RDMA AND

MAÎTRI NETWORK

25 November - 10 December 2012

An Initiative – Rashtriya Dalit Mahila Andolan

Violence against Women

In the last MCC meeting in 2011 it was decided that two weeks campaign will take place all over India to sensitize the society on Violence against Dalit women

RDMA took the responsibility of North India esp. Hindi Belt-

Jharkhand Bihar Uttar Pradesh Haryana MP Rajasthan Delhi

Objectives

To claim equal Right, Freedom, Opportunity and Dignity

Awareness generation Sensitization To reduce Violence against Dalit women: Social discrimination Economical inequality Cultural stigmatization

Strategy

Signature campaign Corner Meetings Slum area meetings Workshop Public meeting Press meeting Leaflet distribution Poster distribution Folk Songs

Delhi

Date:25- 26 Nov., 2012

District: South Delhi:

Sangam Vihar, Janta Jivan

Camp (Tigri) Okhla Phase

II, and Jaitpur.

North Delhi: Trilok Puri: Block-13, 32, 33,

Kalyan Puri: Block-4, Chand Cinema and

Sarai Kale Khan

Activity: Awareness Meeting

Persons Concerned/Organisations: Ms.

Sumedha Bodh and Ms. Jyoti Tomar,

Rashtriya Dalit Mahila Andolan

Delhi continued…

Uttar Pradesh

Date: 25 Nov. 2012District: Uttar

Pradesh: Saharanpur

Activity: Public Meeting and Press

MeetingPersons

Concerned/Organisations:

Ms. Saroj Rani, Aman Samajik Sangathan,

Saharanpur

Uttar Pradesh

Date:28 Nov. 2012

District: Uttar Pradesh: Allahabad

Activity: Workshop

Persons Concerned/Organisations:

Ms. Sarita Rani, Mehak

Bihar

Date:13 Dec. 2012 District: Nawada Activity: Workshop

and Press Note was submitted

PersonsConcerned/

Organisations:Ms. Vandana Devi,

Mahamaya Vikas

Jharkhand

Date: 28 Nov. 2012

District: Bokaro

Activity: Workshop and Awareness Meeting

Persons Concerned/Organisations:

Ms. Manju Raj, Mahila Jagruk Trust

Date:25 Nov. 2012

District: Hazari Bagh

Activity: Public Meeting

Persons Concerned/Organisations:

Ms. Neelam Besra, Jharkhand Mahila Utthan

Haryana

Date:29 Nov. 2012District: KaithalActivity: WorkshopPersons

Concerned/Organisations: Ms.

Shakuntla Balmiki, Rashtriya Dalit Mahila Andolan

Rajasthan and Madhya PradeshDate:25 Nov. 2012

District: Jaipur

Activity: Awareness through Campaign Material

Persons Concerned/

Organisations:Ms. Sunita Rawat, Dalit Adivasi Vikas Sansthan

Date:30 Nov. 2012

District: Rewa

Activity: Public Meeting

Persons Concerned/

Organisations: Ms. Gayatri Devi and Ms. Munni Devi, NACDOR

Pamphlets for the campaign

Signature Campaign

Poster for the Campaign

FindingsCampaign witnessed several issues over a period of two weeks.

Some of the findings that came out in the campaigns held are as follows:

Lack of clean drinking water and toilet facilities in the slums due to which people are forced to defecate in open areas. This often results into harassment of girls and women especially in the night.

FIR of caste-based atrocities faced is not registered by the police. Children from these slum-clusters often do not get admission in schools

due to lack of residential proofs. Women working as Domestic Help are not treated respectfully in their

workplaces. Due to government policy of putting a restriction on Ration Card (an

identification proof) people find difficulties even in admitting their children in schools

In Bihar and Jharkhand severe problem of witch hunting, domestic violence, low paid wages, migration, sexual harassment, rape and violence against Dalit and Adivasi single women

Challenges

Time duration was very short Difficulty in postage of IEC materials like

posters, pamphlets, DV act, etc in interior villages

Lack of resources and equipments Communication hurdle with grassroots

activists

Major Interventions

Interventions were carried out to strengthen the work of RDMA :

Ms. Rajni Tilak, Convenor of Rashtriya Dalit Mahila Andolan was invited as a panel

guest for a discussion on the documentary film ‘Shit’, based on a true story of a

manual scavenging in a Film Festival OUR LIVES...TO LIVE - NO! to gender violence, an

initiative of SANGAT South Asia as part of their regional coordination of the

international One Billion Rising campaign. The festival was organized by IAWRT (The

International Association of Women in Radio and Television) in collaboration with

many NGOs, universities, colleges and cultural institutions all over the country on

dates 23-25 November, 2012 at Max Muller Bhawan, New Delhi.

Continued….

RDMA National Convenor was invited as a panelist for a public hearing on Violence against Dalit Women, on December 10, 2012. It was conducted by Dynamic Action Group (DAG) and Savitri Bai Phule Mahila Sangharsh Samiti, Jaunpur Collectorate, Uttar Pradesh

The National Commission for Women (NCW) called for a meeting on Violence against Women on 27 November, 2012 at New Delhi. During the meeting, a memorandum was submitted to NCW demanding a separate cell for Dalit Women to investigate cases of caste-based violence

A Signature Campaign was organized by Rashtriya Dalit Mahila Andolan 4-6 December, 2012 in collaboration with National Confederation of Dalit Organisation (NACDOR). The campaign was conducted in a 3rd National Conference of Dalit Organisations organized by NACDOR in V. P. House, Parliament Street, FICCI Auditorium and Ram Lila Maidan, New Delhi

Dialogue in National Conference

Maîtri Network

Continued…….

Way Forward

Planning for an intensive campaign this year

Meeting in August for the preparation of the Violence against Dalit Women campaign

Spread the campaign in states like Orissa and Gujarat

Need for a National Study on Violence against Dalit Women with the help of Karuna Trust

Thank You!!!