BY: Lata Moni Das
India has the second largest tribal population in the world and here women play an important role in social, cultural, economic and in over all development and Karbi Anglong is not different from this. One cannot deny the fact that women are more empowered today compared to the women ten years ago.
Karbi Anglong is the largest district of Assam with prominent Karbi inhabitants and the district has 982 female against 1000 male according to 2015-16 census. If we see the projected populations (2019-20) out of total population of 10.32,327, female is 5,03,198 against male 5,29,129.
Despite the factors like being poor, unskilled and discriminated, deprived of even primary education, women have been the backbone of their family, contributing towards economic development of the society. Stepping into any local market of Karbi Anglong district, one can easily find how prominent these women traders are. There are some markets of the district where tribal women traders dominate, and whenever I go to these local markets or weekly ‘mangolboriya Bozar’ or ‘Deuboriya Bozar’, seeing these young women with sparkling eyes selling their home grown vegetables, pickles, dry fish, silk worms, traditional crafts including cloths makes me feel that how much more they can deliver to our growing economy if got education, skills training or some guidance as most women are self inspired make themselves financially independent. They are not educated but they want their kids to have better education, better life. Moreover the urge to become more confident, more economically secured and strong desire for their own identity among the women of Karbi Hills is an inspiration for every woman.
Number of women are also found taking part in socio economic and political structure of the society. Unlike many years before, now they are trying to be in the main stream of politics by occupying the important posts in Town committees and in district council.
In spite of financial difficulties women are also more determined to have higher education and hence number of female going out of the town to places like Nagaon, Guwahati for higher education is on the rise. Even if we don’t have the latest statistics, but if we go back to 2011 and compare with the statistics of 2001, there is a growth seen in female literacy rate i,e 47.30 % to 62%. This is remarkable for place like Karbi Anglong which was considered as isolated place of north east till some years ago.
Due to various schemes like ‘Indian Gramin Service’, ‘Rural Livelihood Mission’ and ‘SHG’ ‘Ujjawala’ and many others, employment opportunities are found mainly prioritized in agriculture, handloom and craft etc. Getting employed in government sectors is still a fairy tale for many and this is the reason low percentage is seen in government job and outflow is seen among young women to nearby big towns for better livelihood options.
Our women cannot be empowered economically if they are not healthy physically and mentally, and over the years, despite some political unrest in the district, there has been priority given to in health sector towards female health which is very much praiseworthy. The health sector has also contributed number of employment opportunities to women in this region in producing doctors, nurses, ASHA, and LHV etc.
Development process of any community or region means the expansion of the capabilities of most important assets of society i.e. women. Here women are seen coming forward and involving other women in the self development process through various govt programe like SHG and rural livelihood mission etc. Mrs. Mukuta Hojaisa from Dhansiri, Diphu is an example who has not only assisted women to take loan under the SHG (Atmahohai goot) but is also helping them to be trained under NGOs and create their own platform to sell their homegrown produce. Today there are almost 3000 women associated with her benefitting through various government schemes. One such examples ‘Dhansiri Cluster Level Federation’ which has involved 22 nearby villages of Diphu, Karbi Anglong and 273 self help groups are noticed taking lot of activities like livestock rearing and cultivation.
Once our women were perceived dependent on their male members in family for their basic needs but today they are trying to be financially independent. On the way to introduce India as ‘Developed Nation’ in front of the world community, the duty of each individual is to encourage and support women to explore newer opportunities.
