Early years
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| Photo ©: Deependra Bajracharya and the team |
Shanti Devi Chamar’s father, a landless farmer, moved to Mumbai,
India in the hope of a better future. This is where Shanti Devi was
born.
Shanti’s father worked in a textile mill, but life did not get
better. After he got sick, it became hard for the family to make ends
meet and they returned to Kapilvastu. Her father died after a few days
upon their return, when Shanti Devi was just 14 years old. At her
mother’s insistence, Shanti Devi went to study at a school in the
village. Her uncles disapproved of this, thinking that education would
ruin her character. And before she could complete her education, her
mother married her off to Patiram Prasad Chamar. Although Shanti Devi
was not happy with the marriage, she agreed - mainly for her mother’s
sake, living in a conservative Madhesi society.
Life after marriage was not easy for Shanti Devi. They were poor
and her status in her new family was next to nothing because of the
little dowry her mother was able to afford. Frustrated and sad, she
wrote a letter to her mother asking her to come see the life she was
living. Her mother promised to help her and was able to give her a small
amount of money, and in turn Shanti Devi was able to buy some land,
build a two-room house and complete her schooling.
She started working in the fields and her crops produced good
yields despite her having little practical experience at farming. Soon,
news spread and people came to see her work and learn from her skills.
Although she had started contributing to the family financially, she
still had little say in important matters.
A women’s empowerment project
Such was the plight of Madhesi Dalit women, one which Shanti Devi
wanted to change. The right opportunity knocked on her door in 1998 when
a women’s empowerment project was launched in her village, and the
authorities were looking for educated women to serve as president and
secretary. She expressed her interest, raising many eyebrows, and later
became the secretary of the women’s group, through which she launched
women’s and children’s education programs.
This marked the beginning of her social and political journey.
She helped to open the first school in her village in 2000, the Shree
Saraswati Community School, with support from the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP), paving the way for another 20 primary
schools. She served as treasurer of the School Management Committee, She
also was elected member of the District Level School Support Committee.
Her political journey began when she was elected ward member in the
local elections on the Nepali Congress ticket. Despite her party
membership, she suffered discrimination for being a Dalit and was barred
from sitting with upper caste people on the committee. Despite raising
her voice to bring an end to such discrimination, she was harassed and
ultimately resigned from the Nepali Congress to join the CPN (UML) which
she thought of as a less biased party. She worked for several of the
UML’s sister organizations including the All Nepal Women’s Association
(Akhil Nepal Mahila Sangh), the Farmer’s Association, Oppressed Castes
Liberation Society and the Madhesi faction of the Lumbini Zone
Coordination Committee. She has also served in various organizations,
including the Feminist Dalit Organization (FEDO), Kalika Swawalamban
Samajik Kendra, among others.
Involvement in politics
Shanti Devi’s involvement in politics has brought her some unwanted
attention. People have destroyed her crops and even kidnapped her
husband. A simple farmer by profession, her husband was intimidated and
asked her to give up her political career. However, Shanti Devi was
determined and continued her political life despite her husband’s wrath.
She herself was attacked after she demanded the implementation of a
revolutionary land reform program, geared against feudal landlords. She
has endured insults and insinuations from her own community for working
with male friends during campaigns, has been called “untouchable” by
people of upper castes, accused of trying to seize other people’s land
and beaten up. Despite all this, she has not stopped her struggle for
the rights of the landless Dalits. She approached various governmental
and non-governmental organizations in the capacity of a community leader
to make demands on behalf of the Dalits, including raising their pay to
NPR 160 (100 rupees cash and 60 rupees allowance).
Shanti Devi was involved in an uprising, where Dalits challenged
the landlords, threatening to stop working if their wages were not
increased. Despite several setbacks and disagreement from the landlords,
negotiations took place and their wages were fixed to NPR 100, up from
NPR 35. The next year, it was increased as per the demand to NPR 160.
Shanti Devi has played an active role in organizing Dalit women
during the People’s Movement of 2005/06. After the concept of inclusive
and proportional representation earned credibility, her party nominated
her to the historic Constituent Assembly (CA) from Kapilvastu,
acknowledging her social as well as political commitment.
She feels that the presence of 21 Dalits in the CA is a result of
their tough struggle for equality and justice. Belonging to the major
committees, the Committee for State Restructuring and Distribution of
State Power and the Public Accounts Committee, Shanti has raised several
issues within them for disadvantaged groups including women, Dalits and
Madhesis; and pushed for their right to rise to the top echelons of
power through special arrangements if needed.
She has demanded a country free of ‘untouchability’, ownership of
land for the landless Dalits and provisions for inclusive and
proportional representation in education, health care and employment.
Shanti Devi has also suggested a high-level commission to monitor the
implementation of rights and privileges set aside for Dalits. Moreover,
she lobbied for nursing and midwife training for Chamar women, who take
care of delivering children for minimal pay. In the Committee for State
Restructuring and the Distribution of State Power, Shanti, along with
other women members, prepared a list of women’s rights, with a separate
agenda for Dalit women, Madhesi women and Madhesi Dalit women.
These lists have been used for the preparation of the preliminary
draft report of the committee. She has also pushed for citizenship to
be conferred through the mother and for equal property rights for both
sons and daughters.
The responsibilities that come with the CA have certainly not
been easy to handle but Shanti Devi is doing everything she can,
properly balancing her professional and personal life. Her movement will
only be successful when people sit and eat with Dalits, when women are
respected, when discrimination ends - and when a truly equal society is
established.
This is a shorter version of the chapter originally published in Women Members of the Constituent Assembly: A study on contribution of women in constitution making in Nepal.
source:- http://www.idea.int
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