Breaking tradition to give women a new lease of life

Grassroots, Press Institute of India

Breaking tradition to give women a new lease of life

Ajit Panda, Naupada, Odisha

Baidehi and Biju, a couple from the particularly vulnerable Chakotia Bhunjia Tribe, have braved social ostracism to break age-old traditions of discrimination against women. Thanks to them, the girls of the remote Odisha area are being sent to school, and now have a future to look forward to

Jemanee Jhankar of Sunabeda Village of Nuapada District of Odisha will be the first woman from her community to acquire a bachelor’s degree. She is in the last semester of an undergraduate science course. The path thus far has been far from easy for her. She and her parents have struggled hard, in both social and economic terms, to be able to achieve this much.

Jemanee belongs to Chakotia the Bhunjia Comm-unity – one of the PVTGs (particularly vulnerable tri-bal groups) of Odisha. Up to 1997, not a single girl from the community had attended school. The first girls to learn the alphabet here were Jemanee’s elder sister Jayashri, her cousins and girls of some other families of Sunabeda and Sanbaheli Villages, who attended a non-formal education centre started by an NGO called FARR or Friends Association for Rural Reconstruction. “A didi (older sister) named Aradhana working in FARR motivated us to send our daughters to the non-formal centre and that gave the girls an opportunity to learn,” recalls Jamuna Naik of Sanbaheli.

Baidehi Jhankar with her daughter. 

The Bhunjia Tribe has three sub-castes, namely Chakotia, Chinda and Khola Rajia. Sunabeda and Soseng Gram Panchayats of Komna Block in Nuapada District are the only panchayats inhabited by the Chakotia Bhunjia Community. The panchayats are located on a plateau more than 3000 feet above sea level. The area, which was declared a tiger sanctuary a few years ago, is more than 100 km away from the block and district headquarters, and has no communication facilities. The Chakotia Bhunjia Tribe has a population of about 3000.

The Chakotia imposes a number of restrictions on its women – for instance, they cannot wear blouses or inner garments, they cannot use footwear and they are allowed to wear only white sarees. The cooking has to be done in huts made of mud and straw located at a distance from the dwelling area. Only the women of the house can enter these kitchen huts. It is out of bounds for outsiders, even the married daughters of the family. Should an outsider enter, the hut is immediately burnt down. The women are also expected to eat inside the kitchen huts.

During marriage ceremonies, the women are expected to cook separately for themselves using rations earmarked for the purpose. Before a girl from the tribe attains puberty, a Kunabeera ceremony is performed, where she is symbolically married to a tree. After the ritual, she becomes subject to all the norms and restrictions placed on the women of the tribe.

Jemanee’s mother Baidehi was a Chinda Bhunjia. She became a Chakotia Bhunjian by virtue of her marriage to Biju Jhankar. She was married in 1989 at the age of 22. The first few years of her life were hard, because the customs of the Chinda Bhunjia are not as harsh on women. “I left off wearing a blouse after my marriage and the coloured saris I brought from my parents’ house remained locked in my box,” says Baidehi. However, she did not revolt against the Chakotia Bhunjian customs and, instead, tried to gain her husband’s confidence and support in order to bring about a change. The two of them discussed the difficulties that women of the Chakotia Bhunjian Tribe faced and proceeded to slowly gain the confidence of others.

“I understood her problem and tried to motivate my parents first, but it was impossible. My elder sisters cooperated with me, but even they were afraid of our parents,” says Biju. “We thus decided to keep quiet for some time and it took about three years to convince our near and dear to accept the change. But we had to pay a heavy price for that; we were ostracised by the community.”

Jemanee Jhankar (in front), the first Chakotia girl to become a Science graduate. 

The boycott by the society did not deter Biju and his wife; rather, it encouraged them to find alternate opportunities. They sent their daughters to schools and Biju participated in various awareness development activities of the government and the NGOs working there. Biju’s elder sister Jamuna would take her daughter and Baidehi’s children to the non-formal centre located at Sunabeda and would stay there until evening. “In this way, I got closer to FARR and the didi asked me to go for dai (midwife) training” says Jamuna, who became a trained birth attendant because of her enthusiasm to serve the women of the locality. She is now the only person in the whole of the plateau trained to attend childbirths.

Others began being influenced by Baidehi and her family. In 1997, the people of nearby Junapani Village, under the leadership of Narad Chhatria and his son, Tuna Chhatria, conducted a meeting and decided to remove the restrictions on women’s clothing. They also sent their girls to schools. In 2005, Junapani and Sanbaheli Villages became united as a community and shunned old practices of discrimination against women in terms of education and clothing.

“In a year or two, the total number of school-going girls in Sunabeda plateau increased to more than 100 and the situation gradually improved.

At present, the number of school-going girls is around 300,” reports Biju. This amounts to roughly half of the total girls of school-going age in the region.

The women’s literacy rate in Sunabeda plateau at present stands at a mere 21.44 per cent against 45 per cent for men. In some villages like Talabela and Jhalipani, women’s literacy rate is less than 5 per cent, and in Khadang and Gadgada Villages it is nil. In the circumstances, the efforts taken by Baidehi and Biju to send their children for higher studies are even more commendable.

Jemanee completed her high school education in 2011 and secured admission in a residential college to study Science. “I could study there because the cost was borne by the government,” says Jemanee. She would have discontinued studies after completing Plus Two (Class 12) if support had not come from some social activists. “I would like to complete a master’s degree provided I get financial support, and my aim is to serve the people of my area,” she says.

Yet another of Biju’s daughters is in college now, and she is performing well. But there are many other girls in Sunabeda who have discontinued their education after appearing for the high school examinations. The present system of online admissions is deterring the girls of the plateau. “We are not sure in which college the girls will get seats and it will be difficult for us to manage the expenses of college education in faraway places. Further, there is always uncertainty about hostel accommodation” says Tuna Chhatria. However, despite present hurdles, Biju and Baidehi have blazed a trail which can be traversed by every family in the plateau someday in the future.

February 2017