Network of Social Security

Network of Social Security
Yogesh Snehi

The Tribune, Sunday, May 26, 2002,

Chandigarh, India

Towards Securer Lives: SEWA’s Social-Security Programme
Compiled and edited by Mala Dayal

(Published by Ravi Dayal. Rs 175. Pages 160 )

IN the present-day Gujarat, when mayhem and carnage reign; when women are openly raped, humiliated and killed; their near and dear ones are burnt in front of their eyes; when the government does not even register FIRs against the culprits, the role of NGOs becomes very important. The book under review illustrates the work of one such NGO in Gujarat.

This book, as the name suggests, is a captivating account of SEWA’s (Self Employed Women’s Association) social security programmes, detailing the schemes for child care, health and nutrition, housing and insurance. It exemplifies how women in the unorganised sector (at SEWA they prefer to call themselves self-employed) organise themselves into a union and co-operatives, thereby developing collective strength and bargaining power, becoming visible and obtaining a voice and representation in policy-making forums.

This work is of a great help in understanding NGOs working in the social sector. It shows us how an NGO convinces and organises people for its own welfare. We get a deep insight into what SEWA does, who are the beneficiaries of its work, in which areas does it work, where does it gets its funds from, why does it organise women and above all how does it organise them?

Maya Dayal has used research papers and pamphlets presented at workshops and seminars and also unpublished case studies and surveys to write the book. The sincerity of the work can be judged from the editor’s apology for a sketchy bibliography. The work tends to bring out the spirit of participation and empowerment through self-help and involves the reader with it. Maya takes us through the ups and downs, struggle and evolution of SEWA.

This work has come up in collaboration with the Mahila Sewa Anasooya Trust (an offshoot of SEWA). In the beginning, Meera Chatterjee of SEWA gives a foreward on the work and summarises the structure of SEWA. Maya Dayal introduces SEWA with interesting facts about it. ‘It was started in 1972 as a reaction to non-recognition of the self-employed women as labourers.’ Today, it has over 3,00,000 women workers as its members (two-thirds are rural and one-third are urban). With a third being Dalits, one-third Muslim and a third ‘backward castes’. When we read about the cooperation between different religious communities that exist in the functioning of SEWA in Gujarat it is difficult to understand the eruption of hatred which has taken hundreds of lives.

The book offers us very insightful and interesting details about the schemes undertaken by SEWA. Maya has divided the work into seven chapters. One each on introduction, conclusion and a post-script on the earthquake of January 26, 2001. Four chapters are dedicated to SEWA’s child care, health care, housing and insurance schemes. Interesting statistical details help the reader to peep into the organisational structure and the success of SEWA. The brief case studies bring out the experiences and reaction of women and make the work even more absorbing.

The book gives clear details about the sources of finance, SEWA’s collaboration with the government and its conflict which help the reader to analyse SEWA closely. She points out through a SEWA survey that 98 per cent of the mothers involved in Shaishav (creches) gave their children iron and folic acid and vitamin A supplements. Significantly, all these schemes are sustained by women themselves. One is wonderstruck at the success of health and housing schemes. Dais are trained, health awareness camps are undertaken through "know your body" schemes. There is indeed a lot the present-day government in Gujarat needs to learn from SEWA.

The book eulogises SEWA’s success in providing pucca houses to self-employed women, which are registered in their names. This is something which always remains a distant dream for most of the women working in the unorganised sector. It shows us how insurance has transformed the approach of these women towards their lives. They feel secure and confident after they have been insured of sickness, death, damages to house and work tools and materials through group insurance schemes administered by SEWA.

All these projects have indeed kindled a new hope in the lives of self-employed women. The book shows us how women at SEWA are getting empowered. They are taking important household decisions. The work stimulates the imagination of the reader and instils a new faith in the indigenous methods which could be applied to empower women at grassroots. This experience can be of immense use to social activists, policy makers, researchers and a general reader too who is interested in understanding the dynamics of self-reliance through self-help.

This book, however, suffers from an important limitation. Maya Dayal seems to be greatly influenced by SEWA and eulogises its achievement throughout the work. She hardly leaves any space for criticism and epitomises it as an ideal for NGOs. This robs it of any scope for critical evaluation which the reader could indulge in. This book, at this juncture shows that there is light at the end of the dark tunnel. That there is hope if the Gujarati spirit which has been brought out in SEWA resurfaces and all communities work together for the empowerment of the common man.