Perhaps the largest of India’s women’s liberal education and empowerment movements, fuelled by the government if India in 1990, is being quietly throttled to death by the Narendra Modi government. Mahila Samakhya may end up singing its swan song even as it celebrates its silver jubilee year, with the centre first procrastinating, and then reluctantly approving its budget for just this financial year. Mahila Samakhya is a programme of the Union Government Ministry of HRD.

The MHRD website will tell you: ‘Currently, MS coverage exists across 126 districts of 10 States namely AP, Assam, Bihar,Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand. An expansion to 60-65 new districts is planned during the 12^th Plan.

Newsflash! (not recorded on the MHRD website): the planning commission no longer exists, so phut goes the 13^th plan! We have this new Niti Ayog thingy in place, so apparently the ‘expansion’ is floating around somewhere in limbo!

The physical progress of MS’ as on March 2014 is stated as covering 42,398 villages, with Bihar leading with 8,032 villages in 124 EBBs- extremely backward blocks. The runner up, Andhra Pradesh covers 5,464 villages in 129 EBBs.

Bihar is the best performer, and guess what the annual budget requirement is? A measly 10-12 crore of rupees that helps maintain education and empowerment of over ‘9,774 strong women’s groups, 9,520 adolescent girls Samoohs, 33,000 members of the federations and functionaries across the state who are partners in the ongoing struggle for women’s empowerment’ in 2014.

That fantastic hype over Modi’s ‘gift’ of 125 lakh crore rupees to Bihar didn’t include a measly Rs. 10 crore for the best performing women’s empowerment cum education scheme the state has had for two and a half decades!

Surprised? Don’t be. Earlier this year, in July , with Mahila Samakhya societies parched almost dry and their entire workforce plunged into self-doubt, the State programme directors of 10 states met together at Patna. At the meeting, they once again iterated the non-negotiable principles of Mahila Samakhya, which I quote below

• We will work with women and on feminist philosophy (feminism)
• Every activity will take forward the process of receiving and imparting of learning
• We will strive to build the skills, talent and understanding of women, empowering them to become leaders in social change.
• We will collectively strive to eliminate every type of inequality be it of caste, class, or creed (religion).
• We will work with the disempowered, the Dalit, the tribal, the minorities to eradicate gender inequalities, social discrimination and prejudice.

Now, how can the new dispensation of the man with the 56 inch chest tolerate such an anti-patriarchal, ‘left leaning’, bunch of females, determined to raise the issues of gender inequality, misogyny and worse in certain religious leaning institutions so dear to his heart?

Though some funds have been released through the Niti Ayog lately, we hear that the Director of Primary Education, or certain vested interests in his office, hasn’t passed on the much needed funds to the Bihar Mahila Samakhya society. Bad move, my man!

All I can say is this to the IAS chap currently holding sway in the  director’s office: when 33,000 women from the federations decide to have their own ‘Mission Occupy’ you’ve had it! I don’t know whether you’ve read Shakespeare, but let me tell you that hell hath no fury greater than a woman scorned. Don’t try their patience beyond a limit, or you’ll have to deal with 33,000 visions of pure hell! You’ve been warned, the Dothraki are coming!

Frank Krisnher

  Bihar mahila samakhya society, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, NARENDRA MODI