Achi news desk-
New Delhi20 minutes agoAuthor: Sanjay Sinha
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I am Preeti Puraina, living in Beldarsivni village, Tilda block of Raipur. I am from Satnami community which is Schedule Caste (SC).
Since childhood, I saw poverty and suffering in my family. He suffered the burden and neglect of being a backward caste. Despite all this, he studied and progressed.
I am 35 years old and out of these, I have dedicated myself to empowering women for 15 years.
Groups of girls were formed in 55 villages of Tilda block and they were given different types of training.
Many women in these groups make bricks, farm fish, raise goats, grow and sell vegetables. Many women also make gift-pattal and by selling it they earn Rs 150-200 per day.
Women ready for Panchayat elections
What I say may surprise you. But the truth is that we are preparing women for Panchayat elections in rural areas.
This is a Dalit dominated area so seats are reserved. When a woman from the Dalit community stands for election, she does not know the working methods.
We teach them the nuances of local governance. Provides training to become a Sarpanch and District Member.
Through my organization ‘Pahal’ I help women to become skilled which helps them to earn their living.
I also work for the education of the disabled. I also preserve the art culture of Chhattisgarh. So that the generations to come know these genres that are disappearing.
That is why I am working closely with the government of Chhattisgarh. I also work to provide a platform for such artists.
One father’s hand cut off, relatives turn their backs
Our family remained very poor. No land or any other property. The family of 3 brothers and one sister lived in just one room.
When I was in the second class, my father went to work in an iron factory in Raipur. On the third day of his duty, while cleaning the machine, someone turned on the electric switch. Father’s left hand was cut off and fell into the machine.
When father’s hand was broken, everyone turned their backs. No one came forward to help. The company got some treatment, but then everything came to a halt.
Preeti Puraina was honored for empowering women.
Working with mother while digging the pit
When I was 13-14 years old, I began to understand the poverty and helplessness of the family. There was no one to earn money. Father used to work the khanti and cut the soil with only one hand. When a pit was dug or deepened in the village, the whole family would work together.
Many times people would dig small ponds in their fields for irrigation. Then we would be brothers, sisters, together with our parents, breaking soil for the pool.
Many times government officials would be allowed to dig pits. There was no MNREGA then, it was called relief work. In exchange for the work we will get ‘Dangi’. By making one dinghy, you would get 2 kg of paddy.
1 dung was 7 feet long and 7 feet wide. The amount of soil you dumped into this area is a dump. If we had thrown 5 sticks, we would have got 10 kg of paddy.
If paddy was sold at Rs 5 per kg, we would have got Rs 50-60. This is how the family survives.
Collect fruit from cow dung, wash and sell
What doesn’t poverty make you do? What have we all done even for Rs 2-5? There are many Acacia trees in our area. Its fruits break and fall when ripe. Brothers and sisters would go and pick acacia fruit.
He would sell it at Rs 2 per kg. If you could have picked 3 to 4 kg of fruits in a day, you would have got Rs 10-12.
Cattle would eat these seeds. We would scrub their tubers, extract acacia seeds from it, wash them in the pond, dry them and then sell them at Re 1 per kg.
Wandering from field to field carrying a small bag.
Preeti gives training to people in Panchayat.
Cooks food in the morning and in the evening, goes to school
I am second to a brother. My mother would leave early in the morning to work in someone else’s fields, I would do all the homework. He would cook food in the morning and in the evening, feed his brothers and then go to school.
Many times, when crops were harvested in the fields, we would go and cut the remaining reeds as well. In return, he would have received only Rs 10. Whether someone’s house is being built in the village or a well is being dug, we would work in it. We did not stop studying even after doing such small tasks.
Grandfather looked for a boy for my marriage, parents saved me
I was 14 years old in the eighth grade. At this age itself, my grandfather started looking for a boy for me.
But the parents obviously refused. At that time, Chetna Sangh President Munna Narang was doing a lot to empower women.
He said don’t marry the girl. If money is scarce then I will keep this girl with me and educate her.
His family lived just 2-3 km away. I started living with his family. She only comes home during holidays.
He bought me a bike to commute to school. He paid all the expenses of his 12th and college education. It was during this period that I saw and understood the work of empowering women.
Today I am the director of the ‘Pahal’ organization.
How can a lower caste girl become a sarpanch?
I contested the Panchayat elections at the age of 21. There was a lot of opposition when I contested the elections. Many people in the village used to say how I would make a lower caste girl the Sarpanch.
Can we go to his house to get the autograph signed, and have tea at his house? They would say that we will not accept a girl from Satnami community as Sarpanch. I lost the election.
people cast wishes on my character
I started working for women’s groups. Then many people would blame my character that she goes back and forth with boys.
They used to scold the parents that all the girls in the village are getting married, why don’t you get your daughter married.
Then I suffered everything, facing them. The way I presented myself in the Panchayat elections changed my image. Today the villagers give my example to their girls.
we are not invited to social dinners
Even today there is untouchability in the society. Due to better education, living conditions and spread of awareness, I visit the houses of so called upper caste people, eat food, they also visit our houses. But when it comes to social gatherings or banquets, we are boycotted.
We cannot sit and eat in a row with upper caste people.
If someone from a higher caste attends our social gathering, their community punishes them. I am always against these things. Even today there are some people in the society who want to maintain the caste system.
