Twenty-seven-year old Ramkali wears many hats. Apart from being a construction worker and a mother of five children, she is a diligent citizen. She is also her community's point person because she is a veritable reservoir of information about her community, which has earned her the title of chalta phirta daftar (mobile office). In fact, her telephone number is the contact number of everybody in her locality and her house the halting point of all new visitors to the colony. More importantly, she is Ramkali the activist, the acknowledged leader and a source of immense inspiration to hundreds of other women in her community.
Like many others in Delhi, Ramkali is a migrant worker and belongs to Nigaradan, Mahuba, in Uttar Pradesh. Married at an age of 11 to Pooran Lal – a construction worker from Madhya Pradesh, Ramkali took up beldari (unskilled construction work), when she was 13. For two years after their marriage, the couple worked in Madhya Pradesh but it was difficult to make ends meet. So in 1993, they migrated to work on a construction site in Ram Farash, Ghaziabad and lived on the site itself.
Ramkali's parents were not construction workers and she had never worked before. "I was just 13 and I had never imagined that I would be carrying heavy loads up and down on construction sites, breaking boulders and doing all sorts of works with all sorts of men, but since it was difficult to survive on Pooran's salary I had no alternative but to work and I slowly got accustomed to it," tells Ramkali.
Reflecting upon the sense of insecurity she felt, she adds, "I had been from a protective family and had a concept of home, but we slept on site where you can not guarantee a decent conduct from anyone".
Fortunately, about six months later, they were able to build a shanty for themselves in JJ Camp, Anand Vihar, where other workers from the Ram Farash site were living. Expressing her moments of relief, Ramkali says, "By then, the feeling of homelessness had grown so deep-rooted that the shanty that we made in JJ Camp seemed to be a dream come true. I also felt privileged because I knew that there were many other labourers who could not even make a shanty like us."
This was in many ways a turning point for Ramkali. She continued to work at the construction site even as she raised her family but started thinking positively about life and decided to live it with dignity. Ramakli also realised that her main asset was her education – having studied up to class five. For starter, she set about collecting data about her community: On the number of households and skilled and unskilled labourers, the number of days per year that workers were able to find work, the number of school going children in her community, the number of housewives and who knew what skill, which organisations worked on labour related issues, who could be contacted if certain services were needed etc.
Her fascination for statistics in fact goes back to her childhood. "I had the habit of gathering information, since my schooldays, so I started doing the same in JJ Camp too. I also hoped my efforts would be put to good use, so that if at sometime, someone from an organisation etc. would come to visit our colony, I would be able to guide him/her and provide with necessary details."
The opportunity to put the information Ramkali had at her fingertips to good use, came in 2006, when SEWA (Self Employed Women's Association – a labour union for poor self-employed women in the informal sector) decided to work among the women in the community. Ramkali was of immense help in this effort. She reached out to every household in the locality and convinced over a thousand women to join the SEWA effort.
Moreover, when community meetings were held to discuss their problems and rights, Ramkali would ensure that a maximum number of women were present. In fact she was instrumental in organising a 40-day training workshop with help from SEWA for unskilled women labourers in which 24 women were trained in masonry so that they could earn better wages.
Of late, her own household has transformed into an active centre of synchronization with the women. And she, as had been from the beginning has emerged as a natural guide. Consequent to this, SEWA has appointed her as a SEWA sathi (comrade).
Today Ramkali is using her skills in social bonding to mobilise women labourers to form self-help groups so that they may solve community based and work related problems, and also acquire skills that would help them get employed at better wages. Alongside, she has been persuading both men and women workers to register with the Construction Worker's Welfare Board.
She has also realised from her own experience the importance of education and has admitted all five of her children to schools. Understanding that the education in private schools is better, she has managed to get a fee exemption from DAV Public School, Yojna Vihar for one of her girls. Careful enough, she has admitted her youngest child in a play school. Rest of the three children are in government schools for which she assures that they don't drop out. While she insists other workers to provide their children with formal education, she cites the best example of her own children who are studying, despite little difficulties at home.
Besides this, Ramkali is also active in attending to the rallies and public meetings of various fora, be it for the welfare of construction workers, or any other unorganised sector. In October 2005 and also in August 2007 she was on the go in convincing women of her locality to participate in a demonstration at Jantar Mantar demanding social securities for the unorganised sectors.
Plucky on issues like gender equality, and equal pay for equal work, she has established an example in herself. As she herself says, "I am so young, and am a woman, and I am proud that I am heard, my ideas are respected and my people, whether they are men or women, trust me. I feel strong when they approach me for help".
By Farah Aziz
Source: http://www.countercurrents.org/aziz200208.htm
Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.
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