Tag: girls

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Lite Blogs Woman

Passion and Dedication Drive Jubbal’s Racing Aspirations

The family is however making personal efforts by helping the Motorsport Federation in involving more women participants…writes Sukant Deepak

This 16-year-old girl, who participated in the FIA conducted three rounds of ‘Girls on Track in India’ in the first year of her competitive racing and emerged as the winner in all three rounds in karting slalom, besides achieving podium placements in sim racing, remembers that ever since the age of six, she has been fascinated by powerful cars.

NCR-based Muskaan Jubbal, a Grade 11 student at the Shiv Nadar School, Faridabad, who clinched the ‘Best Woman Driver’ title in the fiercely competitive MRF MMSC Indian National Car Racing Championship held in Chennai recently, and started karting at the age of nine along with her elder brother, tells, “These achievements in the first year greatly boosted our confidence in the sport, and there has been no looking back since then. For me, it is not just a sport, but a passion.”

Wanting to make racing her full-time profession, Jubbal, who trained under Rohit Khanna laments that motorsports continue to get stepmotherly treatment in India despite being recognised as a sport, not to mention no support from Khelo India. 

“Things would get better for young drivers if more support was forthcoming,” she says.

The family is however making personal efforts by helping the Motorsport Federation in involving more women participants. 

“Recently, my mother and I travelled to Kashmir to train more than 30 women in autocross. We are doing our best to contribute to the motorsport ecosystem in the country,” she says.

Despite an impressive CV for her age, even Jubbal faces several problems when it comes to getting sponsorships. She is however thankful for the role her parents have played in supporting her passion. 

“They have always encouraged my brother and I, who is also my mentor. My father has been instrumental in making me understand the mechanics of cars, and my mother has always stood by me.”

From training on the track to strengthen her driving skills to exercising to increase her endurance levels, she admits that sometimes she has to compromise on her academics owing to her travelling for different motorsport events.

“Thankfully, my teachers are quite supportive and encouraging,” she smiles.

For someone who likes baking and playing golf when she is not on the circuit, the ultimate aim is to race on Circuit de Monaco (Monaco), Baku City Circuit (Azerbaijan) and Yas Marina (Abu Dhabi). 

“Of course, these are tall dreams, but I am willing to train hard and stay focussed in order to achieve them,” she concludes.

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Tribal girls puncture stereotypes

Six months ago, Gayatri Kasde of Sawali Kheda was trained as a mechanic under Babubhai, a mechanic in Khalwa town. Now she works from both Babubhai’s garage and her home…reports Mohammad Asif Siddiqui

Tribal girls in Khalwa block of Khandwa district are breaking the glass ceiling that once tied them down to farm work to earn a pittance.

Mantu Kasde of Balrampur works on the shock absorber and clutch plates of motorcycles at a garage in Khalwa, after having completed a three-month course in repairing. “I shall open my own garage soon,” she beams with pride.

Sativardha of Jamdhad has launched a puncture repair service, a beauty parlour and a cutlery shop just outside her home. She completed training for these jobs almost six months ago, after her higher secondary education, to make around Rs 5,000 every month.

Her seven-member family used to migrate every year in search of work. Thanks to her enterprise, the family makes enough money now to give up the idea of migration altogether. “My father does not need to move out for work anymore.”

Six months ago, Gayatri Kasde of Sawali Kheda was trained as a mechanic under Babubhai, a mechanic in Khalwa town. Now she works from both Babubhai’s garage and her home.

Radha Yadav of Bagda repairs motorcycles, besides running a grocery shop. She has managed to save Rs 15,000 over the last six months. Her brother, who was earlier working at a factory in Khandwa, has returned home to help run her business.

Sakiya Vardhaya belongs to a landless family from Jamdhad, comprising her parents, three sisters and two brothers, which migrated annually for work. She now repairs two-wheelers, assisted by her two sisters. The money she earns not only helps run the family but also takes care of her studies. Sakiya, a BA final year student, commutes daily to her college in Khandwa.

Most of these girls fall in the 18-24 age group and belong to the Gond and Korku tribes, which do not practise gender discrimination. So far, 50 girls have received training under the aegis of Spandan Samajsewa Samiti, a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

A unique idea

Hitherto known for the migration of its residents, Khalwa is witnessing a turnaround with young girls entering male-dominated vocations.

Recounting how they embarked on such unique journeys, the girls said that they realised there was little to do in Khalwa other than sowing and harvesting crops. At the same time, the block had a whole lot of two-wheeler and mobile phone users. Whenever something needed repair, the villagers had to travel to the nearest urban centres such as Khalwa, Patajan, Roshni and Ashapur. Some of these places were located over 20 km away, and that too with negligible public transport.

In search of fruitful employment, they approached NGO Spandan, which has been actively involved in stemming migration in Khalwa for many years. Initially, the girls were sent to local mechanics to acquire basic knowledge of repairing. Then came some financial assistance to open small shops adjoining their homes. Further training happened in Khandwa, followed by a five-day workshop in the first week of August to educate them about the finer points of repair.

Incidentally, the families wholeheartedly supported the girls right from the beginning. As Mantu points out: “When Seema didi of Spandan suggested that I take up garage work, I was enthused. I did not see anything wrong in doing the job.”

Other girls chime in saying their families never stopped them. “We enjoy doing this work. It is true that many people doubt our skills, but we feel proud to earn our daily bread through hard work.”

The girls now read brochures and manuals that help them repair motorcycles of any brand available in the market. They are also adept at dealing with all kinds of two-wheeler punctures. As and when the demand arises, they repair mobile phones too. A few others work at beauty parlours, handling foundations and makeup.

According to Seema Prakash Michael of NGO Spandan, when they were looking at ways to stem migration, some girls suggested measures to generate local employment in Khalwa. They said they felt unsafe when family members went to other cities/towns in search of work.

“After several rounds of discussions, we hit upon the idea of mobile and two-wheeler repairs. We were initially apprehensive, but the girls exhibited remarkable skills and enthusiasm. In fact, they surpassed all our expectations,” Michael says.

Opening a tyre to repair a puncture seemed a daunting task to many at the outset, but everything came easy once they mastered the technique. NGO Spandan also provided them with the necessary tools to set up businesses. In the next couple of years, the organisation intends to train 1,000 girls.

Setting up an all-women service centre in Khalwa is another ambitious plan of the NGO. An organisation with its roots in the Korku community has promised land to this effect. Once it is acquired, the centre will launch operations with a woman mechanic and helper. According to Michael, it will also be developed into a training centre in future. Laurels have already come their way with a bike showroom located at the block headquarters of Khalwa recently organising a special camp where the girls could display their talents. Though they subsequently received job offers from the showroom management, the girls declined them. Nevertheless, the showroom owner has decided to offer free training to hone their skills.

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-Top News Afghanistan Education

Girls being denied right to education in Afghanistan, Pak, PoK: J&K women  

The memorandum stated that over the years, the Pakistani leadership has resorted to spreading religious conservatism as a means of political domination…reports Asian Lite News

Young girls and women protested at the United Nations’ office in Srinagar on Monday, demanding the right to education for Muslim women in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

In their memorandum to UN officials, the women said: “Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, all schools and educational institutions for girls have been shut down. The two decades of enforced peace under an international mandate had provided a glimmer of hope to thousands of girls and their families that Afghan girls could finally have access to education without fear.”

“A lot of propaganda is carried out across the United Nations and other multilateral platforms about the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The proponents and buyers of this propaganda conveniently ignore the wide gap in the educational opportunities afforded to the girls of J&K in comparison with their sisters in those parts of J&K which are illegally under foreign occupation. Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan today have been sadly left behind on the education front, depriving our sisters of the right to modern and secular education,” it said.

The memorandum stated that over the years, the Pakistani leadership has resorted to spreading religious conservatism as a means of political domination.

“A vast majority of Pakistan’s population only have access to religious education through a flourishing chain of Madrassas. Education cannot be fettered by dogmatic ideas and students have a right to the vast expanse of knowledge that exists. Absence of modern schools and colleges in PoK and G-B has deprived our sisters the opportunity that we have come to take for granted in India. Not just in J&K, we have access to any institution of our choice anywhere in India. It is our fervent appeal that the United Nations take note of the deplorable condition of girls’ education, a right that has been cruelly and forcibly snatched away from them for reasons of history, for which they are not responsible nor should they be made to pay the price for it,” it stated.

The memorandum stated that madrassas offering free education have mushroomed in Balochistan. The poor and unemployed families of one of the most richly endowed Provinces have no choice but to send their children to these Madrassas, where their “fragile minds are poisoned with retrogressive ideas and information”.

It stated: “The situation is no better in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where all moderate and progressive political forces have been sacrificed. The Province has seen a level of Talibanization that is not there even in Afghanistan. The educational prospects of the girl child in KP can be described in two words: Malala Yusufzai. Our sisters in KP face as bleak a future as those in Afghanistan. Unless the rot is stemmed, very soon most of our Pakistani sisters, barring the rich and powerful, would be subject to the same future.”

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Five girls who buried dreams during pandemic

Asha with her mother, Kamala, who says the children wouldn’t have gone to work if schools were still open…reports Mayank Meliwar

Aged 11 to 18, five girls from the Damor family in Madhya Pradesh’s Jhabua district, who all used to go to school earlier, have had to find jobs since the pandemic began.

In March 2020, before the pandemic shut down schools, Asha Damor had been studying in Class 7 in Dhumadiya village in Jhabua district. Lockdown-induced economic distress forced her father, Nansingh Damor, to take out loans to sustain the family and soon enough Asha found herself working at a farm 60 km from her village. And, as per new government directives, she has been promoted to Class 8 without ever having glanced upon a textbook or attending a single online class.

Under the state government’s DigiLEP initiative, government school teachers have been sharing study materials and videos with students on WhatsApp groups in order to continue imparting some form of learning to students during the lockdown. This is of no use to Asha as the family does not own a smartphone. This is the case for many students in her neighbourhood and her village.

Asha and her younger sister, Nandini (11), are new to the life of labour but for the past several months, this has been Asha’s life. Initially, Damor accompanied his daughters to Badnawar, the nearest city, to work on a garlic farm. “In the beginning, I worked for around two months in the garlic farm. We used to work from 8.30 in the morning till six in the evening,” she said. For this, she was paid Rs 200 a day and given a small room to stay in the field. “We took our own food from the village, like wheat flour, pulses etc. and used to cook on an earthen stove with wood fetched from the nearby forest,” Asha said.

The family belongs to the Bhil Adivasi community, a Scheduled Tribe. According to the 2011 census, Scheduled Tribes in the Jhabua district constitute nearly 86 per cent of the total population with a 35 per cent literacy rate in rural parts. Damor and his wife, Kamala, themselves did not receive basic education — the former has studied till Class 5 and Kamala has only attended one year of school in her lifetime. The couple had given birth to six girls of which the youngest has been adopted by Damor’s elder brother.

The family owns a little farm in the village and every year after harvest, the couple used to migrate looking for work on other farms. “To manage all the expenses, I also joined my husband to work outside,” Kamala said.

Asha with her mother, Kamala, who says the children wouldn’t have gone to work if schools were still open.

“Prior to the lockdown all five girls used to go to school; we never compromised on schooling,” said Kamala, indicating that if schools were opened they would not have sent the girls to work outside. But their house is under construction and they have a lot of debt, she said, adding that “now both Asha and Nandini have grown up”.

“Ghar mein padhai ho nahi rahi hai, isliye 200 ke peeche jaa rahe hai; 200 mil gaye to ho gayi naukri, kitabon ko toh dekha he nahi (There is no studying happening at home. That’s why they are going after the Rs 200. They haven’t looked at their books at all),” Asha’s aunt, Radha Damor said.

According to the Madhya Pradesh Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MPCPCR), nearly 40,000 children between Classes 1 and 12 dropped out of school in four tribal districts of the state after the devastating second wave of Covid.

“The state of affairs in the other districts of MP will be far worse. It is so sad. We are trying to encourage parents to enroll their kids back into school but the financial condition of the lower-middle class and middle-class in India has worsened since the pandemic began,” pointed out Brijesh Chouhan, member of MPCPCR. “When so many homes are dependent on NGOs for daily ration, how will parents pay the school fees and buy books?” he asked.

Vulnerable to exploitation

In May, when the girls started working at a road construction site in Kajliya village, near Chitordi Rundi, their sister Manisha (12) joined them. The three sisters were among the 15-20 other girls who were working alongside other laborers from Dhumadiya and other nearby villages. They were recruited by the Bamaniya Panchayat to work at the site and were promised Rs 197 a day. “They came to our village looking for labourers. We worked for a whole month but did not receive any payment. However, the other labourers’ payments have been deposited into their bank accounts,” Manisha said.

Bamaniya’s sarpanch Ramkanya Makhod’s husband Sanjay Makhod, however, denied having employed any children below the age of 14. “We paid the labourers Rs 193 per day and there were no children below the age of 14 working on the site,” he said as the sarpanch reiterated her husband’s claim.

Benedict Damor, secretary of Adivasi Chetna Shikshan Seva Samiti, a non-profit working to empower tribal students in Jhabua district, said: “With schools closed during the lockdown, student’s education has been affected severely. Most of them joined their parents to work outside, migrating to Gujarat and Rajasthan to help sustain a living.”

“The practice of Bal Shram (child labour) is very common in the district. You will find children below the age of 14 working at hotels and various other places. We cannot complain as they are looking after their families with those earnings; they don’t have other options,” he said.

Even before that pandemic, many children here used to drop out of school to accompany their migrating parents. This trend has now intensified. “Many daily labourers have migrated to Rajasthan and Gujarat as they make around Rs 400-500 per day working in a factory, as compared to the Rs 190 per day in MP with the MGNREGA. When the parents migrate, the children also have to go, and so they drop out of school. Around 10,500 students of the 40,000 we could trace migrated with their parents during the second wave of the pandemic,” said MPCPCR’s Chouhan.

Some continue the legacy and migrate on their own as well. In January next year, Lalita, Asha’s sister who is not sure of her age (“I might be between 16 and 18”), will be married to Dinesh Amra who belongs to the same village. Until then, Lalita, who had been studying class 5, has joined a dozen other girls from the village who have gone to Gujarat to work at a construction site. She accompanied them to Vadodara in March this year after the contractor (thekedar) canvassed the village for workers, promising around Rs 300 a day for women and Rs 350 for men. It’s now unlikely that she will complete her education.

As the school dropout rate is very high in tribal districts of MP, namely Alirajpur, Dhar, Jhabua and Betul, the MPCPCR has written to the tribal welfare department to upgrade hostel facilities to ensure that children can stay back and study if their parents migrate to other states.

“We suspect the situation in other tribal districts like Mandla, Chhindwara and Dindori is similar to these four districts and we have written to the education, labour and tribal welfare department to make arrangements for students to continue their education,” said Chouhan.

With inputs by Shuchita Jha.

(The author is a Jhabua-based freelance journalist and a member of 101Reporters, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)

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