who face Castiest slur,vulgar jockes only because she comes from Dalit community.

In every crime which took place against Dalit community, police also don’t do fair investigation and many a times Judges are also baised against the Dalit community.the case of  Lalasa Devi can be a example,the case of Delta Meghwal,whenever any atrocities happened against Dalit women or Dalit,firstly SC/ST atrocities act invoked and then other charges are invoked,but in cases on the atrocities of  Dalit women,police refused to even register FIR against the perpetrator,forget about registering complain under SC/ST act,also in the Case of Lalasa Devi Police refused to register complain under SC/ST act and even refused to register the charges of rape on the perpetrators.Delta Meghwal was the bright Dalit student who was raped and killed by her teacher,a women was also a perpetrator in this case.

in many atrocities which took place against Dalit Women in that many a times women from upper caste also involved in it.no one can forget the Hathras case,how a Dalit girl brutally raped and killed by the Upper Caste Thakur men,in that police has tried to protect the rapist,the body of girl being burnt by the police in  the midnight,and later they denied that rape has happened,till now justice has not been delivered to the victim’s family,Recently the UP Court acquitted three rapist and only one is behind the bar but not on charges of rape,UP Special Court said that it is not incident of gang rape,out of the four accused three are acquitted from all charges,only one is behind the bar but not on charges of Rape,this is happening only because victim is from Dalit community.where is the outrage by the Savarna feminist,there is no outrage from the Savarna Feminist because the victim is from Dalit community.all the Savarna feminist keep mum,all the Savarna media houses kept mum whenever atrocities took place against Dalit women,Dalit women are the marginalized among marginalized.

Who can forget Khairlanji incident of 2006 of Maharashtra,where Dalit Family was brutalized by Dominant OBC Hindu Community,it was the small  conflict of land and the stature of Dalit Family was not liked by the Castiest people,the Women of the Dalit Family was gang raped by the Castiest goons killed Dalit family in most brutal way,only One person from that Dalit Family survived but he also died without getting Justice for her wife and other family members.there is difference between crime against Savarna Women and Dalit Women,When Dalit Women are killed, Brutalized no voice,no support came from the Savarna Community and the so called Savarna liberal media,but when any crime against Savarnas community happens,whole country get outraged but the consciousness of Society died When Crime against Dalits happen,they will say Black lives Matters but they never say that Dalit lives Matters or Muslim lives Matters.

The caste violence against Dalit is continuing since thousands of years, they were debarred from getting education, they were debarred from enjoying basic rights as a human beings, they were regarded as Untouchable, even today they are regarded as an Untouchables, even today they are regarded as impure. still today they have been killed, lynched, Dalit Women are being violated in most brutal way by the dominant Caste people. why dominant Caste do violence aganist Dalit, most probably because they are fearful of their assertiveness, they are jealous of their prosperity. they think how a Dalit can assert in front of dominant caste. the most brutal Caste violence take place against the Dalit Women, they are being sexually assulted in a brutal way. year by year the crime against Dalit in General and Dalit women in particular are increasing, and in almost all the cases the Justice are being delayed or Justice are being denied to Dalits.

Baba Saheb Ambedkar who was the chief architect of the Indian Constitution has made special provision in the Indian Constitution for the protection of Dalit, but even though Dalit face atrocities everyday. when ever atrocities against Dalits take place there is not much outrage from the people in India, and the celebrities in India, recently in USA when a black man was killed by the white policemen of USA, the Indian celebrities and politician had raised the voice, but when atrocities against Dalit happens in their own home they keep silent or in other words put fevicol in there mouth. there is need that the people should also speak up when atrocities against Dalits took place. if we want to make egalitarian society where every individual enjoy equal rights. than, every individual has to stand up whenever any injustice took place in society and speak up against any injustice.

After the brutal assassination, Umed Singh commented, “People don’t like it when someone from the lower classes a woman rises up and makes a name for herself.” Her lawyer, Kamini Jaiswal, agreed saying, “This killing comes from caste conflict.”

Edit : Sushma Tomar 

Phoolan Devi, born on August 10, 1963 established herself as a feared Indian bandit before stepping into politics and winning a seat in the Parliament. Her story shaped by hardship, revolt, and clout in government, stands out as a gripping tale of standing up to unfairness.

Phoolan Devi came from the Mallaah subcaste and grew up in a small town in Uttar Pradesh. A fight over land left her family worse off, making their life harder. Her parents married her off when she was just eleven, and she became a victim sexual abuse. This incident motivated her to join a gang of bandits. In July 1979, a gang run by Babu Gujjar kidnapped her. She went through repeated attacks until Vikram Mallah, the second-in-charge killed Gujjar and took over. Mallah taught Phoolan how to shoot a rifle, and they grew close. Together, they led their gang to rob villages of higher-caste folks. This earned Phoolan the nickname “Dasyu Sundari” (Beautiful Bandit) and celebrated her as a Robin Hood figure.

Phoolan Devi was later arrested in 1983, when she was accused of carrying out the Behmai massacre, where twenty men were shot dead. This brutal act forced the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh to step down.

After evading capture for two years, she surrendered to the authorities in 1983 through a negotiated deal. She then spent eleven years in Gwalior prison as she waited for her trial.

Phoolan Devi was released in 1994 after her charges were set aside; she subsequently became a politician and was elected as a member of parliament for the Samajwadi Party in 1996. She lost her seat in 1998 but got it back the next year. She held this position until she died in 2001. During her time in politics, Phoolan fought for women’s rights and better living conditions for the poor. She wanted to bring hospitals, schools, electricity, and clean water to villages.

However, her criminal charges those linked to the Behmai massacre always hung over her. At first, these charges were put aside, but were brought to the surface by the Kanpur District Court. The Allahabad High Court supported this decision. In 1996, the Supreme Court said denied her request to drop the charges, but she could stay free until her trial.

On July 25, 2001, Phoolan Devi was assassinated by Sher Singh Rana killed Phoolan Devi outside her home in New Delhi. Doctors declared her dead at Lohia Hospital after she took nine bullets. Her assassination forced everyone the world over to acknowledge the casteism and unfairness in Indian society.

After the brutal assassination, Umed Singh commented, “People don’t like it when someone from the lower classes a woman rises up and makes a name for herself.” Her lawyer, Kamini Jaiswal, agreed saying, “This killing comes from caste conflict.”

hoolan Devi’s story led to the 1994 film Bandit Queen, which she did not support due to the unpreferable representation of her character. Her life has also inspired several biographies and her dictated autobiography was entitled I, Phoolan Devi. There are varying accounts of her life because she told differing versions to suit her changing circumstances.

People around the world remember her as someone who stood up to injustice. Her memory is kept alive due to public retelling of her life stories and through books and movies. Phoolan Devi’s story lives on, showing how people can fight against unfairness and discrimination.

An influencer from a village in UP joins the latest season Big Boss OTT. With a large following on both Instagram and YouTube, Shivani Kumari adds diversity and more representation to the reality show.

Big Boss OTT 3 recently announced members of its new cast, with Shivani Kumari being one of the additions. Fans are buzzing with curiosity, and while not much information is available about this rural influencer, here is what we do know about her.

Shivani Kumari is a 22-year-old influencer from the Aryari village in Uttar Pradesh. Starting her social media journey on TikTok in 2019, Shivani blew up with her unique content, sharing videos of her daily life in rural India with her mother and siblings. After the app’s ban, she shifted to YouTube, where she has amassed a massive following. Additionally, she has starred in several music videos such as ‘Shor’ and ‘Balma’ among others, Most of her videos include snippets of her family and their life in Aryari, along with the usual lip-syncing and fashion videos that dominate social media.

Fans and supporters are drawn to her happy-go-lucky and magnetic energy that is visible in all her videos, and she creates the perfect mix of following trends while maintaining her distinctive charm, without compromising her rural background and life. The authenticity of her content, including videos of her helping around the house, feeding animals, interacting with her family, and all in her local dialect adds to her appeal. Fans believe that she will be an excellent addition to the cast of Big Boss, and are proud of how she will represent rural India on such a large platform.

Her mother is an agricultural labourer, supporting the family after her father’s demise, which is known through the memorable tributes Shivani posts on her Instagram. Shivani is also seen posting pictures with posters and statues of Ambedkar, which has led to speculation about her caste identity. While this information is not verified, some sources online say that her family belongs to the Kushwaha caste, an OBC community predominant in UP.

In her early days in a video with YouTuber Anjul Bamhrolia, she asked him “Bhaiya humko kaun dekhega? Hum toh gaun ke hai?” to which he replied confidently saying “Tum Saurabh Joshi se bhi aage jaogi kyunki tumhare paas asli kahaani hai”. She now has over 2 million subscribers on YouTube and had 4 million followers on her previous Instagram account.

Shivani is set to star in Big Boss OTT 3 alongside the viral ‘Vada Pav Girl’ Chandrika Dixit. Fans have also taken to social media to call for ‘Dolly Chaiwala’ as a contestant as well. Dolly Chaiwala is famous for documenting his travels across the globe as he shares his tea with locals and public figures, including Bill Gates, which blew up his social media account. He is also a Dalit and a vocal Ambedkarite.

There is a famous saying by Roy T. Bennett “Dedicate yourself to what gives your life true meaning and purpose; make a positive difference in someone’s life.”, these lines correlate with 20 women residing in Bhima Ka Kheda in Ghatol Tehsil, Banswara. These women have not only changed their lives but also connected with other women of their village to change their lives as well.

Most of these women have been practicing farming for ages, but little did they know the nuances of farming that would improve resources and livelihood at the same time, it was after connecting with a programme named SIFS (Sustainable Integrated Farming System) implemented by Vaagdhara with the support of KKS Germany, that they have started practicing integrated farming that helped enhance their income and improve their livelihood.

One of the women farmers of ‘Saksham Samuh’, Paru Devi proudly says, “I was so ignorant earlier that when someone approached me and asked me regarding farming and livelihood, I would keep mum but now after sufficient training and capacity building through SIFS programme, I have managed to learn a lot of things which has boosted my confidence. I am associated with this programme since 2009, every month a group of 20 women meets to discuss and share new techniques and resources.” She adds, under the SIFS programme timely training and capacity building are done that helps improve food security and enhance income.

Giving an example of enhanced livelihood, Devi shared after acquiring knowledge of animal husbandry, she decided to get goats of the Sirohi breed, and currently, she has five of them, and she is getting 10 liters of milk daily, this is enough to fulfill her family needs and her dependency on market has zeroed down. Besides, she shared that she is a proud owner of a nutrition garden, which she developed by the 10-12 varieties of seeds provided by Banswara-based Vaagdhara civil society. After nurturing and taking care of the soil and seeds, now she has grown vegetables of her choice, and at least five varieties of fruits such as papaya, mulberry, mango, guava, and lemon, again she has managed to zero the dependency on the market, making her family self reliant.

So, Devi’s story is the biggest example of how SIFS techniques have started helping families to ensure their nutrition needs and at the same time reduce their dependence on the market.

Dhula damor and his wife Surta Damor use to live in village Sheranagle, Anandpuri block. They are four members in including two girls child. They have small piece of land i.e. 2 bigha for doing agriculture which is totally rainfed. They use to grow maize, wheat, rice and pigeon pea in cropping season. Poor health of land was a reason for less production and it was available for 5 to 6 months. He used to buy food material to fulfillment of food availability over the year for his family. For this, he migrated to Ahemdabad and Surat where he engages in construction work for 5 months. His wife is stayed at home for taking care of children. During his migration, his wife had suffered for lacking of money. Sometime, in such situation she could not feed her children and she used to sleep starving. Neither she go to Aanganwadi centre and nor sends her children.

One day she took participation in PLA_LANN meeting conducted by VAAGDHARA in her village. In that meeting facilitator was taking anthropometric measurement of participated children (upto 59 months). Kavita whose age was 18 months also measured during the activity and her mother was called and told that your child measure as SAM-Sever Acute Malnourished (Height=70 cm, Weight= 6.3 Kg, MUAC= 10.7 and Z score=-3SD). When she was asked about poor health of the child she replied that the child is weak from birth. In that village LANN volunteer understood her about the situation of the child. Next day Surta took the child to MTC- Malnutrition Treatment Centre which is 73 Kms away from the village. Surta stayed there for 15 days. LANN-Volunteer gave his full support to family in that situation. Dhula came back at home and her wife told everything to him. In next meeting, dhula and his wife come together. After that they attended meeting regularly. 15 days Nutrition camp organized in the village. Surta and her daughter Kavita participated in the camp regularly through which the child’s health improved. After 8 months, she was 26 months old and Height= 76.4 cm, Weight= 8.7 Kg, MUAC= 14 and  Z score= -1SD.

PLA LANN meetings brought changes in their life. Dhula did changes in agriculture. He adopted sustainable Integrated Farming System through and crop diversity increased, saving started after using organic manure and pesticides, started preservation of indigenous seeds for next crop. In summers, they started having dried vegetables including green leafy and others. Family developed Kitchen garden at backyard of home and growing seasonal vegetables and Banana, Mango, Lemon and Papaya fruit plants for their own consumption. Individual diet diversity increased of every member and hunger period is reduced for 3 months. He benefited by MGNREGA and sanctioned individual work plan up to 3 lac amount for his land development work, plantation and compost pit development. Migration is also stopped because he got employment under MGNREGA.

Sanjana Jatav, 26, from the Congress party, has defeated her BJP rival in the stronghold of Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma.

On June 4, as the Lok Sabha poll results were announced, a video of 26-year-old Sanjana Jatav celebrating her victory by dancing to a Rajasthani song went viral on social media. Sanjana, wearing a saree, is set to become one of the youngest members of Parliament in the 18th Lok Sabha.

Sanjana Jatav, a Congress MP-elect from Bharatpur, Rajasthan, comes from a Dalit community. She defeated BJP’s Ramswaroop Koli by 51,983 votes. Despite having no political background or experience, Sanjana decided to run for office, surprising her family who had never dreamed of participating in elections.

“My husband’s grandfather was a sarpanch, but no one in the family ever contested an election above the panchayat level,” Ms. Jatav told The Hindu. She expressed her determination to work for the people. Sanjana Jatav, the wife of a police constable and mother of two, not only defeated Mr. Koli but also won in the stronghold of Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, whose hometown is Bharatpur.

Ms. Jatav believes that the people of Rajasthan voted for her because “too much religion-related violence has made people choose her. Bharatpur witnessed the murder of two Muslim men, Junaid and Nasir, by cow vigilante groups in 2023.

“I am thankful to the party leadership for giving me this opportunity and the people of Bharatpur for their immense love and support,” said Ms. Jatav. The Congress had good reason to trust her. In the 2023 Rajasthan Assembly polls, Ms. Jatav contested from Alwar’s Kathumar and narrowly lost to BJP’s Ramesh Khinchi by just 409 votes.

“The party saw my hard work, which is why the Central leadership trusted me again,” said Ms. Jatav, who is currently a district council member in Rajasthan.