Weaving dreams of prosperity

Teresa Rehman catches up with enterprising women in Guwahati who are making a livelihood by creatively designing Assam's traditional fabrics into trendy outfits

Picture this: Sipping tea with homemade pithas in a cosy living room and choosing from a lavish spread of mekhela chadors and salwar kameezes. Getting tips from the homely designer and casual haggling are part of the package.

All this is becoming a part of life now. Almost every locality in Guwahati boasts of a “neighbourhood designer”. These designers, mostly housewives operating from home, set up their own looms with a few weavers, sewing machines and dyeing units. Most importantly, their skill is publicised by word of mouth, especially at weddings and other functions.

Attending a workshop with some Japanese tourists in 1993 was an eye-opener for one of these new designers, Anita Chetia. “The tourists criticised the Assamese people for not being able to harness the golden thread of Assam -- the famous muga silk,” says Chetia.

“I always took care to dress up tastefully and used to design my own clothes,” she says. Eyes gleaming with pride, she adds, “Once a lady called me at a wedding. I walked towards her but could not recognise her. The lady then said that she had, in fact, identified my clothes and not me.”

This inspired Chetia and she started off with two looms and an initial investment of Rs 10,000. “I took a risk but I told myself that even if my clothes did not sell, I could at least wear them myself. But it was a sellout and my salwar kameezes made out of mekhala chador material have been equally popular.”

With 17 employees, Chetia is today a successful entrepreneur. She participates in the trade fairs regularly. She is also the vice-president of North East Women Entrepreneurs Association. “I feel proud that I am economically independent now,” she says.

Like her, Anjali Das of Ganesh Nagar area of Basistha specialises in embroidery work and had been doing it since 1978. “I do embroidery on mekhala chadors, sofa set covers, table clothes, sarees and salwar kameezes. I feel very happy that I have my own source of income,” says Das.
For Anjana Goswami, the illuminating moment was when she discovered an old chador of her mother-in-law some 17 years back. “I was inspired to weave similar designs. With a loan of Rs 2,000 from my husband, I got eight such clothes made out of akhi thread,” she says. But they were sold out and she got more orders.

Gradually, Goswami expanded her business and now has four looms at home. She also makes gamochas, cotton mekhala chadors and dupattas with different designs. “I am also undergoing training on vegetable dyes at the weavers centre. I intend to experiment with vegetable dyes which also has health benefits,” she says.

Goswami is justifiably proud of her achievements and says, “I could repay the loan I had taken from my husband. I also file my own income tax returns and have got my looms insured. My designs have been bought by Assamese non-resident Indians too.”

Though not a graduate from any reputed fashion schools, these neighbourhood designers are giving some of the well-known fashion designers a run for their money. “I am making wall paintings of these old designs and hope to show them to some of the leading designers of the country,” says Goswami.

Fashion designer Meghna Rai Medhi welcomes this trend. “People are learning about fashion and they should be encouraged. Going to a fashion school is important but it is not imperative if one has talent and skill. Though many of them are not aware of the technicalities, their final product turns out to be quite uncommon and appealing. I don't see this trend as a threat to us designers. in fact, we can join hands and work together,” adds Medhi.

Noted danseuse Garima Hazarika has a passion for collecting traditional tribal designs. “We have seven looms at Mitali Sangha, our organisation. I take care of the designs and colours here and we make Assamese cushion covers, table mats, dupattas and salwar kameezes. I also improvise designs for jewellery,” Hazarika says.

The wedding season is the peak time for these neighbourhood designers. Tultul Bora is “booked” from June to December, designing wedding trousseaus. “I have even bought old and torn chadors and mekhalas for their design. People prefer to come to us as we can match various hues with different designs at a reasonable price,” says Bora.

Chetia adds, “I have designed wedding trousseaus for the entire family at times. I have also designed exotic kurtas for the groom.” Most of these neighbourhood designers admit they did not have the slightest inkling about being so successful. “I never thought that I would be able to start my own business. Initially I used to do embroidery on kanjivaram cloth and gradually shifted to paat. I took a loan of Rs 3 lakh from the State Bank of India,” says Bora.

Minoti Barbara, who operates with her three sewing machines from her residence on Zoo-Narengi road, says, “I started off by designing casualwear, specially designer baby frocks. College girls throng my place and I suggest designs and colours according to their constitution.”
Leena Mahanta started off with two looms and an investment of Rs 10,000 in a bid to help the Bodo women in her neighbourhood in Birubari. “I try to create of fusion of contemporary designs with e traditional assamese designs. People from all over Assam and even designers come to me to collect the textiles,” says Mahanta.

Affordability is one of the main factors why people throng these neighbourhood designers. “If my customers have a limited budget, I also allow them to pay in instalments,” says Mahanta.
Most of these women feel proud that they are making good use of their time. “Instead of whiling away time in idle banter, I feel happy to contribute to the family income and take care of my household at the same time,” sums up Anjali Das.
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An apology for Majuli

Lending a different angle to the exotic and heritage aspect of Majuli, which has nurtured the Vaishnavite culture for centuries, a travel editor insinuated "in the absence of women, are these monasteries a breeding ground for child abuse and homosexuality?" A Mail Today travel story has offended many in Assam, says TERESA REHMAN.

Posted Saturday, May 29 01:47:47, 2010

It's not often that a write-up published in a national daily manages to create a stir and hit the headlines even in the local dailies here. It's not surprising as there is hardly anything that one gets to read on India's Northeast in the national dailies, apart from the routine staple of violence, road blockades, insurgency, extortion and peace talks which time and again reinforce the stereotypes.

However, an intriguing piece on Majuli, the world's largest river island located in Assam, by Nishiraj A Baruah, Travel Editor of the Delhi-based tabloid 'Mail Today', not only provoked livid reactions from all quarters but also coerced the tabloid to aplogise. Baruah was invited along with a group of journalists by the Directorate of Assam Tourism and Assam Tour Operator Association, to visit and promote a few places of tourist interest.Lending a different angle to the exotic and heritage aspect of Majuli which has nurtured the Vaishnavite culture for centuries, Baruah insinuated "in the absence of women, are these monasteries a breeding ground for child abuse and homosexuality?" Majuli is a home to the numerous Satras, or the Vaishnavite monasteries, set up by the saint Srimanta Sankardeva and his disciples. It is to be noted that only some of the Satras are celibate monasteries. Baruah's write-up starts with a basic premise. He embarks with a question to a monk, "Have you never felt like having sex?"

It is probably the first time anyone has dared to defy the accepted norms and raise such questions in public. The feedback to Baruah's write-up became one of the lead news items in local daily The Assam Tribune on May 22. The daily stated, "The covert assertions made in a write-up in a daily on the cultural heritage of the people of the river island Majuli have evoked strong resentment here. The write-up published in the tabloid newspaper Mail Today in its May 20 issue has covert indications of perverted sexual behaviour of the monks of the Majuli satras."The Assam Tribune further states, "Not only this, the write-up has more to offer to introduce Majuli to the strangers."It says, "Indeed, Majuli floating like a lotus in the middle of the mighty Brahmaputra in Assam, will leave you with a zillion questions, but often with no answers. And that's what makes it a little mysterious, a bit like the Bermuda Triangle.""But instead of disappearing aeroplanes, at Majuli it is about disappearing men and money, NGO activists such as Sanjoy Ghosh get wiped out for carrying out welfare work and welfare funds from the Central government disappear into the pockets of the powerful.

Until recently, Majuli was also home to ULFA no-hopers. Besides, Satra politics/rivalry, unemployment and the threat of the Brahmaputra that swallows large chunks of the island every monsoon (and shrinking its size) add to the alarmist psychosis.""No wonder, behind the calm façade of the famed Satras (monasteries) and its effeminate bhokots, soft-spoken natives, quiet roads and refreshing Liril-green landscapes, there seems to be something brewing. An uneasy calm hangs thick in the air. You realise this when you talk to the islanders. They don't open up easily, are always on guard and just when you are about to ask a few questions, you are interrogated instead...."

Tridip Sarma, the president of the Tour Operators Association of Assam (TOAA) who invited Baruah, was piqued and sent an email to The Assam Tribune which stated, "Nishiraj A Baruah has written the aforesaid article in an objectionable manner which has hurt the sentiments of the people of Assam. The article has defeated the purpose for which his visit was planned by TOAA. The issue raised by him has no authenticity and value. We condemn the questions raised by him and convey our strong resentment in publishing such articles by a reputed publishing house."Some called it "irresponsible journalism", some termed it "fallacious and misleading" and an attempt to sensationalise things. Joining in the protest against the write-up were the organizations which have long been struggling for recognition of Majuli as a World Heritage Site.

For instance, Bharat Saikia, Secretary of Majuli Island Protection and Development Council (MIPADC) condemned the write-up as defamatory and negative. President of the Majuli district unit of the Asom Satra Mahasabha, Dutta Dev Goswami described the write-up as an aspersion on the people of Assam. "The write-up is not based on facts and if in the coming days anyone dares to pen such write-ups or publish them, the Majuli unit of the Sattra Mahasabha would move the court for justice," Dev Goswami told The Assam Tribune.The umbrage was in a way justified as the writer did not give any kind of evidence to corroborate his statements on the 'homosexuality and child abuse' angle in the monasteries at Majuli. It is not pertinent to write only 'feel-good' things about a place even if one is doing a travel piece. Many felt that if such theories were in fact true, Baruah should have investigated further and put things in the correct perspective. Baruah too agreed that his statements were tenuous and speculative. He tendered an apology which also made front page news in The Assam Tribune on May 25.

The Assam Tribune stated, "Mail Today scribe Nishiraj A Baruah has tendered apologies 'to all concerned' for his report on Majuli that appeared in the Mumbai daily on May 20. In a letter to president of the Tour Operators' Association of Assam (TOAA) Tridib Sarma and all TOAA members, Baruah said that he is "deeply upset by the reactions to his story on Majuli". He however, stated that the state of infrastructure and amenities for tourists in the island left much to be desired.In his letter, Baruah maintained that it would have been a great story only if he had the proof to back the issues raised by him in the story. However, he had no proof, he said.He further stated, "It's just that while I was talking to a few Satra kids (six to 10 years old) about their life, etc., I (and my fellow journos) had a distinct feeling that all was not well there. And hence the questions on child abuse and homosexuality have unleashed an avalanche of protests. Since I am a travel and lifestyle journalist, I do not have the expertise nor the inclination to do an investigative piece. And since I thought the question is pertinent enough, I was hoping that someone will take it up further. But the 'travel' section was not the place for such a story -- my editor in chief Bharat Bhushan also pointed that out to me this morning." The May 25 edition of 'Mail Today' carried an apology on this.

Now that a travel and lifestyle journalist has raked up this contentious issue, it won't be surprising if an investigative journalist decides to take it up from here.
ends

Prayers answered: women enter Vaishnavite monastery

Ban on entry of women into places of worship comes out of deep-seated religious and cultural prejudices. However, a recent development in Western Assam's Barpeta district offers a ray of hope to those in search of justice, reports Teresa Rehman

20 May 2010 - Barpeta, Assam (WFS): From time-to-time, women have tried to breach the long-imposed ban on entry into the 'kirtanghar', or the sanctum sanctorum, of Patbausi satra and its neighbouring satras in Western Assam's Barpeta district. Among them were former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and literary stalwarts such as Amrita Pritam, Nabaneeta Deb Sen, and Mamoni Raisom Goswami. The reason for the denial was to preserve the 'purity' of the satra (a Vaisnavite monastery) which had been out of bounds for women for centuries because traditionally, menstruating women were considered 'unclean'.

But Assam Governor J B Patnaik, who visited Barpeta recently, decided to break the rule and set an example for posterity. The governor was visiting the Patbausi, Sundaridiya, and Barpeta satras in the district. Surprised by the exclusion of women in the satra, he courteously reasoned with the authorities of the Patbausi satra, located some three kilometres away from the Barpeta satra. He then took with him a group of 20 women who were waiting outside to receive him.
These satras or monasteries were founded by 16th century saint Srimanta Sankardeva who propagated Vaishnavism, a sect of Hinduism. But the saint had never discriminated against his women devotees. While the satras located in other parts of Assam allow entry to women, the ones in Barpeta continued to follow this ancient custom. The satra was set up by Srimanta Sankardeva at Patbausi where he had spent 18 years of his life. It was here that he completed the 'Kirtan Ghosa' (religious text). Some of the articles used by the gurus and the 'Sachipat Puthis' (ancient manuscripts) have been well preserved here.

Mixed public response
This historic intervention by Governor Patnaik, who also happens to be a Sanskrit scholar, created quite a stir. The public response was mixed. Many were outraged and upset, while a few were relieved that finally a path had been paved for women to enter the satra. There was also an unexpected triumph. A few days later, the management committee of Sri Sri Sankardev Than, Patbausi satra, formally opened its doors to women. And this raised hopes of a similar decision by the authorities of the nearby Barpeta satra.

Surprisingly, the move has been welcomed by the satradhikars, or heads of the other satras. Sri Kosha Kanta Dev Goswami, the head of Sri Sri Chamaguri satra in Majuli, the largest river island in the world, was positive about the decision. "The Barpeta satra should soon follow this. Both men and women have equal rights to a place of worship. Earlier, even the Kamalabari satra in Majuli was restricted to just male devotees but they too opened their doors for women," he says.
Many, however, are of the opinion that the sanctity of the satra and religious conventions need to be maintained. They feel that doing something just for the sake of change doesn't make sense. "I would never want to hurt anybody's religious sentiments. If I am not wanted in that place, I will not go there," says Runima Mahanta, 34, a Barpeta-based housewife.

Others adopt a moderate stand although they may feel humiliated that their husbands are allowed entry while they have been denied the same. Argues Manavee Bordoloi, a lecturer at MC College in Barpeta, "Although Srimanta Sankardev never discriminated against women, I feel modification can be brought about only through mutual discussions and not through any kind of revolution." “The women living in the localities surrounding the satras harbour a lot of superstitions and blind beliefs, which they would be better off discarding."

Sahitya Akademi awardee Nirupama Borgohain dismisses the argument that all religious sentiments must be condoned. According to her, if a sentiment is based on a wrong idea, she cannot respect it. She agreed that the move to breach the 'kirtan ghar' by the governor and the women accompanying him was a "bold step". However, she fears that it may just be an isolated incident unless of course there are concerted efforts by women themselves to demand their rights to enter it. According to Borgohain, this is unlikely to happen. “The women living in the localities surrounding the satras harbour a lot of superstitions and blind beliefs, which they would be better off discarding."

‘Breach’ attempts
In fact, many groups who have tried to breach this rule earlier. A group of women led by Padmashree Sheela Barthakur of the Sadou Asom Lekhika Samaroh Samiti, a women's literary body, had in 1988 gone to the satra authorities with a petition to allow women to enter the premises. They were appalled, however, by the fact that a group of women had tried to physically assault them on that occasion.

Guwahati-based social activist Anima Guha, who too was denied entry, is forthright. "It's a matter of shame for us that we had to wait until the 21st century for this to happen. When we had tried to reason with the satra head some time ago, he told us that it is the local women who oppose the entry of women because women tend to be more conservative," she recalls.

Signs of change
Women's entry to religious places has time and again been the focus of controversies. In 2006, a group of women lawyers had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Kerala Government to lift the age-old ban on women devotees entering the Lord Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala. Right from 10 years till 50, women are not allowed entry into the temple as Lord Ayyappa is believed to have taken a vow of celibacy. In 2007, in a radical breakthrough from the centuries-old dress code of Kerala's Guruvayur temple, the shrine's management decided to allow women wearing salwar or churidar-kameez to enter the temple.

Northeast India came into focus in 1988 when the Idgah Masjid, a mosque in the Laban locality of Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, set a precedent by opening its doors for women. Sayeedullah Nongrum, the general secretary of the Shillong Muslim Union which runs the mosque, said, "Islam is very liberal. Even during Haj, women pray with men; only a partition divides them. If we can send our women to the market, why can't we allow them to enter the mosque?"

It may have taken centuries; but finally, it seems the 'women not allowed' signboards at ancient places of worship are slowly coming down. (Women's Feature Service) ⊕
20 May 2010

Where is Paresh Barua? Ask the media

In the absence of official confirmation, it is interesting to see how the local television channels have come out with their own ‘exclusive’ versions of how and when the arrest took place. All these speculations were triggered by news reports on the website of the New Indian Express, says TERESA REHMAN.

Posted Friday, May 21 11:47:08, 2010 (www.thehoot.org)

“Paresh Barua arrested in Bangladesh -- Media” ' a ticker ran in a local television channel NETV. If media reports are to be believed then the elusive supremo of the banned outfit United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), Paresh Barua has been arrested in Bangladesh and is now being lodged in an undisclosed destination. However, news reports also stated that the Union Home ministry has denied reports of his arrest and dismissed all reports stating that he has been handed over to Indian authorities.

Barua happens to be one of the ‘most-wanted' in South East Asia after Interpol issued a Red Corner notice for him. And the commander-in-chief of ULFA happens to be only ULFA top-rung leader who has never been nabbed. Born on May 1, 1957 at Jeraichakali Bhariagaon in Assam's Dibrugarh district, Barua is one of the founders of the proscribed outfit.

In the recent cases of handing over of the four top ULFA leaders Arabinda Rajkhowa, Raju Baruah, Sasha Choudhury and Chitraban Hazarika and the NDFB chief Ranjan Daimari, they were handed over to the BSF in early morning hours by the BDR. Besides, though they all were arrested earlier, the report was not confirmed by both India and Bangladesh till the handing over was completed. Barua's ‘arrest' would be historic in the sense it would be the last nail on the outfit's coffin.

In the absence of official confirmation, it is interesting to see how the local television channels have come out with their own ‘exclusive' versions of how and when the arrest took place. The frenzy over Barua's 'arrest' has been dominating the headlines in the local channels in the past few days. According to one channel, the Bangladesh authorities arrested another dreaded ULFA cadre Bhaity Baruah from the Mahakali area in Bangladesh.

Another unidentified person was arrested along with him and reports speculated that he could be Paresh Barua. Incidentally, Bhaity Baruah's wife and his two children had mysteriously arrived at their residence in Assam's Sivasagar district from Bangladesh. And the channel found it equally mysterious that the local police is yet to question or arrest her. She told newspersons that she has come home on the advice of her husband. It could be that they had very tactfully surrendered themselves to the authorities.

Another channel stated that the Bangladesh intelligence traced him through the last email he had sent to some media houses in Assam. They traced it to China. Then on his return to Bangladesh, he was followed from the airport while he was travelling in a Toyota car. The Bangladesh police arrested him and after that there has been no news about him.

The channel also stated that something did happen in Bangladesh and all these speculations were triggered by news reports on the website of New Indian Express, www.expressbuzz.com. According to this news report, “The dreaded ULFA leader was apprehended by the Bangladeshi security agencies about 12 days ago when he was crossing over to Bangladesh via Myanmar border after visiting Chinese Yunnan province. Barua had left for Yunnan about four months ago after the Bangladeshi authorities launched a massive crackdown on anti-India insurgent groups. He was said to be on a purchasing spree of arms and ammunition for his outfit from Narinco Arms factory.”

In fact, the Bangaldesh daily The New Nation quoted the report in expressbuzz.com about Baruah's arrest. The daily also quoted Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder who pleaded ignorance about the arrest of Paresh Barua. According to this report, “Bangladesh officials had been shy of confirming the arrest and handing over to India of the ULFA Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and three of his comrades early this year, and National Democratic Front of Bodoland Chairman Ranjan Daimary couple of months ago.”

The New Nation also quoted an IANS report from Guwahati, Assam, where Indian Home Secretary G K Pillai pleaded ignorance about the arrest of ULFA Commander. They also cited television channels in Assam and some newspapers on Thursday reported that ULFA's elusive commander-in-chief was arrested in Bangladesh about a fortnight ago upon his return from China. Meanwhile, another leader of ULFA Anup Chetia is likely to be handed over to the Indian authority soon said the Indian media recently. Anup Chetia was in a Bangladesh prison for about ten years.

The Telegraph report with the headline “Buzz over Paresh arrest” on May 19, stated that a person suspected to be Paresh Baruah was apprehended while returning from a business trip in China. The report claimed that the person was apprehended about a fortnight back. It also claimed that the person arrested was being interrogated by the Bangladeshi intelligence agency DGFI somewhere close to the Northeast.

The report cited, “Sections in the security establishment want to double-check the identity of the suspect in Bangladesh, a difficult task, considering the sketchy details about Paresh Barua's current physical description. Agencies in India so far were depending on a photograph that is more than 15 years old. The ULFA commander-in-chief has been absconding since 1990 when he made Bangladesh his permanent home. He has several cases against his name in India and Bangladesh where he has business interests valued at Rs 500 crore, according to intelligence sources.” The report further claimed quoting unconfirmed sources that the outfit's general secretary Anup Chetia was even handed over to India in Delhi recently.

The Assam Tribune on May 20 wrote that “The report of arrest of Barua caught officials in the Home Ministry and the External Affairs Ministry by surprise. The Embassy in Dhaka was contacted, as intelligence agencies got busy verifying the reports.” Another report in the same daily cited “the ULFA has started a massive drive to extort money to boost its coffers and a number of persons including businessmen received extortion notes. Interestingly, most of the extortion notes were sent by post and not delivered by anyone personally as was the case earlier.”

Most comprehensive was probably a programme on the local channel DY365 which featured a programme profiling all the top leaders of the banned outfit with their background, early lives, family details, their role as militant leaders and finally the way they were nabbed. The screen had photographs of all the leaders who were caught. But there was a blank slot for the prize catch -- Paresh Barua.

ends

Giving her all for the green cause
It was Karachi-based journalist Shabina Faraz's passion for environment that helped bring climate issues to the mass-circulating Urdu press.

By Teresa Rehman

A cynical editor from a leading Urdu newspaper in Pakistan once told her, “Who would read drab and lacklustre stories on environmental issues? You have exceptional writing skills. You should concentrate on political writing.”

This observation, fortunately, did not deter Karachi-based journalist Shabina Faraz from pursuing her passion for the environment. Today, she is credited with having introduced environmental issues in the mass-circulating Urdu press in Pakistan. Through sheer persistence, Shabina managed to push her climate stories into the Urdu media, past unyielding editors, and eventually won the hearts of many readers.

So much so, that the same editor who had advised her to concentrate on politics earlier, proposed to start a regular page on environmental issues, although he still remained sceptical: “Are you sure you will find enough issues to write regularly on the environment?” he had questioned. His scepticism was well-founded though; the Urdu press normally did not have much to say about environmental issues.

But for Shabina there was no looking back. She recalls how her writing actually influenced government policy. For instance, in 1999, the authorities gave a petroleum company permission to undertake exploration activity in the Kirthar National Park, located in the Kirthar mountain ranges of Sindh. Spread over an area of 3,08,733 hectares, it was Pakistan's first National Park to be included in the 1975 United Nation's list of National Parks around the world.

Protesting against the exploration activity was not easy. Although civil society groups and NGO activists had taken a stand against the government's decision, the media was indifferent to it. There was only one television channel, PTV, at that time and it was government-run. “The private channels came much later — in 2002. In such a situation, the role of print journalists assumed importance,” she recalls.

Lone campaigner
Slowly English newspapers started focusing on the issue. Shabina was the lone campaigner in the Urdu media, which reaches out to hundreds of thousands of ordinary readers. As an editor of the Urdu environmental weekly Jareeda, supported by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), she wrote detailed and compelling reports explaining in layman's language what exactly a national park is, its importance and the legal aspects. After a two-year crusade, the government was forced into withdrawing its decision.

For the journalist this was a personal victory. She now found it easier to write on other environment-related issues. Support from her readers grew, followed by general public attention.

She won many accolades and awards; it was a proud moment for her when she received the Green Journalist Award 2009 from Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. The award was in recognition of her work on climate change and women in Pakistan.

Shabina had indeed come a long way. Born in 1965 into a family with a strong literary background, she majored in Urdu literature. As a child, she had read the works of Mirza Ghalib, Meer Taqi Meer, Meer Dard, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Muneer Niazi and Nasir Kazmi. “It was difficult to grasp many things then. But I was eager to learn,” she says. Of course, there was one other thing that was close to her heart: the environment.

Equipped with a Masters Degree in Urdu Literature from the University of Karachi, she did not take the conventional path to academics but instead started working as an Assistant Editor with the Jasoosi Digest Publications, the largest group of entertainment magazines in Pakistan. She wrote many short stories and translated classical stories from English to Urdu during this phase. Three television dramas and two documentaries in Urdu followed. While doing this, she also managed to introduce environmental issues in stories for the first time.

The turning point
The turning point came when she was invited by the IUCN for a five-day workshop on Forest and Wildlife at Faisalabad. It opened a whole new world of possibilities. She started writing on environmental issues for the Jang group of Publications, the largest media group in Pakistan. “Here, 95 per cent of readers read Urdu newspapers, with 85 per cent reading the Jang. I felt like I was doing something worthwhile,” she says.

In 1995, Karachi witnessed unusually heavy rains. The old port city has two rivers, the Malir and the Liari, running through it, besides many rain-fed drains. However, the land mafia and influential citizens had encroached on the drains and, as a result, after the heavy showers, the entire city was flooded.

“We pointed out the illegal encroachments and published the original maps of the city. After a month, the authorities took action and demolished many high-rise buildings. I am happy that as a journalist I could manage to mould public opinion on the issue,” she says.

But the government's efforts on environment are only cosmetic, she says. “It declared 2009 as the National Year of Environment, but organised only two conferences,” she rues, adding, “Pakistan's electronic media revolves around politics and politicians and stories of corruption. If they telecast any environment-related news they fail to cross-check facts and tend to look at every environmental issue through the lens of corruption and politics,” she says.

Getting people together
Shabina has created and supported the Forum of Environmental Journalists of Pakistan with the help of IUCN. Today, grassroots organisations seek her advice; television channels HUM and AAJ TV invite her for talk shows on the environment; and even the regional language press like the Sindhi media often reprint translated versions of her articles. She also works with BBC Urdu and has written a book on environmental issues in Sindhi for children. Soon it will be a part of school curriculum.

She is now delving deep into the lost water resources of Pakistan, like the legendary Saraswati river, which disappeared because of geographical and climate changes. “We have already lost three civilisations — the Indus, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa — to climate change and water scarcity,” she says.

Women's Feature Service

Young girls face trafficking as lack of rain drives worsening rural poverty

By Teresa Rehman
NALBARI DISTRICT, India (AlertNet) - The rescue of 17-year-old Nitumoni (name changed) from a brothel in Shillong city recently points to a new danger as climate change takes hold in Northeast India - trafficking of vulnerable women.

Nitumoni's widowed mother, from Madhupur village, used to work as a daily wage labourer at rice fields in her village, near the Bhutan border. But as groundwater dries up in the region and rains fall short, farmers are giving up rice production, leaving families like Nitumoni's without work and struggling to make ends meet.

So when a distant relative offered to take Nitumoni to Shillong, the capital of neighboring Meghalaya state, to work as a domestic helper, her impoverished family agreed. But the girl instead ended up in a brothel, before being rescued recently by police. This has raised new worries about the dangers facing young girls as their already poor families struggle to cope with added burdens brought on by climate change.

"It dawned on me that climate change had much broader implications than it appears. Issues like human trafficking come to the limelight only when such an incident takes place. Otherwise, nobody wants to talk about it," said Prithibhusan Deka, president of Gramya Vikas Mancha, a non-profit local development organization. Many young girls sent from poor homes to find work end up trafficked to India as prostitutes or poorly paid factory workers, she said.

The organization is now working to fight the problem, which has been growing in remote villages badly hit by erratic rainfall and near-drought situations, she said.

GIRLS SENT TO CITY AS FARM INCOMES FALL

"This raises questions about human trafficking in the name of searching for alternate means of livelihood. We are conducting a baseline survey of young women, mostly climate refugees who are trafficked and forced into sex work in big cities in India. It is very difficult to get accurate statistics as nobody wants to talk about it. But we know that there are middlemen who are operating in these areas," Deka said.

In a growing number of villages in Assam, groundwater levels are very low and farmers are dependent on natural rainfall or dongs, traditional water channels that are the main source of irrigation and drinking water. The age-old water management system is particularly important to the most thirsty villages in the area.

Dongs are akin to small dams built on a river, with water diverted through canals to fields and backyard ponds. But gradually even the dongs are now drying up. Due to rampant deforestation in the foothills of Bhutan, heavy rains during the monsoons now carry rocks, soil and silt that block the dongs, said Ramani Thakuria, a senior agronomist at Assam Agricultural University. And in winter, the systems increasingly run completely dry, particularly as rainfall becomes more erratic.

As a result, farmers engaged in water-intensive rice cultivation have been severely affected, with many now moving to cities in search of new work or sending family members there to supplement falling incomes on the farm.

Nitumoni, her family's oldest child, was sent to the city to help support her mother and younger siblings, according to police who raided a brothel, rescuing a number of young girls.
Alarmed by the growing poverty-driven trafficking problem, Deka's organization is now working to introduce technology to help farmers earn more income at home.

Under a "rice intensification" effort, families in 100 villages in Nalbari and Baksa districts in Assam are getting training in how to grow rice with much less water and commercial fertilizer. The system, developed in the 1980s in Madagascar, has been successfully used in other parts of India.

"Water shortage and erratic rainfall is a global phenomenon due to climate change and we expect this to continue. We will have to improvise our agricultural methods accordingly to cope with the vagaries of nature," said Ramani Kanta Sarma of Rashtriya Gramin Vikas Nidhi, an Indian development NGO that gives training on rice intensification techniques.

The organization, which began introducing the system in Assam two years ago, plans to have trained farmers throughout the state within three years, Sarma said. This new technology has produced an enthusiastic response from farmers in some of the state's poorest and most remote districts.

"As community water resources were drying up, many of my fellow farmers were contemplating giving up rice cultivation. But we are looking forward to this new technology now," said Basistha Talukdar, one Nalbari district farmer.

"We have to arrange for our own water," added Ananta Kalita, a young farmer from Teteliguri village, near the Bhutan border. "There is no system to procure water from far-off places. We will have to make the best of what we have."

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Bringing back millet to cope with climate change, empower women

By Teresa Rehman

CHIZAMI, India (AlertNet) - Seno Tsuhah, a primary school teacher in this picturesque village near the Myanmar border, wants to help local women cope with changing climate conditions in Nagaland by promoting an old practice: the cultivation of traditional varieties of millet.

Sowing seeds is mostly the domain of women in the area, explains Tsuhah, the moving spirit of a local resource centre of the North East Network, an NGO that works on women's empowerment and human rights. In each home, a woman "usually keeps the seeds and the different crop selection is mainly done by her. We are trying to sensitise women farmers to promote crop diversity and revive the traditional indigenous seeds which are suitable for the local soil," she says.

Millet, an upland crop, has long been cultivated in the hills of northeast India, and millet-based 'apong,' a country liquor, is a common brew. But the traditional grain is seen primarily as food for the poor and for animals, and millet cultivation is diminishing, along with the traditional 'jhum' system of integrating multiple crops in a field.

"The earlier jhum systems were very complex, but nowadays it has been extremely simplified and the focus has shifted to mono-cropping," said Subbiah Arunachalam, of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in Meghalaya state.

Increasingly unusual weather, including more erratic rainfall and prolonged dry spells, however, are driving Tsuhah and others to try to revive the crop, which can grow in harsh conditions and needs little in the way of fertilizer or other inputs.

Her centre is in the process of setting up a seed bank of traditional millet varieties and has so far collected about 15. It is also collecting traditional millet recipes and organizing food festivals and exhibitions to pass on the information. "We are trying to ensure that the seeds are preserved and accorded due importance. If some seeds are lost, there is always a scope of sharing the seeds," she said.

Climate change is leading to increasingly temperatures in places like northeast India, and wheat harvests are expected to suffer as a result. Cultivation of rice, another staple, releases too much methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from paddies, environmentalists say.

MILLET SEEN AS A RESILIENT CHOICE

Millet is seen as a more resilient choice, not least because it requires much less water than rice or wheat. Millet, cultivated in traditional mixed 'jhum' fields, is usually sown on rocky sloping ground with minimal soil. Planted in April, it is harvested in July, and a millet feast usually follows in August. "Jhum is the indigenous way of maintaining the ecology and rejuvenating life. It is difficult to understand why millet is called a poor man's food," Tsuhah said.

Millet, while a traditional food and widely used for brewing, is today largely used as animal fodder. But it has also won a spot on the shelves of health food shops frequented by India's elite.
The Millet Network of India, in a nationwide campaign, is now promoting the grain as a climate change-compliant crop and a traditional Indian choice.

Srinivas Vatturi, of the millet network, emphasizes that multi-cropping of grains like millet are part of women-led traditional farming, while mono-cropping is largely controlled by men. Men may control money produced by selling mono-crops, he said, but women control food produced at home for the house. Millet also improves not only food security but health, ecological, livelihood and fodder security, he said.

OUTSIDE INDIA'S DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
One problem in expanding the cultivation of millet is that it is not included in India's national distribution system for subsidized grain, said P.V. Satheesh of the Deccan Development Society, an Indian NGO that promotes development among India's poorest.

That exclusion - which has resulted in more Indians eating distributed grains like rice and wheat - has hurt millet production in the country and curbed the diversity of Indian diets, he said. Many young people are no longer aware of traditional crop varieties.

With hunger still widespread in India and a state focus on distributing rice and wheat doing little to curb that, growing nutritionally rich millet at a household level could improve diets, he said. It could be a particularly good choice in remote hilly areas where people are now dependent on food transported all the way from the neighbouring plain areas.

"The farming landscape of the country needs to be redesigned and new food policies shaped, as crops of larger powerful states like Punjab and Haryana are designing the food policies of our country now. Most millet growers are from poorer areas and communities," Satheesh said.

Ketaki Bardalai, executive director of the Foundation for Social Transformation, a northeast Indian NGO, said promoting traditional cultivation systems, mapping millet cultivation pockets and discovering the reasons for its decline are all key, particularly in Northeast India, one of the country's most economically backward and conflict-troubled zones. "Sadly, the growing and consuming of millet is slowly fading. The treasure trove of traditional systems disappearing is also very high," she said.

Teresa Rehman is a journalist based in Northeast India. She can be reached at www.teresarehman.net
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