A Leftist, Marxist thinking NGO

“AI was started by some forward-thinking women such as Primla Lewis and Sreelatha Swaminathan who realised and were concerned by the loss of agency of the marginalised classes. I was a school teacher and a homemaker at that time teaching at the mobile creches and I got to know about them,” says Chaudhary. In simple words, Action India believes in the “power of the people”. The organisation provides a community-based platform for advocacy to secure the rights of the most marginalised— especially focusing on the women. The NGO’s goal is to reach a society with gender equality. A world where all sexes work together to change the system which is—at best—ambivalent against the poor, the Dalits and especially the women in particular. As they started their work, AI representatives understood that the foundation of its programme should be based upon women’s health and reproductive rights, seeking control over her body, asserting her autonomy and identity. So workers sought to distribute knowledge and information creating awareness among the most vulnerable of these women—the immigrant workers who travelled from several Indian states to work in the NCR. The goal was to work for social, political and economic transformation. “We work on the principles of collective action. Our community workers organise collectives of women and youth and mobilise members on specific issues with an understanding on all aspects of social, cultural and political discrimination with a strong focus on gender inequalities and the rights of the marginalised,” says Chaudhary. That was 20 years ago.

Now the emphasis rests on certain issues; growing gender disparity being one of them—leading to one of their most important programmes the Beti Utsav, in which mothers are felicitated for the birth of a daughter. “The utsav is a public jattha—it is at a public place. We give out stickers, we talk to the community. We try to start a dialogue with the fathers, the men. You get a few men to support you and that impacts the other men also. Frankly, the impact of the utsavs would be clear in the next census. Because the proliferation of ultra sound technology is too wide and too deep. People continue to seek sex detection. We feel it is equally important to change mindsets and simultaneously work on the law,” explains Chaudhury.

“With the growth of the market economy, since the 1990s there has been an increase of ad lines where advertisers ask parents to save `500 now and get `5 lakh later for their daughter's marriage, the mindsets are not changing for the better. In fact, there has been regression.

‘Celebrating the birth of the Girl Child’ programme was started from 2010. “AI welcomes new born girls, their mothers and their families and honours them. The doctor of that particular area’s government hospital congratulate and talk to them. Rallies are held, a nukkad natak is presented and parents are honoured with a card and a box of sweets,” says Chaudhury.

Apart from the save the girl child campaign, the other programmes of AI include the organisation of Mahila Panchayats, education for equality campaign, access to water and sanitation campaigns, and rural programmes “looking through the gender lens”. One of their most impressive programmes has been the Mahila Panchayats— women’s courts—a forum for dispute resolution. The panchayats comprise local women and paralegal workers who have been trained on legal rights of women with a focus on gender questions. The paralegal workers, too, hail from the community.

Today, Action India runs nine Mahila Panchayats in Delhi, with 14 paralegals and 225 mahila panchayat members. Their offices remain open between Monday to Saturday and members meet every Wednesday. In the past 20 years, AI’s Mahila Panchayats have resolved around 24,000 domestic disputes at the community level. Only when the members realise that a particular case is insolvable at the community level, does it take it to the court. Usually the cases involve desertion

From its humble beginning of being a group of five women bonded with a feminist vision to change the world, with the idea that “personal is political” AI has today created spaces where women can come together to share their joys and sorrows.

“The concept of Sabla Sanghs gave birth to women’s collectives subversively changing the unequal power relations in the family with new ways of assertion we spoke a new language of freedom and justice for all. Women spoke out on violence, deprivation and denial to be as we wished and to seek our own identity. Our own identity, our own potential,” says Chaudhury.