Standing up in her own feet
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Meenakshi (not real name) came forward with great fear. She was looking around to see if her ‘’madam’’ was following her. She came to Kuwait years back (she did not remember the number of years) to support her family with many sisters. She was offered a lucrative job by an agent. But she ended up as a house maid. Showing the fresh injuries on her hands and legs, she explained the tortures she underwent at her sponsor’s house. Finally, a driver of the house who helped her ran away from that house and reach the Indian embassy. She carried a copy of passport that expired and her rags in a polythene cover. Her sponsor said her salary was sent home. But she had no clue. She had no contact with her family for a long time. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
I knew there were many such Meenakshis waiting in the midst of the long queues. A couple of years back, when amnesty was declared in Kuwait, I was voluntarily helping the Indian expatriates in distress at the Indian embassy to return to their homeland. Some lost their passport, some ran away from their sponsor’s house, some of them were badly tortured, some of them were ditched by the agents. The worst were those who even forget their original name. Most of the stories that reverberated around me were strange. I couldn’t believe my ears. Thanks to the Emir of Kuwait. Many in distress could go back to their home.
How would they meet the two ends after returning back to India? Even after much suffering, many wanted to come back after acquiring a new passport. Why? The women stood there with many doubts and anticipations.
But now, after 72 years of Independence, the women of India have a ray of hope. Our government is ready to support the women. In January 2014, prime minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “Women empowerment is India's growth. Days of seeing women as 'home makers' have gone; we have to see women as nation builders!” And the budget presented by Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister of India reflected women empowerment.
In her maiden budget on July 5, 2019, she said, “Naari tu narayani is country’s tradition.” Quoting Swami Vivekanda, she added that there was no chance for welfare of the world unless the condition of women was improved. India can make progress with greater women participation.
The government expanded women self-help group (SHG) interest subvention programme to all districts in the country. One women in each SHG is entitled to loan up to Rs 1 lakh under the MUDRA (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Bank) Scheme. There are seventy per cent of beneficiaries under the scheme. It is an initiative to empower women entrepreneurs. This will help the women to be self-sustained. I have always felt that those women homemakers are seen as second citizens in the society. Even after doing all the jobs at the home, she is often questioned: ‘’what were you doing the whole day?’’
The first term of the Narendra Modi government started with such schemes that changed her life dramatically. Through the Ujjwala Yojala three million women got LPG cylinders. It has made her kitchen smoke free. She is safe and healthy after toilets were built to make India open defecation free. The Saubhagya Yojana which electrified their houses brought lights to their life. The Beti Bachao Beti Padao scheme and more were announced for her improvement.
“The stand-up India scheme and Jan Dhan yojana support and encourage women entrepreneurship. Every verified woman SHG member having a Jan Dhan Bank Account will be allowed an overdraft of Rs.5000”, said the finance minister. The schemes is sure to create more job opportunity.
The Grameen Arth Yojana enhances the role of women. It proposes to form a broad-based committee to evaluate and suggest actions for moving forward in case of contribution of women.
In the modern India, where the moon mission is lead by two women scientists, the common women must also be able to stand on her own feet. India has a history of women prime minister and president; and CEOs. But there are millions of women staying at her home with no income. Some are compelled to go abroad even as domestic helps.
Here in Kuwait, there are many Indian women in distress even today. They can go back if they are able to work at their homeland. They can live with their own family peacefully.
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Reshmi Naveen Gopal is a freelance writer. She is a post graduate in Communication and Journalism. She has worked with main stream print media and online journals. She has been a faculty in communication and journalism at a couple of colleges.
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