Alleviation: An International Journal of Nutrition, Gender & Social Development, ISSN 2348-9340 Volume 5, Number 5 (2018):
© Arya PG College, Panipat & Business Press India Publication, Delhi
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Innovative Practices by Grassroot Women of Uttarakhand

Nivedita Mishra Thapliyal
Assistant Professor, Department of Law
Law College, Faculty of Uttaranchal University
Dehradun ,Uttarakhand, India
Email: reishinivedita@gmail.com

Abstract

The rural women of Uttarakhand play an important role in addressing the development issues, be it reformation of state or protecting environment or in crossing the reservation in Panchayat from 33 per cent to 40 per cent. To bring about a change, women faced lots of problem. The majority of the women are illiterate, un-trained and faced the problems of non-cooperation from the officials. The burden of family was also in the hands of women as males are out to cities in search of jobs. But the confidence of doing something new was present among them. One of the groups who fought all odds and succeeded is the Mahila Group of Bhatrakot village of Okhalanda Block of Nainital Distict. The women of the same village constituted a Mahila Group by themselves and motivated other women to be a part of the group in the panchayat. These initiatives by the grassroots women gave rise to strong community institutions especially of the women, for women and by the women. The members of this group meet religiously on the decided date each month, they had their own code of conduct and fines were levied on those who were not regular or who did not contribute to the monthly savings of the group. The advent of the Self Help Groups and micro- financing had taught them the art of managing their own funds and got linked with the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) schemes. They started participating in Gram Sabha meetings and solved various village level conflicts. Got educated with the help of Mahila Samakha and this group formed federation and helped other households in neighboring village.

Keywords: Community, Institution, Participation, Rural Women