Category: Women and Children

While the battles fought by the farmers of Marathwada are well documented, not many know about the relentless fight that marks the rise of Dalit women farmers in the drought-affected region.

To establish a context, the fight for land rights of Dalit farmers began under the leadership of the late Eknath Awad, one of India’s most respected Dalit leaders, across eight districts of Maharashtra including Jalna, Aurangabad, Latur, and Beed. Kantabai Ichake, a septuagenarian from Marathwada, has now emerged as one of the leading voices at the forefront of the land rights movement. Read more

Courtesy: The Better India

Weeks after deaths of over 70 children in government-run hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur, 52 infants have been reported dead in last 30 days at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College (MGM) Hospital in Jharkhand’s Jamshedpur.

According to a report by the ANI, the hospital superintendent has blamed malnutrition for the deaths.

The tribal belt of Jharkhand has been long battling the problem of malnutrition among the kids. According to a report by the UN agency for children, UNICEF, 47 per cent children in Jharkhand are undersized and 42 per cent of them are underweight. The report was part of the UNICEF’s Rapid Survey on Children 2013-14. Read more

Courtesy: India TV

Even after 70 years of independence, we haven’t been able to send all our children to school. Worse still, there are crores of child labourers in India, and their number is increasing in sectors such as agriculture, mining and domestic labour. “The root causes of child labour are poverty, illiteracy, lack of quality education and resources, and poor implementation of laws,” says Neelam Makhijani, country director & CEO of ChildFund India—a child development organisation. In an interview with FE’s Vikram Chaudhary, she argues that child labour and poverty go hand in hand, and suggests some reform measures that can, over time, eradicate this social evil. Excerpts: Read more

Courtesy: Financial Express

The destruction of homes during the monsoon has left residents anxious. But experts say it is too early to blame the erosion on port construction.

When ferocious waves crash over the sea walls and hit the foundation of her home in Valiyathura, a fishing village in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram district, Alphonsa begins to say prayers, holding the Bible.

The 60-year-old woman has had sleepless nights for the last three months ever since the sea became rough after the monsoon gathered momentum in the second week of June. The fate of her tiny brick house worries her most. When it was built 10 years ago, it stood more than 500 metres away from the shoreline. But the erosion of the beach has reduced the distance to a mere two metres now. Even the sea wall – a defence structure made of boulders – can no longer protect the house from the sea water that comes flooding in.

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Courtesy: Scroll.in

With the increasing number of woman in mining more attention needs to be paid to either safety, wellness and general working conditions.

At the moment regulations are inadequate for their safety and well-being.

Women in Mining is not just employment but an important transformation agenda to reverse the historical exclusion of women in the mining industry. The Mining Charter and the Employment Equity are some of the progressive transformation legislation post 1994.

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Courtesy: Witbank