When we study the solid waste management scenario in India, we find that several initiatives have been taken by the government and authorities and a lot may has been achieved in terms of policy and adoption of new technologies. Still, real change is yet to be witnessed, and evidently, there remains one area which requires attention, i.e., lack of people’s involvement and commitment to waste management in their homes. People’s indifferent attitude towards sanitary and menstrual waste has made management of menstrual waste even tougher for the municipality and civic workers.

Do It Yourself

On the lines of Gandhian principle of people’s involvement to bring change, the Khud Karo (translation: do it yourself) National Competition on Management of Menstrual Waste was organised by Breaking the Silence Worldwide Foundation on social media in August and September this year. The campaign’s objective is to create awareness on waste as a subject, nature of crisis, but more importantly, build social responsibility towards waste management, including sanitary waste disposal.

On the lines of Gandhian principle of people’s involvement to bring change, the Khud Karo (translation: do it yourself) National Competition on Management of Menstrual Waste was organised by Breaking the Silence Worldwide Foundation on social media in August and September this year. The campaign’s objective is to create awareness on waste as a subject, nature of crisis, but more importantly, build social responsibility towards waste management, including sanitary waste disposal.

Menstrual hygiene and household waste management are correlated. A house with poor waste disposal facility compromises collection and disposal of soiled sanitary pads, which in turn adversely impacts menstrual hygiene and health among girls and women in the household, school, college or workplace. They are most likely to wear a sanitary pad for long hours. Do you know due to shame, secrecy and silence around menstruation, they go to great lengths to hide the used and soiled pads?

Additionally, sanitary waste generators lack understanding and fail to assign importance and take ownership towards correct disposal which has implications on other people like the waste pickers and civic workers, and on the ecology. A basic understanding of waste management and the entire cycle the soiled sanitary pads go through until they reach their final destination in landfills, can go a long way in changing the menstrual waste crisis in India.

Compactor used to transport the waste that’s been collected door-to-door

The Competition

Nongmaithem Jerina from Imphal, Khumlo Gomti from Chandel in Manipur, Godwin Bosco from Kochi in Kerala and Dipak Sinha from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh were adjudged as winners in a prize giving ceremony conducted online on Gandhi Jayanti on 2nd October 2020.

Picture: Inputs from the Khud Karo/Do It Yourself National Competition on Menstrual Waste Management serves to clarify the correlation between the state of solid waste management to sanitary waste disposal and menstrual hygiene and health of 355 menstruating girls and women in India

Story Of Each Household

Nongmaithem Jerina, a Master in Social Work (MSW) student in discussing the local state of waste management in Imphal puts the spotlight on how localities do not have garbage bins where residents can dispose household waste. It leaves no choice foe them but to either store waste in the premises of their homes until the private organisations who collect waste get it picked up for a monthly service charge. Those who cannot avail such service throw waste in the drains or pile them around their houses.

Citizens may be sensitized and even willing to participate, but the absence of a city-based waste collection, transportation, segregation, processing and recycling, and landfill mechanism anchored by the local authority and supported by civil society organisations, can cause confusion and passiveness in waste generators. When a comprehensive waste management system does not exist on ground, the issue of sanitary waste goes unaddressed.

Khumlo Gomti Khining, an Anganwadi Worker, discusses how all waste management initiatives are concentrated around the district headquarters, leaving residents to fend for themselves. The collection and transportation to dumping site mechanism, run by the Autonomous District Council in Chandel, are concentrated only around the bazaar area residents. Rural Manipur does not depend on external facilities for managing household waste as house-to-house collection is non-existent. They manage household waste themselves in their backyards—either through burning or storing it.

Godwin Bosco, who works at Cognizant Technology Solutions in Kochi, points out that household waste disposal is running smoothly in Kerala since there is an effective waste collection system run by the municipality. Still, their challenge is the final dump yard, which has become a site for pollution caused by burning waste. Their need is to develop an effective method for waste processing.

Dipak Sinha, a central government officer posted in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, attributes his passion for conservation of resources and recycling at home to his growing-up years spent in Shillong among Khasis, who, according to him, are exemplary in maintaining cleanliness and conserving the environment.

Through the Khud Karo National Competition, a consolidation of ground realities in waste management existing in different parts of India was possible through the insight shared by the participants, along with a conclusion that no investment in waste management by the authorities, NGOs and partners can result in clean neighbourhoods and safe environment until each unit viz., the household, does its part with their garbage.

Bellahalli landfill in Bengaluru is overfilled and in a crisis

Urmila Chanam

MHM is also a sector which is no one’s baby and not one ministry or department under the Government of India is solely responsible for it. For the same reason, MHM has only been a deliverable on the side of the main programs for line departments like Drinking Water and Sanitation, Human Resource Development/Education, Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI), Rural Development, Swachh Bharat Mission, Public Health Engineering Department (implementing Swachh Bharat Mission) and so on.

Though each of these has its own MHM objective and targets, due to the nature of how government works, coordination outside of the department hardly takes place thereby resulting in each department working on its own whereas menstrual health requires a collective effort.

MHM AND WATER-SANITATION-HYGIENE (WASH) SECTOR: The Government of India declared MHM as a priority area along with handwashing, ending open defecation and building, using and maintaining toilets through the launch of Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) in 2012. Over the years, sanitation has continued to occupy central stage with Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), its two sub missions- Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) and aggressive marketing of toilets. In addition to building toilets, SBM aimed at bringing improvement in the cleanliness and hygiene through effective and scientific solid and liquid waste management systems. This is where MHM was included and funds allocated for Solid and Liquid Waste Management was provisioned to be used to implement safe disposal solutions for menstrual waste (used sanitary cloths and pads) and setting up incinerators in schools, women’s community sanitary complexes, primary health centre, or in any other suitable place in village and collection mechanisms.

MHM remained a sister concern of sanitation sector in India; the availability and accessibility of toilets offering infrastructure, privacy and security to (menstruating) women. The major stakeholders of MHM in sanitation sector are the gram panchayats, SBM team, local NGOs and construction companies, school principal and Education Officers. These are the provisions of MHM programming within the government where MHM still fails to be a central program with no budget allocated distinctly for its activities.

MHM AND WASTE MANAGEMENT SECTOR: Sustainable menstruation was accompanied by a growing concern on disposal of used sanitary napkins because the very preposition of eco-friendly bio-degradable sanitary pads was its advantage of not posing as an environment hazard. So till the time everyone shifted to eco-friendly products, disposal was going to remain a threat to environment and discussions included collection hazard exposing waste pickers to unhygienic sanitary waste, blocking of sewage pipes from people flushing them in toilets and nalas, mix waste and difficulty in segregation for required processing, landfill and toxic fumes generated and so on.

The government bodies- solid and liquid waste management, Rural Development department, Pollution Control Board and local bodies; the community- households and NGOs, schools and Education department- schools are involved in sanitary waste disposal process.

NGOs have also been engaged in waste management whether it be in towns and cities in collaboration with the municipality or in villages with PRI and SBM teams. Another matter was of classification of used sanitary waste as dry domestic waste or biomedical waste because in case of the latter, it was to be subjected to incineration as per the Biomedical Waste Management Rules 2016.

The treatment of used sanitary waste was taken up employing different methods depending on what people thought it was- Solid Waste (went to landfills) or biomedical waste (incinerated). You will find both these methods of disposal prevalent in India owing to two different understanding of sanitary waste category and here too, lack of consensus and collective effort is missing altogether.

MHM PROGRAMMING IN DIFFERENT STATES IN INDIA: Different states within India reached different levels of MHM awareness, sanitary material choice and production and disposal depending on the performance of its government, civil society and NGOs. Here too lack of standardization was seen; while in few places’ incineration was banned after reaching a conclusion on its ill effects to health from impartial or low temperature burning of used sanitary napkins in other places schools were being fitted with incinerators of different types and models. In cities, use of cloth based re-usable pads have become popular and so have menstrual cups while in rural pockets, disposal sanitary napkins are not just popular but the only available solution. Even these rural regions are connected to the rest of the world through social media and may have access to the advocacy of sustainable menstruation but lack access to choices in reality. If only the deliberation had been collective a lot of resources and efforts would have been saved and a comprehensive and effective MHM program would have yielded a greater impact.

MHM, NGOS/CSOs MOVEMENT: In the NGO/CSO and development partners sector several innovative, effective and impactful initiatives have been implemented, the sad part being they were localised in regions where the organizations operated, were project based and therefore subject to a time-frame for as long as the project lasted or the cross pollination between organizations failed to take off to facilitate the replication of best practices at scale.

A shift from FMCG manufactured disposable sanitary napkins to decentralised production of sanitary napkins resulted in affordability and accessibility of sanitary napkins among the lower economic level segment and at the same time giving income to women who were making these sanitary napkins. In Uttar Pradesh and few other states, the district Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) department sponsored the production of low- cost sanitary napkins, their marketing and distribution involving schools and education institutions, SHGs, NGOs, ASHAs, local dispensaries.

MHM AND ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION: In others parts of the country, biodegradable and eco-friendly sanitary pads made of banana, pineapple even corn fibre and also of cotton cloth picked up pace and menstrual cups made an entry. The vocabulary and the tone used in relation to menstruation all underwent review and scrutiny from the heightened sensitization. A movement to question the choice of name by “Whisper” brand of disposal sanitary napkins was also started on the logic that the name signifies the presence of shame around menstruation when it was a natural phenomenon and nothing to be ashamed about. When menstrual cups and tampons began to be considered as new options available for the modern women, it carried the stigma of ‘insertion technology’ which was met with resistance, fear and suspicion. The issue of early interruption of virginity in girls was central to this resistance. Though domestic companies’ production made it possible to get menstrual cups for lower price as compared to cups imported from abroad that could go up to Rs.3000 a piece, but there was a varying range of quality and uptake of this sanitary innovation. Inspite of these developments, sustainable menstruation came to stay and menstrual cups, reusable and eco-friendly products swarmed the discussions, social media and conferences but strangely, they did not dominate the market and have remained limited to online marketing.

MHM AND HUMAN RIGHTS: The waste management process is experiencing multiple challenges like the lack of awareness, interest in citizens and stringent rules to segregate the waste people generate into dry waste, wet waste and biomedical and sanitary waste at source. The common norm is mixed waste and people are hardly segregating used sanitary materials at home or workplace. This puts the entire burden on waste pickers and sanitation workers in the chain for segregation and sanitary waste along with biomedical waste pose as a health risk for frontline workers. Collection, transportation (dry, wet, biomedical waste separately inside the vehicle or separate vehicles for different types of waste),segregation, treatment or recycling of waste, limiting space available for dumping in landfills with progress of time, toxicity from the waste lying in the open in the dumping grounds causing environment pollution, the risk of frontline waste workers in these massive landfills along with the stigma of sanitation workers and waste management workers.

In Pune the Red Dot Campaign was in that way a very significant citizen led movement of segregation of sanitary waste at source using a red bindi on the garbage bag carrying used sanitary to help waste pickers identify its content and treat it likewise. There is no reason why this best practice can’t be scaled across the country.

MHM, BOLLYWOOD, FILMS AND ENTERTAINMENT: A film on periods won the Oscars and Bollywood made two important films - Padman and Toilet, Ek Prem Katha sponsored by Government of India which were significant for both the WASH and MHM sector. The films reached the remotest villages and even district administrations organized mass screenings in village or cluster level so that where workshops, nukkad natak street plays and lectures failed, Bollywood will never fail with people in India. While one was aimed to increase the building and using of toilets, the other put the spotlight on the need to end isolation and stigma of menstruating girls and women and developing affordable sanitary pads.

MHM AND COLLABORATIONS WITHIN THE GOVERNMENT/CIVIL SOCIETY: There are many NGOs and CSOs working on different aspects of MHM program. However, there is a need for facilitating linkages to all these programs and foster multi sectoral collaborations with an aim to take the MHM agenda beyond health, water and sanitation, education and livelihood to touch industry, IT, environment, waste management, media, entertainment, human rights, police, administration, defence establishments, corporate, legal aspects and any other spaces and last but not the least, ensure all the stakeholders across India are ‘on the same page’ on awareness, sanitary materials and disposal mechanism.

In one corner, a district administration is spending crores in procurement, installation of incinerators in schools, hostels and colleges, training on use and maintenance and hiring of staff for its working while in the same country, one school of thought has reached a conclusion that incineration cannot be the method employed for safe disposal of sanitary waste.

Confusion, waste of precious resources, conflict and ineffective programming are results of not 'coming together.' Standardization of the different components of the MHM program across India is the need of the hour.

Multi sectoral linkages and collaboration is the way forward for menstrual hygiene management sector and aiming to develop into an independent and robust program can do justice to the 355 million menstruating girls and women in India.

Urmila Chanam

According to the legends of the Tangkhul Naga community inhabiting the village, a princess once lived on the hill with her lover Shirui and after her death she still continues to live in Shirui Hills waiting for her lover to return. Shirui Lily comes from the soil where the princess was buried. Several other mythologies around Shirui Lily have been passed down over generations; tales told by the indigenous people of Ukhrul with much love and awe for the flower.

The pride of Manipur now faces a crisis of possible extinction in the future and has been categorised as an ‘endangered species’ where the plant genetic resources are getting eroded over time.

The plant which was reported to be 5 ft tall in 1948 has exhibited progressive dwarfing over the years where its height dropped to 1-3 ft in 2011 (Meitei,2011) to decrease further to an average plant height of 0.262– 0.328 ft only and a maximum height of 0.984 ft as per a field study by scientists in December 2015.

Even its area of distribution has been altered significantly over the years where the plant that used to grow abundantly from the first peak onwards was found growing only from the third peak onwards in 2011. Since 2015 Shirui Lily can be found growing only in the seventh peak of the Shirui Hills.

WHAT IS CAUSING DESTRUCTION AND DECLINE

Scientists have been engaged in research with an aim to identify the factors which endanger the survival and multiplication of Shirui Lily and develop scientific interventions to regenerate and conserve Shirui Lily. The research has established the cause of decline of Shirui Lily to be climate change, environmental degradation, irresponsible tourists and over exploitation, and incorrect conservation approaches like forest fire coupled with the invasion of the habitat of Shirui Lily by a dwarf bamboo species ‘Machun’.

Dr. Tabitha Langhu from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Manipur Centre in Imphal pointed out that Shirui Lily grows best in the peak of the Shirui Hills as it requires cold climate and high velocity of wind but due to climate change as a global phenomenon, the place is much warmer now. Climate plays an important role in the survival and multiplication of the plant.

Even the approach employed by the local community to conserve Shirui Lily through lighting forest fire based on their belief that it will serve to increase the humus of the soil, reduce the growth of invasive species in the habitat and help Shirui Lily to flourish is also an incorrect and harmful practice. These forest fires burn down the seeds and the fragile seedlings thereby decreasing the population and retarding the growth of the plant bearing Shirui Lily besides raising the temperature of the plant habitat.

The scientists who have spent several years in research on Shirui Lily explain how tourists stamp on the plant while walking in the habitat, pluck the flowers or even uproot them which ultimately reduces the regeneration of the plant species besides littering the ecosystem with plastic bottles, disposable cups and plates and polluting the environment (Tabitha Langhu, Nandeibam Samarjit Singh and Huidrom Sunitibala Devi.2016, Effect of Various Factors Which Endanger The Survival And Multiplication of Lilium Mackliniae Sealy, The State Flower of Manipur. Int J Recent Sci Res. 7(2), pp.8725=8727).

EFFORTS TO SAVE SHIRUI LILY FROM EXTINCTION

Scientists advocate to leave Shirui Lily as it is to nature and assure us that nature is capable of healing it without human interruption caused by forest fire and unguided tourists.

Scientists Manas Ranjan Sahoo, Mayengbam Premi Devi, Madhumita Dasgupta, Narendra Prakash and Shishom Vanao Ngachan from ICAR Research Complex for the North Eastern Region, Manipur Center, Imphal have developed an efficient protocol for the micropropagation of Shirui Lily and their research can address the challenges of Shirui Lily’s survivability in its natural habitat (An efficient protocol for in vitro regeneration and conservation of Shirui lily (Lilium mackliniae Sealy): a lab-to-lab approach to save the rare endangered Asiatic lily species). Such conservation approaches could be helpful to save Shirui Lily from extinction in a sustainable way.

Giving priority to research can go a long way to conserve Shirui Lily because that alone can provide evidence on the magnitude of the crisis, the area of intervention and the tools of intervention failing which the species has a high likelihood of vanishing from its natural habitat. Currently, research is limited to just academic pursuits in Manipur without application either by the government or any development agency.

Scientists have recommended a list of actions that can be taken by the government, both Central and State, like establishing a weather forecast station in Ukhrul that can monitor the rise of temperature and assist the research on Shirui Lily survival and multiplication, and a centre for Tissue Culture which can overcome the barriers experienced by research personnel in obtaining plant specimen from the habitat and loss of specimen due to logistics.

Collaboration between central government research institutions, Manipur University, the line departments within Manipur State Government like Forest, Environment, Agriculture, Horticulture, Rural Development, Tourism, and District Administration, civil society, media and the community in Ukhrul can go a long way in raising awareness on protection of Shirui Lily and implementation of conservation initiatives.

The Shirui Lily Festival is organized by the Department of Tourism and Manipur State Government every year since 2017 to spread awareness about Shirui drawing thousands of tourists from within the state and other parts of India and other countries. Live music and Shirock, the annual international rock festival of Manipur, cultural shows, traditional dances, folk songs, beauty pageant, exhibits, indigenous games and sports competitions like the Shirui Lily Mountain Bike Downhill Race Championship will mark the four- day long festival from 16th-19th October 2019.

VOICES OF THE COMMUNITY

The community especially the youth and elders are doing what they can to conserve Shirui Lily but they lack scientific and accurate know-how. Mr. Ngachan Luirei, Convenor of Local Organizing Committee from Shirui Village in a discussion over the progress in the village owing to recognition and importance attributed to Shirui Lily and celebration of Shirui Lily Festival informed that the government was investing in infrastructure in the village that would enhance festival celebration and tourism considerably.

He added, “There is a danger of only making home stays, guest houses, beautiful venues and facilities for use either during the festival or for tourists coming to Ukhrul at other times of the year without equal importance given to protect Shirui Lily. Imagine what will tourists see if Shirui Lily becomes extinct one day?”

Mr. Khavangpam Wungsek, the village headman of Shirui Village shared about what Shirui Lily means to the indigenous people of Ukhrul. “Shirui Lily is the identity of people of Ukhrul and people from around the world are getting connected to us only because of Shirui Lily. Even the support that we are receiving from the government and foreigners is directed to Ukhrul because of Shirui Lily.”

The village headman pointed out how for many tourists, taking a selfie with Shirui Lily has become more important than ensuring they do not cause destruction to the plant or the flower.

Just when the global spotlight is on mitigation of climate change, focussing on conservation of Shirui Lily will include attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 13 on Climate Action and Sustainable Development Goal 15 on Life on Land which are global goals set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 for the year 2030. At country level NITI Ayog was established by the Government of India to attain the SDGs. The Manipur State Government may develop its annual budget focused on the attainment of SDG 13 and 15 with a 3-year action plan and a 7-year strategy plan to protect the endangered Shirui Lily.

Urmila Chanam

Being a domestic help exposes women to the household undercurrent, feuds, power dynamics and violence, they are witness to what's happening within the family and at times, receive it themselves too. It's also cumbersome to leave and find another household where payment and services offered are complimentary.

One of the most significant concern among women who work as domestic help in Bangalore(India) is the apprehension of advances from the men in the household. These women are easy targets of sexual advances or abuse in the absence of other women family members or sometimes right under their nose. They have accounts of complaining to the women in the family but getting fired from the job and instead of relief, getting blamed for the incident. These incidents travel by word of mouth in the locality further affecting employment opportunities in other households or giving men the wrong notion that they are available.

The young woman who has been the biggest help to me in the past one year she has been working with me, did not wear her silver anklet at home. When I asked her the reason she told me,

" The house that I work in is very silent and when my anklet makes sound when I walk , I feel embarrassed because the family has many male members. I removed my anklet because I don't want to direct their attention towards me. I don't want any problem."

To find a women headed household is a blessing for women in this job as they can avoid unwanted attention from men in the houselhold.

The professional hazards for women who clean homes include back pain and constant fever, cough and cold from working with water the whole day and also headache. "I clean, wash, cook, shop for vegetables and home supplies for others but when I get home I am so tired I don't feel like cleaning my house or even cooking." This is another professional hazard- not having time or stamina for self and family.

This young woman has completed 20 years of work as a domestic help becuase she has very little opportunities other than this with no education.

She recollects how small she had been when she had first begun working at seven years that the woman of the household assigned her only one job, to sit with the children in the house and play with them because that was all she could do. They would even feed her like the family children, give her old clothes and toys, even make her sleep in the afternoon. She doesnt remember their names or the address, she only remembers their kindness to her. One day the woman informed her that they are moving to another part of Bangalore and that was the last she saw of them. Even in twenty years she hasn't forgotten them and tells that they are the best family she has worked for.

Never having received education makes women lack skills to remember names, time, location etc.

With long hours of work and atleast three to four households to attend to on a daily basis, money is not enough to support their family in an expensive city as Bengaluru, so informal micro credit systems/chit systems are common among women.

These women who work in others' homes sometimes form a community or informal groups, loaning money to each other, helping each other find new homes to work in and sometimes, if one is sick or due to family problems cannot attend work for a period of time as long as even a month, one of her friends or a substitute from the group offers to fill in so that the original domestic help does not lose out of her job in the long run.

Even more touching was to hear that she never went to school as a child though two out of her five siblings did some schooling as they were much older and were already in school when their mother passed away. Their father used to work in a factory and after their mother's demise when she had been five years, the most he could do was cook for them and lock them in the house till he returned at 8 PM everyday. It was not possible to take them and bring them back from school during day time when he was at the factory which was very far. This meant no schooling for the children.

Her joint pain has been assigned to calcium deficieny which has its roots from a childhood where she was not fed milk or nutritious food due to poverty and lack of care at home after mother's death. Even now she is underweight.

Few days ago on 26th July 2019, I participated in a Twitter chat under the theme 'Women at work' and 'Gender stereotyping at the workplace' organised by SheThePeopleTV where questions like what can be done to see more women at workplace or how gender stereotyping manifests at workplace were being raised to mobilize discussions.

I found that these questions do not accomodate the reality of women in unorganised sector or from lower income groups like women who are working in others' homes as domestic help. Workplace can never be just offices but for many women in India, even other's homes are their workplace. Further, these women are beyond the ambit of urban discussions or in our elite panels. They are busy working and not within the radar of either media or social media. But to not know they exist and not count them in the woman workforce and their contribution to the economy would be a big mistake because they are running their homes with their income.

There are several areas that this story suggests which can be possible interventions - mother's death at a young age when daughters are still in their pre-school years, single parent/widower headed family with multiple children to look after, empathetic policies in workplace for such single parent and multiple children families, education options for children from difficult situations and a unique examination provision for such children to not lose out completely on education, nutrition of children, support and safety systems for women working in homes or in unorganised sector, child care or day care facilities, hostel for children, micro-credit, insurance and other social welfare schemes that could provide support in local transportation, food supply, health care and medications, counselling for domestic violence, depression, anxiety and hopelessness and so on.

The narative on gender and workplace needs to accomodate women from all economic levels and profession, even those women who are unable to represent themselves in these conversations.

This was also my pitch at the Twitter Chat.

#domestichelp #WomenAtWork #India

Urmila Chanam

In a 2010 study by A.C. Nielson it was found that only 12% of menstruating women in India use sanitary napkins while 88% use unhygienic materials like old fabric, rags, or sand due to affordability issues and deep-rooted myths and taboos that create an illusion that menstruation is shameful, polluting, and dirty. Twenty-three percent of girls were reported to be leaving school at the onset of puberty and menstruation, and millions live in the dark about what menstruation is; what sanitary material to use; the importance of hygiene and self-care; and the necessity of educating our daughters.

Over the years, with global activism and grassroots intervention led by development agencies, the data is gradually changing. The percentage of menstruating girls and women who use sanitary napkins has risen from 12% to 36% (National Family Health Survey-4, 2015-2016: India Fact Sheet). But a new problem is emerging: Over 1 billion non-compostable sanitary pads are making their way to urban sewage systems, landfills, rural fields, and water bodies in India every month posing a hazard to humans, animals, and the environment.

There is an aspect that remains unchanged and that is the isolation of menstruating girls and women observed in varying degrees as per region, religion or community. Out of every 100 girls, 77 cannot enter places of worship or pray, 50 cannot touch other people or special food items, and 26 are forced to sleep separately during their periods (van Eijk et all (2016).

In November 2018, in Tamil Nadu, a 14-year old girl died in a cyclone after being forced to sleep separately in a hut isolated from the house because she was menstruating.

I know that we can undo the damage done so far by being agents of change. I know that statistics and stories like these can be created anew—but we first must break the silence and speak out publicly about taboos.

In my work at the grassroots level, I have come to believe that it is vanity to discuss women’s empowerment just amongst ourselves, as women, without also educating men. It is ineffective to approach menstrual hygiene without garnering support from our partners in life and those who control the family resources in a patriarchal society like India.

I have found that menstrual hygiene initiatives led by NGOs and the government are focused on raising awareness amongst mothers, daughters, and girls. But, I ask, what is the benefit of only raising awareness amongst females when the decisions related to what happens at home, schools, hospitals, and office places are actually made by men folk?

For instance, 130 million of India’s households lack toilets, leaving women and girls with many challenges to manage their menstruation hygienically and in privacy. Involvement of men is absolutely necessary to ensure that women can have the infrastructure and facilities needed to manage menstruation, things like functional toilets; clean water to wash; soap, and disposal systems that are safe, environmentally friendly, and private.

That’s why the idea for the Men Take Lead Ride came to me three years back.

On 26 May, to commemorate International Menstrual Hygiene Day, Breaking the Silence, in partnership with India Bull Riders and Radio Active 90.4 MHz, led a bike rally in Bengaluru to call for an end to isolation of menstruating girls and women.

We had close to 120 bikers who rode a distance of 40kms in the heart of the city, signifiying the 40 years a woman menstruates in her lifetime. The ride ended with pledge-taking led by men. Men took oaths to never isolate girls and women during their periods and, in the incidence of its occurrence, to intervene and sensitize others.

This is the second time I have organized the Men Take Lead Ride, the first being in the 2017. The event was recognized as one the leading events in the world happening on International Menstrual Hygiene Day by MH Day Secretariat and WASH United.

The Men Take Lead Ride is not just a bike ride on Menstrual Hygiene Day; it’s a movement involving many, especially men, to make menstrual hygiene a reality. What began as a deep conversation between me and Nujo John, my friend, one evening three years ago has given shape to a bike ride and a social movement that is changing the way menstruation is discussed and experienced in India.

We will ride again on 2 June 2019 in Kolkata, and we will ride in 2020 in different cities across India.

We ride because during periods, girls and women are pushed out of the kitchen and away from food items.

During periods, girls and women must sleep in different rooms, outside the house, in the barn where cattle are kept, in isolated huts away from the main household.

We ride because, during periods, girls and women are made to not interact with or touch others.

During periods, girls and women are not considered ‘pure’ enough to engage in any worship or spiritual activity.

We ride because the stigma and taboos attached to menstruation erode human rights and take away the dignity and self-respect of women and girls and affect our safety.

We ride to call for societal change. We ride because together we can change the way women experience menstruation stigma and shame.

Urmila Chanam

I had just finished eating the generous lunch gifted to me and was getting drowsy when another neighbour brought me more food including meals made up of biryani, curries, salads, kebabs, sweets freshly made at home. I asked the good samaritan salwar kameez clad young woman, " Where have I seen you before? ," to which she replied that she was my next door neighbor's sister and lived in another locaility after marriage. "Eid mubarak," she said with a warm broad smile.

I had so much food given to me that not only did I have a sumptous lunch but I would have an interesting dinner as well. The smiles, love, joy were also lingering all throughout the day, making my day a happy one.

I remember how many people had asked me if I was not apprehensive moving into a muslim dominated locality being a Christian wnen I shifted into my new house a little over two years ago. It took me just a couple of days to realize my house was right in the middle of several mosques with loud microphones to relay the namaz, the periodic prayers. I also faced a busy market street making it even more noisy most parts of the day, even late nights. But gradually over time I got used to the noise and way of life and nothing manages to disturb my sleep or work anymore.

Today I felt blessed to be here living in a muslim locality among them. Pampered. Loved. Included.My neighbor made my day special. Its a life changing gesture that deserves to be paid in kind. There is nothing like love to spiral how we feel about others and life in general.

Last night I was with my close friends on the eve of Eid at Mosque Road in Frazer Town, Bengaluru( India) for the Ramadan Food Festival that happens every year with stalls spilling into the streets with the most delicious meat preparations including fish, chicken, mutton, camel meat and so on. Thankfully it was a cool evening with some breeze to neutralise the effect of the barbeques and kebabs being cooked out in the street and the huge crowd of people which had gathered. I enjoyed different arabic delicacies with my northeastern friends Rini Ralte and Mamawii Boitlung. Among all the things we ate, worth mentioning are Pita, yeast leavened round flat breads, one of the tastiest bread I have eaten with Hummus a chutney made of chick peas, onions and olive oil, all Arabic delicacies. We walked back home talking about the festival, people, their customs and food.

From what I have experienced, I know one thing for sure that if we can live among people who are different from us, celebrate their festivals like our own, eat and enjoy their food and beverages, accept, accomodate, appreciate their worship and accomodate and celebrate our uniqueness, there would be no scope for divisive forces to create misunderstandings between people and use one another to create hate around the word. Eid al-Fitr is a reason to love one another.

Eid mubarak to you.

By Urmila Chanam, citizen journalist and columnist

Urmila Chanam

The female Amur falcon named ‘Tamenglong’ took a non-stop five day long migratory journey from 19th November and reached Somalia on 24th November.

To the people of Tamenglong, an isolate district which did not have proper roads till recently and suffers from long spells of power cut, Amur falcon Tamenglong’s intercontinental flight is being equated to hope for development to reach the people of the region. Meanwhile, the male Amur falcon named ‘Manipur’ was met by ill fate and killed by hunters in Kebuching bordering Tamenglong and Noney.

By sheer coincidence it cannot be that the female Amur falcons have an orange eye-ring, a red cere and reddish orange feet as if nature has color-coded these birds to the function that they have in orange farming. These birds that touch the shores of three continents- Asia, Africa and Europe during its migration, feed on insects and termites, the same kind that are destroying orange trees in Tamenglong thereby preventing destruction of rice, other crops, vegetables and fruits in particularly orange trees. Farmers who have been growing oranges for nearly 50 years and with families who have grown oranges for more than five generations assign good harvest to Amur falcons and call for people to stop hunting them.

Famous for its sweet and pulpy oranges, Tamenglong mandarin and the Indian Wild Orange or Citrus indica, Tamenglong has rich biodiversity- tropical evergreen forests, plants, medicinal plants, different varieties of trees, animals, insects and birds and people not only possess good knowledge about the flora and fauna but also proactively work to protect it.

In a discussion with elders at the Traditional Custom Art and Culture Society in Dailong village, a biodiversity heritage site, they shared how they had managed to maintain the biggest bio reserve forest by putting in place rules that ban hunting of birds and animals and steps they had undertaken to protect the plants, trees, medicinal plants, fruit trees in the village. They are also guided by tribal beliefs on use of natural resources like water from springs and fountains.

The Chairman of Village Authority of Dailong village. Mr. Keijinbui shared an age- old belief, “Our forefathers told us never to sell water in exchange for money, benefits or services. We were warned that if we sell water our source of water will dry up.”

Elders mention animals found here to include Bengal Tiger that passes through the Assam border into Tamenglong and has been spotted by farmers in the ‘Longkhui’ forest and ‘Khwaikhou’ cliff area, monkey, porcupine, deer, wild cat, leopard, fruit bat, giant squirrel locally known as ‘Joukluk’, a foul smelling white coloured rat-like animal locally known as ‘Adoi’, wild boar ‘Chabuam’, omnivorous civet ‘Ahui’ which climbs trees and eats banana, pangolin ‘Mphou’, hyaena, ‘Sabu’, ‘Tampuang’, ‘Tampong sammei’.

Jungle fowl ‘Arit’, bamboo patridge ‘Amukna’, blue vented bulbul and birds locally known as ‘Roisong’, ‘Tengpangriang’ a migratory bird, ‘Zeipui’ feathers of which are used in making head accessories during the cultural dance of Rongmei Nagas, ‘Aringa’, ‘Nquina’ the sweetest sounding bird, ‘Angau’ a bird which sings only in a particular time during the day served as time keeper in olden times for farmers to guide them when to go to the field, midday and when to return home and Amur falcon ‘Akhuaipuina’ are birds found in Tamenglong. ‘Phengphengpui’ is a unique butterfly which takes colour of the flower it sits on and makes a ‘pheng’ sound at night.

Many medicinal plants grow abundantly in Tamenglong and people rely on these rather than on medicines. ‘Tadi’ medicinal plant roots can be boiled and applied on feet for relieving pain. The bark of ‘Lengchi’ tree is pounded and applied on an open wound for instant coagulation of blood from injury by farmers. The bark of ‘Parin’ is also used for stopping bleeding. Secretion from ‘Tamanloi’ plant when applied on eyes cures eye infections and blurred vision. ‘Taji’ plant leaves are used as anti- malarial. The roots and leaves of creeper ‘Banamloi’ are used for healing fractured bones either by applying its paste. If boiled and consumed it relives stomach pain, gastritis and dysentery. ‘Japanpunui’ medicinal plant is anti- diarrhoeal. People also believe that drinking water from the perennial spring ‘Phuduikhunpang’ located 3 km from Dailong will cure them of all diseases.

Very little is known about this beautiful hill district in Manipur which is home to vibrant tribal cultures of Rongmei, Liangmei, Zemei, Inpui and Kuki tribes of Manipur, the people are driven to preserve their forests, landscape spotted with orange orchards and drained by rivers Barak, Irang, Makhru, Iring, Ijei and Apah. Tamenglong is also the birthplace of Haipou Jadonang (1905-1931) the freedom fighter, patriot and martyr who was hanged by the British on 29th August 1931 in Imphal Jail on false charges of murder. I, however, will always choose Tamenglong as my holiday destination for its Amur falcons.

Urmila Chanam

The best orange grower competition is held to instil a sense of competition among orange farmers, award them for their hard work, identify orange champions and set best practices and standards. Tamenglong Oranges also known as Tamenglong mandarin is believed to be one of the best orange varieties in the world. Tamenglong is also home to another wild species called Citrus indica. A conscious effort was made by the district administration to keep orange cultivation, its marketing and interests of orange farmers at the centre of the annual festival.

In an interview with orange farmers who manned their orange stalls during the festival, winner Mrs Gaigupliu Gonmei brought 2200 orange fruits for sale, earned an income of Rs.12,000 and was left with about 400 oranges unsold. She stressed on the need to protect the orange trees from infection from insects and pests and shared her success mantra of using crushed neem leaves paste or application of neem potion on infected leaves and manually removing insects from trunks, leaves or fruits with a needle. She recommends clearance and weeding at least four times a year and does not use fertilizer, insecticide or pesticide on her orange trees which were planted by her father and are more than 50 years old.

Not all orange farmers are happy. Dindu, from Chaengdai village did a business of less than Rs.10,000 and is not certain if it’s a great idea to come all the way from his village leaving his home and farm for almost 5 days, spend a sizeable amount of money on boarding and lodging for himself and one more helper and secure earnings lower than what he would have earned from sales in his village.

Meilan from Sibilong village wishes there had been seating arrangement in the stalls because he stood for long hours and additionally, faced difficulty in leaving his stall either to go to the toilet or attend the seminar that had been arranged for orange growers.

Abui Pamei from Chaengdai village suggested the reason of low sales of oranges in the festival as compared to previous years could be because too many activities had been organized parallel to orange market.

A one- day seminar organized for orange farmers on 9th December centred around the theme, “Orange: Perspective, Problems and Potentials” was attended by close to 300 orange farmers, researchers and experts from Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), Central Agricultural University (CAU) and media. The discourse aimed to build capacity of orange farmers in different aspects of orange cultivation and marketing and focussed on cultural practices for sustainable production of Tamenglong orange, soil management for sustainable production, plant protection for sustainable production, post-harvest management with special reference to orange, organic certification and value chain and the vital role of media and market linkage of oranges in the global market.

The outcome of the seminar is identification of the gap to be the lack of information that’s percolating to the orange farmers and the community from the line departments. The district administration has decided to devise a robust knowledge dissemination mechanism through compilation of the seminar content and clear instructions, do’s and don’ts into IEC material and its distribution to farmers.

The Chief Minister of Manipur, Shri N. Biren Singh in the opening ceremony had recommended formation of committees at district level constituted of technical experts, researchers and orange farmers and monthly meetings as a way to ensure hand-holding support to orange farmers

The Orange Festival saw a host of exciting sub-events and activities for nature lovers and tourists like kayaking and rafting at Barak river, trekking to Tharon cave and waterfalls, camping at Dailong bio-diversity heritage site, talent competition, rock concert for music lovers in the evenings where famous Sikkim band Girish and the Chronicles shared the stage with other bands like The Wishess, Resurrection, Search & Found, Eros, Fine Mess, Flying Paper, Faith 100 and Christina Shakum and Jajai.

The most significant milestone achieved by the 15th State Level Orange Festival is shifting the narrative from just celebration of Tamenglong oranges to engaging with multiple stakeholders to protect, preserve, enhance orange production and marketing.

Radio Active 90.4 MHz, Bengaluru’s first community radio channel broadcasted ‘Northeast Ki Awaaz’ dedicated to 15 State Level Orange Festival based on experience sharing with orange farmers, civil society and interaction with Chief Minister of Manipur. Radio Mirchi and Mirchi Love, the most popular commercial radio channel will broadcast a program on Tamenglong Orange Festival on 12th December 2018 between 7-10 AM.

Urmila Chanam

We will move from one milestone to another, together and fighting for our rights to equality. 

Urmila Chanam

“Our forefathers laid down clear instructions that water from the springs in our village should not be sold to another person, village or organization or exchanged for goods or service failing which the source of water will dry up.”

Dailong’s water reservoir with its four major tanks built by the Public Health Engineering Department supplies untreated water from the brooks to 275 households, a population of over 2000.

The village receives umpteenth requests for water from their reservoir from neighbouring villages and even government departments during lean months and has given water without ever charging money for it. The villagers recite an incident of how the spring dried up in a village which sold its water.

The peculiar attribute of water in Tamenglong is its kinetic energy, ability to flow down from the hill, move parallel on levelled ground and go uphill without use of power. It is ideally suited for Hydel Projects which will provide uninterrupted electricity in the district which faces month- long power cuts.

Tamenglong has abundant natural water and sufficient rain fall with major rivers being Barak, Irang and Makhu Rivers and streams like Tinglup, Apah, Liangti and Apin and a history of hydel projects, none completed or functional owing to reasons known and unknown.

The Hydel Project at Dailong visible from the main road wears a deserted look. The cause of failure is attributed to poor planning and design; the turbines are huge but the water reservoir is small and not suited.

What is most intriguing being how the Government of Manipur has shelved this hydel project and several others in the past without making an effort to understand what went wrong, how it can be corrected, coming up with better designs, engaging the community and working on producing electricity from water energy.

The story goes that government officials do not make an effort to visit Tamenglong and those who do fly in a chopper instead of coming on the Imphal to Tamenglong highway.

‘If the government officials and ministers do not take the road, how will they know how people of Tamenglong are surviving with the worst roads in the country?’

Tamenglong District is known as the “Orange Bowl” of Manipur as the largest producer of oranges in the state and hosts the annual Orange Festival in the month of December every year. It is endowed with virgin forests, exotic orchids, rare and endangered plants and wildlife. Varieties of cane and bamboo, thatch grass is in abundance and so are fruits like wild banana, apple, cherry, walnut, mangoes, passion fruit.

There is immense scope for production of bio-degradable sanitary pads from banana fibre in Tamenglong. Green menstruation is the current national conversation on menstrual hygiene focussed on production, use and promotion of eco-friendly and bio-degradable sanitary pads in contrast to the commercial sanitary pads that contain plastic, may cause cancer, takes close to 500 years to degenerate, absorbs ground water and contaminates water bodies posing one of the most urgent environment concerns that needs prioritizing.

The district government is keen to enhance availability and accessibility of sanitary napkins under the leadership of its former Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Armstrong Pame, IAS. Plans on installing sanitary napkin vending machines in public places may be replaced with production of banana fibre sanitary napkins as is being done by Saathi Eco Innovations India Pvt. Ltd in Gujarat. Teeratan Enterprises in Goa is making Sakhi Biodegradable sanitary pads from pineapple fibre and sales is managed by Amazon an online shopping app.

The church, community, youth, women groups, teachers and institutions and voluntary organizations are the best partners for bringing development in Tamenglong. The Rain Forest Club is working on conserving nature and wildlife in the district and is focused on raising awareness on environmental pollution and degradation and its effects on health and economy. Groups like these which are driven by aspiring youth are best suited to lead citizen movements on sustainable and green menstruation.

After ensuring availability of sanitary napkins it is equally important to make them accessible and this is where the bad condition of roads in Tamenglong pose as the biggest barrier. Duiluan Part I village and Gwangram village within Tamenglong sub-division, Zingning village and Thoucham within Tousem village, Apo ningdi village and Iheng village are some of the places in the district where the road condition is so bad that only Shaktiman truck can move or in most cases no vehicles can ply on these roads.

Villagers share about the allocation of a plastic commode and two sheets of tin to every household for construction of toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission(Gramin) unlike the monetary incentive of Rs. 12,000 given to each household in the rest of India. It’s a joke in the village because none of these plastic commodes are being used by people who say the tin sheets cannot be used for roofing either because they are thin and wind makes them flip.

In the hill districts of Manipur, the Panchayat system does not exist at the village level and it is the Village Authority headed by the village chief that functions in its place.

Rich natural resources, flora and fauna have not led to development of infrastructure and facilities in this hill district of Tamenglong in northeast India.

Breaking the Silence, a campaign that focusses on education on menstrual hygiene through schools and institutions and the community is working in Tamenglong district to understand the barriers in terms of water, sanitation and hygiene and recommendations to the government to address them.

Urmila Chanam

The village economy centred around gathering food and firewood, some kitchen gardening, little variety stores here and there, shows no sign of presence of small-scale industry or enterprise dependent on electricity.

The 150 household strong settlement inhabited by the Tangkhul Nagas of Manipur lives in absolute darkness where women leave their homes at the crack of dawn to return in the evening after they have gathered enough from the forest in dark, where children have very little time left for study after school due to not having light, where the youth’s aspirations for an industry or enterprise lies dormant, the community is forced to live in darkness in all seasons- hot, cold and rainy season with no power- driven heating mechanisms possible in homes, making the slushy roads dangerous for travellers in vehicle or foot and practically no entertainment or television or mobile all because someone in the authority does not care enough.

The same woman defines what electricity means to her,

“If my village was electrified I could have spotted it from above the hills above when I return at the end of the day. What joy it would be to navigate through the dark and reach home.”

The transformer lies dilapidated in the centre of the village.

The village authority elders recite how electricity lines were laid way back in 1998, the village enjoyed electricity only briefly for seven days after which the electricity supply halted abruptly. The village elders approached the Electricity Department and raised complaint with the Ukhrul District Administration umpteenth times over the years but no one from the department or district government ever came to the village to enquire, investigate or repair.

What is stranger than the level of government negligence is how recently, in the month of April 2018, a team arrived to check the problem and concluded that the transformer was not working because people had not paid their electricity bill. Now villagers are unable to reason out a pending bill when they have never used any electricity in 20 years!

Villagers living in this remote and rural parts of Manipur are being denied the most basic infrastructure and facility as electricity and have been treated with utmost disrespect for their needs taking their innocence and simplicity for granted.

This is evidently a far cry from the optimistic claims of the ‘Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana’ also called the ‘Saubhagya Scheme’ to provide electricity connections to every household in every part of the country.

In September 2017, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi promised in his speech,

“The government will connect each house with electricity, whether it is in village, a city or in remote locations. No poor person will have to pay for the connection, a connection without spending a rupee. We have decided that no poor person will bear this burden.”

The government of India has invested Rs.16,000 crore on this program and several other schemes have been in operation since 2015 to give poor people free power connections. These schemes have not reached Tangkhul Hungdung Khullen with no certainty if they ever will.

The levels of government negligence do not end here. The Primary Health Centre in Tangkhul Hungdung Khullen got burned down way back in 1979 and people are living with no public health care facility for 39 years. Villagers say that few nurses were cooking in firewood when the fire burnt down the building that lies unrepaired, unattended with no effort to build a new one and establish heath care facility. A nurse visits the village once or twice in a year.

It is yet to be known what kind of diseases, epidemic or health related challenges the villagers live with in the absence of any monitoring effort. This is at a time when the National Health Mission and health initiatives of development partners and NGOs have several innovations to reach the community more frequently and effectively with employment of front line workers.

If people working in the government practice ethic and agree to leave the comforts of their home in Imphal or Ukhrul district headquarters, then the entitlements of the common man may be achieved. While corruption at source may be the biggest challenge in Manipur, corruption in implementation of government programs by responsible personnel cannot be overlooked.

The observations belong to Breaking the Silence 2018 Manipur Campaign that works in Ukhrul to educate communities on women’s health with emphasis on facilities and infrastructure needed to achieve menstrual hygiene and conducted district level mass awareness programs for adolescent girls in schools and the community in partnership with the church, village authority, elders, youth and women.

Urmila Chanam

Ministry of Human Resource Development operationalizes the National Guidelines for menstrual hygiene management in schools with corresponding budget allocations.

The government of India is implementing a combination of innovations to reach adolescent girls and boys in schools, in the community and those living in difficult situations under different ministries and schemes. The Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya scheme offers residential schools with boarding facilities so that girls belonging to disadvantaged groups of society like Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, minority communities and below the poverty line can access quality education at elementary level. In Uttar Pradesh these residential schools get free sanitary napkins from the government to distribute to their students free of cost.

Can these benefits reach school girls and boys, their families and communities in Manipur if there exists a lack of ownership on the part of school teachers working in the government, the school administration and the Education department? The best of policies and programs die a natural death where corruptions exists not just at source but in different phases of implementation of government programs and where work ethic and leadership do not exist.

In a field visit to Tangkhul Hungdung Khullen, a village about 65 km from Imphal and on interaction with school students three types of teachers were found to exist within the government school system. The first type of teacher is the one that is appointed by the government and is under the regular pay roll of Education Department but unwilling to take charge of his/her posting in the village and assigns the task to another individual, who we call the second type of teacher, who carries out the duty on site and shares the monthly salary. The third type of teacher is organised by the village in the instance when both the types of teachers do not come to school.

Imagine the confusion the students undergo, and the experience of sub- standard education being delivered by these adhoc teachers who may not even be qualified for the role.

We do not want to understand the reason why government teachers are missing from their duty stations in the schools either in the hills districts or rural parts of the state. Unemployed youth dream of being employed with the government but when they do land a job, they prefer to be stationed in Imphal. Not a best practice, definitely.Because of this, the knowledge levels, exposure to leadership and mentoring, academic prowess, competitiveness and aspirations among students are largely compromised in rural parts of Manipur.

Students in Tangkhul Hungdung Khullen Government High School lack basic awareness about different changes in their bodies during puberty or menstruation. They are not being taught by teachers nor by their mothers. The text books under Manipur Board mentions menstruation in class 8 Science text book only briefly as one of the changes in girls during puberty but which of the three types of teachers take responsibility for such important subjects?

Additionally, some of the teachers themselves endorse patriarchal beliefs around menstruation, lack capacity to train students on such a sensitive topic that is shrouded in silence in our society and do not have any Information Education Communication (IEC) materials for having such conversations with students.

Other factors that make menstrual hygiene difficult in this village are poor road conditions that isolate the 150 households in the settlement; practically no public transport to take people to the capital where they buy grocery and household supplies including and carry them home filled in autorickshaws. There is no medical store in the entire village and emergency medicines are not available. Sanitary napkins availability, accessibility and affordability is a challenge.

A woman describes disposal in the hills in her simple words, “There is no need for a dustbin or pit for disposing our garbage or waste because the entire hill is a dustbin. We just throw from where I am standing behind my house like this and its gone.” This describes what happens to used sanitary napkins in the village.

There was great enthusiasm to learn on menstruation among the young girls in the school. Though shy initially they listened to every spoken word, came up to shake hands at the end of the workshop on menstruation and best hygiene practices conducted by Breaking the Silence 2018 Manipur campaign and left with big smiles and confidence.

One of the significant positives is the absence of gender- based abortions in the community (Tangkhul Naga tribe) and equal importance given to the girl child. The girls and women outnumber boys and men in this remote village in Ukhrul. While Manipur has a lot to learn and replicate from other states in India in terms of leadership and work ethic, the rest of India could learn from Manipur where girls are as valuable as boys.

Urmila Chanam

Breaking the Silence, a global campaign works on raising awareness on menstruation and best hygiene practices in remote parts of India and interacted with several women in its outreach program in Noney District with an objective of understanding barriers here.

A woman complained of pain in the neck, back and legs from carrying a full basket for long distances on foot. The Medical Officer at the Primary Health Centre pointed out that majority of the OPD cases are dominated by women though the exact underlying reason is not ascertained. Most of the medical complaints among women patients are related to excessive physical activity like back pain, knee pain and joint pain. White discharge and itchiness are common hygiene related complaints.

From the many interactions with community, health and medical personnel, there is reason to believe that lack of public transportation in Noney is affecting the health and morbidity of women, limiting her access to opportunity and income, medical facilities and emergency services, rendering undue stress from this forced hardship and affecting her productivity.

In times of delivery, it becomes very difficult for families of pregnant women to rush her to the PHC. While the Health Department advocates for institutional delivery, if there is no transportation and good roads, how can such goals be achieved? In other parts of India, the state government runs call centre- based ambulance services, toll free helplines 108 and 102 to provide free ambulance pick up and drop service to pregnant women linking public healthcare to remotest villages of India under the National Health Mission and Department of Health and Family Welfare. 108 ambulance service aims to reach patients in rural parts within 40 minutes and bring them to the nearest health facility. Even sanitary pads distributed in government hospitals after delivery and by ASHAs to girls and women in villages are not known here nor similar government relief visible.

Villages do not have medical stores and little shops selling few essential household items do not sell sanitary napkins. Sanitary napkins are only found in the medical stores and pharmacies numbering less than ten, located in the main market. Mostly girls and women come to buy these sanitary napkins, the pharmacist wraps it in newspaper to help shy customers. Most popular brands are Stayfree for its low cost and Whisper for its absorbency and anti-leak technology. Few Chinese brands are also popular including Magnetic Energy Anion Sanitary Napkins and AiRiz Active Oxygen and Negative Ion Soft Cotton Sanitary Napkins. Though priced much higher than Indian brands (close to Rs.200 per pack) the foreign manufacturers claim relief from menstrual cramps, infections, itchiness and foul smell. The government needs to have mechanisms to verify how safe these products are and promote affordable and safe sanitary napkins only.

Without good transportation mechanism, access to sanitary materials and medical consultation and treatment are limited considerably. Mechanisms to assess and ensure the safety, affordability, accessibility and availability of sanitary napkins and materials in the market needs to be in place so girls and women are not exposed to danger and other medical complications from poor quality products and can buy and use sanitary napkins with ease.

Awareness of other sanitary materials other than cloth and pads like tampons, menstrual cups, eco-friendly bio-degradable sanitary pads or reusable cloth pads is low. The biology of menstruation and correlation to vitality, health and ability to give birth is not understood by majority of girls and women. Girls and women seek clarity on the diet during periods for reducing weakness or menstrual cramps, if myths like not taking bath or washing hair during periods was scientific and good for health, remedy for itchiness and skin infections.

Most common complains are itchiness, irregular periods, low volume blood flow menstruation, menstrual cramps and skin infections. The cause of skin infection is due to not maintaining personal hygiene and ignorance. These problems are seldom escalated to mothers or teachers and the extent of silence is so profound that young girls seek medical solution in pharmacies and with quacks and rarely with adults known to them.

A trained nurse Ms. Amona Kamei who runs Gaza Pharmacy in Noney bazaar shares her observation that young girls do not even have basic hygiene knowledge of taking bath daily, using soap to wash hands and that wearing washed and clean undergarments can go a long way to avoid skin infections. Another pharmacist Ms. S.K Aneiliu runs Highway Medical and advocates for frequent sanitary napkin change to avoid infections to buyers.

What is most ironic is the water scarcity experienced by the community in Noney inspite of receiving high rainfall and having rivers like Ijei (Agah in Rongmei/Kabui dialect), Iril(Aling in Rongmei dialect) and Leimatak(Apin in Rongmei dialect). Households do not receive tap water and there are no significant water reservoirs. People connect pipes to brooks which bring water either to a point in the village common for the entire habitation or to few homes, this being a private arrangement to secure water and not by the government. Additionally, this water is untreated and does not offer uninterrupted supply when brooks dry up in lean season.

Electricity supply is erratic and power cuts last not less than a week. The impact of this on productivity, small scale industry, entertainment and quality of life of people residing here is obvious.

70 years of independence and yet, a tribal community in northeastern region of India still awaits water supply, electricity, roads and transportation in Noney district in Manipur.

Left on its own to find a way, the tribal community composed of the Kabui tribe, Chiru, Kuki and Inpuimei has found solace in the Church which plays an important part in not just spiritual growth of its people but offers humanitarian service in education, health, relief, youth and women empowerment and infrastructure. Besides the ancestors and elderly still guide community decisions with their age-old wisdom.

An old woman from a remote village Rangkhung(Langkhong) Part-1 said, “I can identify which tribe a person, be it a woman or a man, comes from by their smell. Each has its own diet and smell.”

In the hill district of Noney where several tribal communities live, that which has experienced decades of armed conflict but is naturally endowed, menstrual hygiene is possible if the government of Manipur makes pucca roads connecting villages to district headquarters, organizes public transport like mini bus or autos, builds water reservoir and water treatment and distribution mechanisms, hydel projects in either Noney or Tamenglong to address electricity deficit, assesses the affordability and quality of available sanitary napkins and encourages safe products for its young girls and women.

Noney(Longmai) khou gong louna kagan gansak aniu goi le bam incham louna aniu tong rianra khatni kalam thai lou the. Thuanku the.

Urmila Chanam

Urmila Chanam

Urmila Chanam

I found my brother caring for me through all my ups and downs. I found him protecting me from the blows life threw at me. And there were many. He took me out of environments which were fatal for me. My call center job used to crush me but I used to come home to hear him say, “This is going to teach you how to be great in communicating over the phone without meeting the person.” He bought me a DSLR camera years ago and that was how I gradually diverted my troubled mind outwards, towards the wonder of this world. My first backpack from American Tourister was a gift from him and I started travelling from then on until travelling became a part of my life. I stepped into another industry, one step at a time with caution, patience and faith.

After my divorce, I lived with my brother and sister in law for eight years! My daughter’s formative years were spent in their love and care. I remember one of his friends in the congregation tell him about the regret he felt for not having helped his sister, who had undergone a very painful separation and was deeply touched to see my brother share everything with me and my daughter.

My daughter and I were loved by his friends and their families and now our friend circle includes them too.We got to live a very good life style – big homes, good food, entertainment, holidays, good clothes even when we could not afford it, because we were provided for. I remember there was a phase too when my brother would give me bus fare and money for meals daily to cover my expenses in my struggling years and when I had to step out of home to do stories( I used to write in the local daily). It has been years since then and now my daughter and I have found our own ground but it’s also largely because we received all the love and care when it mattered the most. We did not get here on our own miraculously.

Today is Ningol Chakaouba the biggest festival of brothers and sisters in Manipur, where fathers and brothers invite married sisters and their children to a lunch and give gifts to them and the sisters carry fruits and sweets and the ceremonial coconut for father, mother and brothers. I have no where to go today but it does not matter a bit. I have a brother who loves me and that’s all that matters.

Urmila Chanam

I was not in San Francisco at that time but I could still feel the wave of joy. I wanted to accept this responsibility placed upon me to advocate for digital empowerment of girls and women but coupled with this moment of joy was also a little voice of uncertainty of how I would carry out my role, if I would match up to expectations. To be able to do justice, the conviction that's needed to back your dedication comes from reports on how the gender digital gap is growing wider with Africa reporting the largest divide at 23% and America the narrowest at 2 %(https://webfoundation.org/2016/10/digging-into-data-on-the-gender-digita...) making it all the more important to bring more girls and women 'online'. 

My message to women who will come after me as ambassadors is at times you will wonder how a program could be organised unless you have funding, would people be interested in your message, who are the people most likely to be receptive, is it possible to even carry out all the activities and initiatives while you have a full time job( like I did), run your own organization or have family commitments.The 'how' will become a constant but let it not be a barrier because this is what I discovered on what could be your message, the do's and don'ts, what approach works and what you eventually will walk away with at the end (read on) .

The year I spent as Ambassador of World Pulse was super eventful. In the last twelve months where I represented World Pulse in international and national conferences as a speaker, my message was to increase the use of internet by girls and women and building connections between them as a vehicle to address social norms that lie at the crux of the many social problems in India or elsewhere.To champion digital empowerment of girls, women and the marginalized it is critical to connect the dots between these social evils to women not using their voice to end them. It is important to get more girls and women online so they can tell their stories( and issues pertinent to their community, political background or cultural setting) and pitch for the change they want to see.

One such conference was the UNICEF National Consultation on Social Norms and the Rights of Women and Children attended by close to 100 academic professionals on 27-28 March 2017 in Bangalore, India where discussions centered around impact of social norms on the development of children and women, on antenatal period in a tribal woman's life, on child birth practices, on feeding practices,on education, on gender based violence, on menarche and the culture of silence, on addressing challenges on maternal, child and adolescent health as experiences by Health Department, gender stereotypes in media.

Initially, you would have to work a little to come up with how use of internet could be seen as a related subject associated with a solution to wide number of problem. It took me a day to come up with how I would fit the vision of World Pulse and use of internet into a discussion on social norms and in this forum meant for sociologists, development communication experts, social researchers and program practitioners I pitched for the role media(World Pulse) and citizen journalism(stories of women by women and for women) could play in changing negative social norms to positive social norms and designing outcomes related to the rights of women and children. 

After the first time, it comes easy to visualize the depth of internet use in every possible space of intervention. This is when you truly become an advocate of digital empowerment of women.

I always like to quote Chi Yvonne (https://www.worldpulse.com/en/community/users/leina) and what she achieved using digital skills. Look at the social evil of breast ironing in Cameroon where mothers believe this measure will prevent rape of their daughters. Chi Yvonne who is the Founder of Gender Danger, an NGO working on education towards the eradication of harmful traditions against women and girls in Africa (http://genderdanger.webs.com/) used internet, digital skills of writing her story, her recommendation on how and why to end breast ironing using her computer to post it online on World Pulse website(https://www.worldpulse.com/fr/node/182) and other web-based platforms like Facebook and even on her organization's website and succeeded to bring global visibility  to this inhuman practice, campaign for its eradication, aligning like minded individuals and organizations to support her and in the process develop a resistance to practices that are harmful for girls.

World Pulse envisions the transitioning of a girl/woman from an existence of being a mere spectator to being vocal and suggest solutions and lead her community to change in partnership with other women around the world.

My learning  from this is you do not have to set aside a program specifically for advocating use of internet; you can integrate this message in many of your current activities and public appearances during your job, your own organization work too. Additionally, if you need a success story of a woman change maker who uses internet to enhance impact, you will not face any difficulty in identifying her because World Pulse is an encyclopedia of women leaders. I found Olutosin Oladoshu Adebowale from Nigeria, Zephaniah from Pakistan, Neema Namadamu from Congo, Beatrice Achieng Nas from Republic of Uganda and so many other inspiring women!

If you do not have staff or a team to help you, do what I did! I reached out for help from World Pulse sisters I was close to and who helped me with their expertise. Busayo Obisakin from Nigeria helped me out during the Women Digital Skills Training I conducted in April 2016 for a small group of 10 women sales professionals in Bangalore (https://www.worldpulse.com/en/community/groups/voices-our-future-virtual...) by being my co-facilitator using Skype to connect to us in India and sharing her experience in using internet, World Pulse and digital skills to enhance her work. Olutosin Adebowale, Stella Paul and Upasana Chauhan- all World Pulse women extended their support by being panelists on the International Women's Day Skype Program held on 8th March 2017 where close to 30 callers from around the globe joined the skype based conversation and many viewers connected to our Facebook Live streaming(https://www.facebook.com/events/195342270949672/)

During the Nepal National Training on Menstrual Hygiene Management held in Nagarkot in February 2017 I conducted sessions on digital tools to enhance program implementation on menstrual hygiene management program to 60 participants from Nepal and Pakistan who were government officials from different departments. The participants shared how useful that session had been to unlock their own apprehensions on sharing on social media or on online portals for fear of loss of privacy, lack of idea on benefits of networking and thinking it was only for the new generation to be online.

Noteworthy are accounts of two of my colleagues who were also trainers like me in that program who shared that the session had completely changed their view on being connected to others.

Abdulwahid Ahmed Jama working with Kenya Red Cross Society shares his experience of attending the digital skills session and says,'This training was extremely useful in instilling in me a culture of sharing information in real time. I found there is no greater advocacy than using social media to push for a cause.'

Ayesha Riaz, another participant from Pakistan who works in the Education Department says,' Digital skills training was so inspiring because no body receives training on this topic unless your line of education is this.People might buy the latest gadgets but how many know how to use it well and for good?

And then there were ample opportunities in my friend circle, among colleagues, with family where I could give hand-holding support to set up a Skype account, or an e-mail, take a picture and share it with friends and so on. You will be surprised to find the number of people who find the confidence to be online through your help.

Take every travel opportunity to meet World Pulse sisters who live there or are in transit. Meeting women of World Pulse and being personally known to them encourages us all when we see the numbers we are and the collective strength in us! I remember how difficult it was for me and World Pulse Kashmiri journalist Aliya Bashir https://www.worldpulse.com/en/community/users/aliya-bashir to meet in  Mumbai where we both had gone on work. It had been a time when the entire country was facing a unique crisis of demonetization and we had no cash at hand. Aliya Bashir was staying in a hotel 15 km from mine. I had more cash with me than Aliya had so I decided to make the effort instead and took a cab to her hotel. I waited in the lobby of the five star hotel looking out for her as known from the pictures I had seen of Aliya. We have known each other for seven years on World Pulse but this was the first time we would be meeting. When I saw her coming with her arms open, my heart knew no joy greater than this.

I also met Paulina Nayra https://www.worldpulse.com/en/community/users/paulina-lawsin from Philippines and Phionah Musumba https://www.worldpulse.com/en/community/users/phionah-musumba from Keyna in a conference in New Delhi earlier this year. We were meeting for the first time. We exchanged gifts, hugs, kisses and tears. The women sitting adjacent to us were impressed by our reunion and love for each other and one asked us, ' Can you please share with us more about the love you three have for each other?'. What better way than this to introduce World Pulse to others?

The journey that was meant to facilitate learning process in others also left me with lessons that will change my life forever, one being that the biggest resource we have is OURSELVES and with that alone, we can move mountains. The other learning is, digital skills are not stand-alone topics, subject of learning or occupation; instead it is a skill that can be used alongside any other activity in any industry you work in or in your personal life- everyone can benefit from it! I found several teams and persons I want to continue working with, a new confidence and peace of doing my best in my circumstances. I also drew closer to World Pulse sisters and take delight in being considered as a focal person or point of reference for other women who train others.

I thank all my friends, sisters, volunteers and others who supported me to accomplish the goals I had set for myself. Thank you World Pulse for giving me the opportunity to serve the global sisterhood and my World Pulse family. 

* Note: This article is dedicated to conclude a very important phase of my life of having served as World Pulse Ambassador and the lessons I learnt I share with others so that they can lead with enhanced efforts.

Urmila Chanam

 The cover from enemy fire at the position he decided to occupy was scant, exposing him and his buddy to extreme danger. But he would go ahead with his plan for he had a commanding view of the enemy as well as the men he had deployed in relatively safer positions along the south bank of the Kishanganga River. There were 17 trained Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists within range in the difficult high-altitude terrain of the Gurais Valley, but he had full faith in his men.

The sundown retreat parade by the Border Security Force soldiers from India and Pakistan. Wagah border crossing. Photo courtesy of the author.

The Indo-Pakistan border at Wagah. Photo courtesy of the author.

The crowd at Wagah Border gate in the evenings. Photo courtesy of the author.

About the author: Urmila Chanam is a journalist from the small state of Manipur in north-eastern India. In 2013 she was awarded the Laadli Media and Advertising Award for Gender Sensitivity and recognized for her efforts to bring forth issues revolving around women in India. Urmila is a columnist for the leading English Daily in Manipur, the Sangai Express. In addition to The WIP, she contributes to SUN Magazine, Chilli Breeze, and Global Press Institute, along with the journals World Pulse and Voices for Human Rights. Her dream is to be the 'Voice of the Voiceless.'

Urmila Chanam

"I remember you today Priyanka. One year ago I met you in your school in a village in remote Maharashtra. What you shared with me, I carried 'far and wide' just as I had promised I would. I hope together, you and I, served the purpose to hope for a better world for adolescent girls and women who have not much idea about menstrual hygiene management." I spoke these words softly to myself while climbing the stairs to the carpeted stage when my name was announced as the winner of the Laadli Media and Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity 2013. In the glaring lights, the gifting of the elegant trophy and the spotlight over me, I thought to myself, "It had always not been like this." The journey till here began on the dusty roads of rural India. A world and a life that took lengthy descriptions and elaborations about how different it was, for the people who had abundance in urban space. When I had first sat to occupy the quiet desk in a corner of my home, I had been eager to carry to others the world where millions of adolescent girls and women live in complete darkness about menstruation in my country, wading through their childhood, adolescence, marriage and reproductive life of a mother , without once knowing what menstruation is. I had been keen to carry forth the backward status of majority of women in my country who thought menstruation was 'dirty', 'unworthy of discussion', 'not entitled to family resources', ' deserving of seclusion from family and society' and a 'justified reason for not being allowed to touch food or utensils during 'those days of the month'. Last year I traveled 60 days on road to cover major states and regions in India that face problems of water, sanitation and ignorance on menstrual hygiene management. The organizer of such a large touring intervention was Wash United, Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), Arghyam, Water AID among other international donors and NGOs. In this journey a country-wide survey was done at every state and region we stopped to assess the status of water, sanitation and menstrual hygiene management among adolescent girls and women. Once the survey was wrapped up, trainings, informal workshops and focused group discussions were used to disseminate accurate information on hygiene and menstruation. It was the most enriching experience of my life to be meeting real people in their real environments which explained their situation and interact with so many women at the same time. I met Priyanka in one such travel to the state of Maharashtra. I was in her school with another lady facilitator, talking to all the adolescent girls in the school, conducting a survey on our tablets and then holding a focused group discussion on menstruation. About 'Laadli', the Girl Child Campaign: Laadli is a girl child campaign from Population First against sex selection and the falling sex ratio in India. In a country where there are reported to be less than 800 girls for every 1000 boys in 16 districts, this is an alarming truth about the way the Indian society is obsessed with the 'boy child'. The Laadli Media and Advertising Awards was instituted to propagate a genre of media reporting that gives attention to issues of the gender in the right perspective, allowing respect and dignity to the woman. When the award came for my work on taboos on menstruation in India and the state of reproductive health owing to these taboos and malpractices, I was convinced it was meant to strengthen my work on menstrual hygiene management. I take this moment in my life as an encouragement to keep going till a day comes when there is no taboo around any aspect of a woman's reproductive health. A space when women can freely tell their daughters about menstruation, there is no restriction on going and buying sanitary pads from shops or cotton cloth for absorbing the fluid and no girl is stopped from going to the kitchen or the temple while she is menstruating.A day when there is no event in their lives which stops them from getting an education-not menstruation at least!! I accept this award on behalf of all those girls and women who shared an aspect of their lives and helped me to carry the torch forward. (I now head a global campaign ' Breaking the Silence' and ' Celebrating the Red Droplets' engaging men, women, boys, girls alike through social media, training and capacity building and rally with a focus on raising awareness on menstruation and the need to manage it hygienically)

When they first began, sex work in Mysore was vibrant and mostly street-based. Condom allocation and availability was nil. There was just one Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre (ICTC) where the counsellor said he was seeing new HIV infections every month. To ensure sex workers use condoms, it was necessary to provide awareness of HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) to them, and provide condom and STI services. Added to this, there lay the himalayan task to overcome the power dynamics behind the sex workers’ helplessness to make clients use condoms.

The stigma was high. Violence from clients, goondas meaning hired thugs/rogues/hoodlums, police, and boyfriends posed a grim threat. All the money earned was taken away (by clients who stole it from them, boyfriends who tried to live off their earnings, police who exchanged money for releasing them from spontaneous arrests) and they often had no savings. Sex workers did not have bank accounts because every bank asked for identity and proof of address, something sex workers do not possess, largely owing to their high mobility. More and more sex workers were getting infected with HIV and were without sufficient information on its prevention, care and support. There was high incidence of violence against them and the vagueness of the law on sex work fueled the frequency. Sex workers did not have a reason to associate with others within the community. They were left on their own, with their small immediate groups, to fend for themselves.

Ashodaya Samithi changed all that.

What started as a sex worker's community-based organization, is today a powerful collective comprised of 336 members who are female, male and transgender sex workers as well as a network of volunteers operating in six districts of Karnataka. It reaches out to 8,000 sex workers through its different initiatives of empowering the community, such as providing knowledge of legal and human rights, HIV/STI knowledge to bring about a behavioural change, supporting the prevention and treatment of STIs and HIV, running drop-in-centres, operation of a crisis management unit, a restaurant, service apartment and a training academy predominantly run by members.

The HIV programme run by the collective focuses on two separate strategies: prevention through the encouragment of condom use and frequent visit to clinics for the uninfected, and treatment for infected sex workers provided in government hospitals and in Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) centres. Their drop in centres look like a community club, but besides offering a safe space for the community to interact with others, rest and hold meetings, they also offer HIV and STI testing facilities, counselling and free condoms. For the sex workers who do not come to these drop in centres, Ashodaya uses a social network approach where those community members who are the most popular and influential are recruited as ‘peer educators’ who in turn help bring in new members and disseminate information of STIs and HIV to sex workers.

There are 650 female sex workers infected with HIV in Mysore alone, and Ashodaya makes it their goal to reach every woman to give information on HIV care and treatment, assist her in attending the Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) centre, and follow up on her progress to ensure she takes the medicines and adheres to the treatment. Additionally, Ashodaya finances her trips to the hospital and counsels her on the use of condoms. Those whose HIV status is unknown are reached by peer educators and engaged in discussion on HIV to bring about change in terms of their risky behaviour, and encouraged to come to get tested at the drop in centre or testing centres in hospitals. Most of all, it aims at lowering the stigma associated with the life of a person living with HIV, attempting to create an enabling environment conducive to the well being of the sex worker.

This exercise has had a direct and steep impact; 90 percent of sex workers in Mysore have been contacted monthly, 70 percent of them have visited drop in centres regularly and 65 percent have become consistent condom users. Ashodaya Samithi has successfully reduced STI prevalence within three years from inception.

The collective has worked beyond simply providing information on HIV, STIs, and condoms to thinking and working towards their sustainability beyond the projects funded by donors. Reduction of stigma happened as a by-product of their efforts. For example, Hotel Ashodaya is a restaurant run by sex workers and a share of the profit is used to run the community care centre. The idea of starting a restaurant was a deliberate and innovative approach to address stigma faced by sex workers.

“The restaurant has given us an opportunity to interact with people from mainstream society and has improved their understanding of our issues. From the sales that has gone up by 50 percent over the last year, it shows that people come to the restaurant knowing it is run by sex workers,” one sex worker tells me.

The Community Care Home is where Ashodaya gives shelter to sex workers infected with AIDS, treating and caring for them. They receive free clinic facilities, three meals a day, hot water for bathing and a space devoid of the stigma that would have faced in a general government hospital. A sex worker tells me, “A sex worker could go to a government hospital and get all the HIV and STI related health services and need not necessarily go to Ashodaya had it not been for their crisis management program.”

What is interesting is that the sustainability of the care home is provided by resources generated by the women on their own, from the restaurant and from fund mobilization.

“Initially managing resources was difficult. We all sat together to discuss our options. We thought it was a good idea to approach the local people in the vicinity. We raised money for our food and other basic requirements. There are many good-hearted people out there,” one patient says.

Phone numbers are given to the community members which serve as help lines for a sex worker in distress. The crisis team responds to the situation and help is extended. This has provided a feeling of unity in the community of sex workers and there has been a 70 percent drop in violence. Most of all this has facilitated more sex workers to join Ashodaya, visible from a recorded 80 percent registration.

Ashodaya Samithi is a success story of a sex worker led, community based organization in India, which is strengthening community members to fight HIV. They have changed the landscape of the living conditions of sex workers in every aspect. People from different parts of the world are flocking to Mysore wanting to learn about the program and many go back and try replicating it in their own country. Ashodaya embraces this sharing. Besides building the capacity of its own community, it has gone ahead to build the capacity of others creating a large network with a sole vision and goal - to secure a better life for sex workers.

The adult industry was not invention of today’s sex workers. They are service providers of an age-old industry, culturally accepted from time immemorial. They are aware of their right to justice, safety, privacy, dignity, livelihood, health and education of their children. They want to play an important part in preventing the spread of HIV among themselves, their clients, spouses and their children.

Ashodaya dedicates its projects of HIV prevention to the 452 sex workers who were a part of the Community Based Organization since its formation but who died of AIDS. In every forum when a community leader gets up to talk, these men and women are remembered and valued even today.

“We strive to achieve, united by our sense of togetherness,” are more than just beautiful words on the wall but a value pulsating in every sex worker touched by Ashodaya.

By Urmila Chanam

While the rest of India is fighting for respect and dignity of women, ‘Ima Keithel’ the all women market in Manipur symbolizes women’s empowerment. In this northeastern extreme of India, women enjoy a unique status in their homes, in the workplace and in the community, a trend found very rarely in the rest of the India. Every time I come to Ima Keithel, I find a new way of looking at these women. Through Ima Keithel, women in Manipur have carried the economic responsibility of trade and commerce for centuries, endured political and military upheavals, maintained the indigenous way of life, and remained economic pillars of their families and community. This undying spirit of powerful local women holds them together in solidarity for a better future. Pushpa Lairikyengbam Ongbi, 60, is the mother of three. She sells different varieties of laddoos - a popular Indian sweet generally made of flour, sugar, milk and made into bite size balls - some made of rice flour laloo, some made of beaten rice kabok. Her space in the market is a family legacy that has been passed down from her mother-in-law who occupied this position until she turned 80. Pushpa’s husband tells of the benefits reaped by the family, and how his mother supported the entire family on her income from selling edibles for 35 years. The children went to school, clothes were bought for them, food was abundant, the children were married off, and the familial house was constructed - all from this income. After her mother-in-law died, Pushpa says she was not in a position to take over the business right away. She had small children and domestic responsibilities. So during this period spanning over five years, her mother sold edibles from the space and paid monthly rent to Pushpa’s husband. Serial number 1, seat in shade number 13, has been lucky for Pushpa in the two years she has taken over from her mother as a vendor. “I am very happy here. I don’t want to stay at home doing nothing anymore, after having tasted this way of life,” she beams. When asked how many years she plans to sit in Ima Keithel, Pushpa refuses to come up with a number. “As long as I can, and my health permits.” Pushpa is valued by her husband and her children, all of whom look up to her as a pillar of strength. Nungshitombi Laishram, 45, earns Rs.4000 (USD$ 73) per month on average, which she uses prudently to run her entire household of five. Her three children are still in school. With these earnings she puts food on the table and pays for her children’s education, clothing, medical care, and social expenses. She sells indigenous fresh vegetables that include a special kind of chilli umorok, bamboo shoot soibum, lemon grass nakuppi, and ginger. Nungshitombi became the breadwinner for her family at 18 when she married her husband, a farmer. She smiles as she recalls, “I have been here for a long time. Twenty-seven years have just gone like that. In return I have found a stable livelihood, support that comes from belonging to this big women’s association of Ima Keithel, and confidence that I will be able to complete my children’s education successfully.” Pushpa and Nungshitombi are not the only women, of the nearly 4000 women vendors at Ima Keithel, who form the economic backbone of their families. The term ‘market’ is in fact highly inadequate to describe what Ima Keithel is and the role it plays in the local economy, culture, and society. The economics of such marketing is not just about the women who sell their goods, but it is also about the men and women who produce these commodities in communities stretching for hundreds of miles around the markets. In that sense, Ima Keithel is the site for the affirmation of women’s control over the production, the use, and the management of consumption patterns. Ima Keithel can be traced back to the 1580’s and has been under constant threat of displacement and relocation since the British occupancy of Manipur in 1891. The British were successful in controlling trade and commerce in Manipur by reducing the trading women to petty vendors. On at least two occasions, first in 1904 and next in 1939, the women rose against the exploitative colonial British policies and asserted themselves in what later came to be known as Nupi Lal or the ‘War of the Women’. It is most important to remember that the market houses poor women in livelihood pursuits in an environment where everything else seems to have broken down - from the economy of the state, to law and order. Manipur has been under the tight grip of armed conflict for decades, and years of strain have crippled its economy so much that the State Government of Manipur has not been able to pay salaries to its employees for months. Manipur receives power for just three hours a day, and unemployment is the gravest threat facing the youth, next to drug addiction and HIV/AIDS. “It’s almost like we have seen our good men being wiped away by either militancy or HIV,” says one woman vendor, leaving after selling vegetables the whole day. When asked what her husband does to earn an income, she says, “He is unemployed and helpless...” and adds, “…that leaves just me to do something to bring food on our plates. For the next few years till my son grows up I see myself doing this.” The woman gets on a public jeep that will take her to her village in Nambol, some 25 km away from Imphal city. Some women come from villages even further beyond. These women should not be mistaken for petty vendors as classified by municipal authorities. They have been known traditionally to manage trade and commerce and are the producers of many goods - including textiles, food, and earthenware - for consumption, local exchange, and the larger regional markets. They are active conservers of biodiversity (agro, wetland and forest), both through their farming practices, which nurture it, and also through their active promotion of the local cultures. The market is a society, an institution, a way of life. Throughout history, a favoured tactic has been to displace and relocate Ima Keithel - be it by the bankers and advisory to the ancient chiefs and their councils, the British colonists, or the recent demolition of the Keithel by the State Government to make way for a modern supermarket. In 2003, the government of Manipur planned to demolish Ima Keithel. The women’s association, the Khwairamband Keithel Nupi Marup, appealed to the government to preserve this institution and not replace it with a modern supermarket. They sat undeterred for the right to preserve their heritage, even under the threat of the use of force by the armed forces and government in 2004. In April 2005 the state government demolished the old Ima Keithel to build a modern structure, but owing to the protest of women of this market, shelved the original plan of housing a supermarket. Today this new structure is the new face of old Ima Keithel and one of the biggest tourism destinations of Manipur. Today Ima Keithel still faces an uncertain future. The systematic invasions of new products and technologies constantly seek to replace local production and eliminate local economy. If retail chains are introduced in Manipur the indigenous markets like Ima Keithel may not be able to compete. The loss will be all of ours, firstly for the women, then for the farmers and producers of the goods stretching over hundreds of miles around this market; and lastly for the people of Manipur, for the loss of an indigenous way of life and our history. The enemy is different now and the dynamics may change altogether tomorrow, but the women of Ima Keithel march forward. Together, in each other, they find the strength to carry on and remain the torch bearers of their society. Urmila Chanam is a journalist from the small state of Manipur in north-eastern India. She is a columnist for the leading English Daily in Manipur, the Sangai Express. In addition to The WIP, she contributes to SUN Magazine, Chilli Breeze, and Global Press Institute, along with the journals World Pulse and Voices for Human Rights. Her dream is to be the 'Voice of the Voiceless.'

Urmila Chanam