Human Rights, Gender & Environment

SM2­Gender

7 LESSON 6 WOMEN’S MOVEMENT IN INDIA
LESSON 6

WOMEN’S MOVEMENT IN INDIA

Introduction
 
The status of women has remained low since time immemorial. There is no record history to
explain the answer to how and why women got to receive secondary position in the society. Indian
women are inheritors of a very complex pattern of social models and cultural ideals. Some of the most
acrimonious and emotionally charged debates of the nineteenth century round precisely those issues
which signified women's oppression and their poor position. Inevitably, the perceived indicators of
women's low status like purdah, sati, female infanticide, child marriage and enforced widowhood, ‐
formed essential items in the agenda of attack of almost all the major reformers of the ninetieth
century India, whether they belong to the Brahmo samaj of Bengal and eastern India indifferent to the
fact that, the Arya samaj of north India or the Prathana samaj of Maharashtra and western India. The
problem of women received the attention of social reformers right from the beginning of the
nineteenth century. In the modern times, some individuals, organized associations and journals and
significantly  played remarkable role in bestirring the Indian society to focus it's attention on this
problem and make efforts in the direction of the general emancipation of  Indian women's. The aim of
this chapter is to examine the status of women in society prior to the beginning of the women's
movement in India and chronicle briefly their participation and role during women’s movement from
1880‐2000. It also focuses on revealing the status of women in pre‐colonial Indian society and pin
points the fact that there was no change observed in women’s lives and injustice done to them within
the patriarchal society continued even during the British reign. The women's movement in India is a
rich and vibrant movement which has taken different forms in the different parts of the country. It is
important to well recognize the fact that for a country like India’s, change in male‐female relations
and the kinds of issues the women's movement is focusing on, will not come easy. For every step the
movement takes forward, there will be a possible backlash, a possible regression. And it is this
regression that makes space for the exception to occur, this factor that makes women who can aspire
to, and attain, the highest political office in the country, and for women to continue to have to
confront patriarchy within the home, in the workplace, throughout their lives.

Individual Contribution For The Resurrection of  Women Issues in India
Rani  Lakshmi  Bai  of  Jhansi  whose heroism and superb leadership laid an outstanding
example for all future generations of women freedom fighters. Married to Gangadhar Rao Head of the
state of Jhansi. She was not allowed to adopt a successor after his death by the British, and Jhansi was
annexed via British policy of doctrine of lapse. With the outbreak of the Revolt she became determined
to fight back. She used to go into the battlefield dressed as a man. Holding the reins of her horse in
mouth she used the sword with both hands. Under her leadership the Rani's troops showed undaunted
courage and returned shot for every shot. Considered by the British as the best and bravest military
leader of rebels this sparkling epitome of courage died a hero's death in the battlefield. Since then
whenever women are being talked about the first name that comes to mind is that of the famous Rani
Laxmibai of Jhansi. A figure dressed in men’s clothes, led her soldiers to war against the British troops.
Even her enemies admired her courage. She fought valiantly and although in a beaten state she refused
to surrender and fell on the ground as a warrior should, fight the enemy to the last. Her remarkable
courage always inspired many men and women in India to rise against the alien rule during the later
years. 
Begum  Hazrat  Mahal, the Begaum of Oudh. She took active part in the defence of state of
Lucknow against the British. Although, she was queen and used to live a life of luxury, she appeared on
the battle‐field herself to encourage her troops. Begam Hazrat Mahal held out against the British with
all her strength as long as she could. Ultimately she had to give up and take refuge in Nepal. In the
early nineteenth century, women occupied a very low status in Indian society. Customs such as sati,
child marriage and polygamy were widely prevalent. The first man to speak out publicly against the
injustices perpetrated on women in the mane of tradition and religion was  Raja  Ram  Mohan
Roy who, in 1818, wrote a tractcondemning sati. He also attacked polygamy and spoke in favour
of the property rights for women.  Ishwar  Chandra  Vidyasagar  took up the cause of widows
which led to the passing of the widow remarriage act of 1956.Behramji  Malabari  (1853‐1912), a
Parsi reformer from Bombay; launched An All­ India Campaign to raise the age of consent 
for marriage from 10 years to 12 years. In later years, the age of consent of marriage act as
proposed by Malabari was passed in 1891. Swarnakumari devi, sister of Peot Rabindranath Tagore,
an author in her own right and a novelist of distinction, organized the  Shakti  Samiti  in  1882.
Pandita  Ramabai  Saraswati,  that remarkable woman from Poona, founded the  Arya
Samaj and went on to set up a series of woman’s association in various towns of Bombay presidency.
She also started the  Sharda  Sadan  to provide employment and education to women, particularly
young widows. Ramabai Ranade established the Seva Sadan. The year 1908 saw the beginning
of a  Gujarati  Stree    Mandal  in  Ahmedabad  and a  Mahila  Sewa  Samaj  was founded in
Mysore in 1913 and in Poona in 1916. women‘s organization were started in madras also. Initially, these
associations were confined to a locality or a city. The credit for starting the first All‐India women’s
organization, the  Bharat  Stri  Mahamandal  (1901) must go to  Sarladevi  Chaudrani, the
brilliant daughter of Swarnakumari devi. But later on it was propagated only in 1917, within the Madras
city by Annie Beasant, Dorothy Jinarajadasa and Margaret cousins, together with a group of Indian
women .Being Conscious of their political rights and also influenced by western democratic values, all
of these women worked actively to generate political consciousness among contemporary women
during the early decades.
In a few reform efforts, issues of caste and class were also combined as well, for
example Satyashodak Mandal was set up by Jotibha Savithribai Phule. It was meant to
promote alliance between sudras and women of the upper class. They built school for lower class girls.
This led to a questioning of upper‐caste values based on the wisdom of the Vedas, as well as, the
callous treatment of women, irrespective of caste. The late nineteenth‐century writings of women
such  as  Muktabai  and  Tarabai  Shinde  are instances of some early  feminists perspectives,
appearing at the time of first attempts at reforming women’s education, especially among the lower
caste.( Rosalind O’hanion:1994; Susie Tharu and K. lalitha:1993) Reform movements in different
regions such as the  Brahmo  Smaj,  the  Parthanan  Samaj, the theosophical society supported
female education and also marked a turning point for its growing acceptance and development . Major
development took place in north india when member of  Arya Samaj opened  the  Arya  Kanya
Pathshala  and  the  Kanya  Mahavidyalaya  in  Jullunder.  In Bengal, the Bramho Samaj
supported female education and progressive organization for women. In the madras the theosophical
society was critical of child marriage , child widowhood, and sati, as it sough to regain  the greatness
of the Indian past where Hindu women were said to have been highly educated and had considerable
freedom. The other remarkable woman elected for the president ship of Indian National Congress
was Sarojini Naidu. She became its president. Dramatic meeting with another respected leader of
time, Gokhle, in 1906 was to change her life forever. His response to her fiery speech brought into her
life the impact of a visionary who saw in her oratory and brilliance a leader of the future. The period
from 1917 to 1919 was the most dynamic phase of Sarojini's career. During this time, she campaigned
for the Montagu Chelmsford Reforms, the Khilafat issue, the draconian Rowlett Act and the Satyagraha.
When Gandhi launched the Civil Disobedience Movement, she proved a faithful lieutenant. With great
courage she quelled the rioters, sold proscribed literature, and addressed frenzied meetings on the
carnage at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar.In 1930 when Mahatma Gandhi chose her to lead the Salt
Satyagraha the stories of her courage became legion.
After Gandhi's arrest Sarojini took the responsibility and occupied the streets with 2000
volunteers to raid the Dahrsana Salt Works, the group was chased by police carrying rifle and lathis
with steel tipped clubs. The volunteers wildly cheered when she shook off the arm of the British police
officer who came to arrest her and marched proudly to the barbed wire stockade where she was
interned before being imprisoned. Freedom struggle was in full force and she came under the influence
of Gopalakrishna Gokhale  and Gandhi. Gokhale advised her to spare all her energy and talents for
nation's cause. She gave up writing poetry and fully devoted herself to emancipation of women,
education, Hindu‐Muslim unity etc. She became a follower of Gandhiji and accompanied him to
England. Whenever in England, she openly criticized British rule in India which caught the attention of
scholars and intellectuals. 

Vallabhbhai Patel, a veteran of the  Khedha Satyagraha, the Nagpur Flag Satyagraha, and

the Borsad Punitive Tax Satyagraha, he had emerged as a leader of Gujarat who was second being to
Gandhiji. His capacities as an organizer, speaker, indefatigable campaigner, inspirer of ordinary men
and women were already known, but it was the women of Bardoli who gave him the title of Sardar.
The main Satyagraha mobilization was done through extensive propaganda via meetings, speeches,
pamphlets, and door to door persuasion. Special emphasis was placed on the mobilization fo women
and many women activists like  Mithuben  Petit,  a  Parsi  lady  for,  Bombay,  Bhaktiba,  the
wife  of  Darbar  Gopaldas,  Maniben  Patel, the Sardar’s daughter,  Shardaben
Shah and Sharda Mehta  were recruited for the purpose. As a result, women often outnumbered
men at the meeting and stood firm in their resolution not to submit to the Government threats
Chandra Bipan 1989:207). Gandhiji called for a vigorous boycott of foreign cloth and liquor shops, and
had especially asked the women to play a leading role in this movement. “To call woman the weaker
sex is a libel; it is man’s injustice to woman”, he had said; and the women of India certainly
demonstrated in 1930 that they were second to none in strength and tenacity of purpose. Women who
had never stepped unescorted out of their homes, women who had stayed in purdah, young mothers
and widows and unmarried girls, became a familiar sight as they stood from morning to night outside
liquor shops and opium dens and stores selling foreign cloth, quietly but firmly persuading the
customers and shopkeepers to change their ways. Along with the women, students and youth played
the most prominent part in the boycott of foreign cloth and liquor. Chandra Bipan 1989:276). Annie
Besant, already sixty‐six in 1914, had begun her political career in England as a proponent of Free
Thought, Radicalism, Fabianism and Theosophy, and had come to India in 1893 to work for the
Theosophical Society. Since 1907, she had been spreading the message of Theosophy from her
headquarters in Adyar, a suburb of Madras, and had gained a large number of followers among the
educated members of many communities that had experienced no cultural revival of their own. In
1914, she decided to enlarge the sphere of her activities to include the building of a movement for
Home Rule on the lines of the Irish Home Rule League. For this, she realized it was necessary to get
both the sanction of the Congress, as well as the active cooperation of the Extremists. She devoted her
energies, therefore, to persuade the Moderate leaders to open the doors of the Congress to Tilak and
his fellow‐Extremists.  But the annual Congress session in December 1914 proved to be disappointing
Pherozeshah Mehta and his Bombay Moderate group succeeded, by winning over Gokhale and the
Bengal Moderates, in keeping out the Extremists. Tilak and Besant thereupon decided to revive
political activity on their own, while still maintaining their pressure on the Congress to re‐admit the
Extremist group. In early 1915, Annie Besant launched a campaign through her two papers, New India
and Commonweal, and organized public meetings and conference to demand that India be granted
self‐government on the lines of the White colonies after the War. From April 1915, her tone became
more peremptory and her stance more aggressive. (Chandra Bipan: 1989:160)

Many women of the Nehru family too had joined the Civil Disobedience Movement. Kamala
Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru's wife gave full support to her husband in his desire to work actively for the
freedom struggle. In the Nehru hometown of Allahabad she organized processions, addressed meetings
and led picketing of liquor and foreign cloth shops. She played a prominent part in organizing the No
Tax Campaign in United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh).

The AIWC played an active role in initiating and campaigning for social legislation that would
improve the position of women. It helped in getting the following acts passed: the sarda act 1929; the
special marriage act , 1954; the Hindu marriage and divorce act, 1955; the Hindu minority and
guardianship act, 1956; the Hindu adoption and maintenance act, 1956; the suppression of immoral
traffic in women act, 1956.

The AIWC founded a number of pioneering institutions, many of which now function as
autonomous apex bodies in their respective fields. These include: the lady Irwin college for home
science, new Delhi, which is now an institution offering graduate and post‐ graduate courses in a
varsity of subjects; the Family planning centers, now the family planning association of India; save the
children committee, now the Indian council of child welfare; the cancer research institute, madras;
the  Amrit  Kaur  Bal  Vihar  for mentally retarded children’s society.  Kamaladevi 
chattopadhyaya, one of the founders of the AIWC, a valiant freedom fighter dedicated to
constructive work, an eminent writer and one of the most dynamic women of India, contested the
election to the madras legislative assembly as an independent  candidate but was defeated by a margin
of 50 votes.  Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy, the first women medical graduate of madras and one of
the founding members of the AIWC, was, however, nominated to the legislature by the government.
The First All India Women’s Conference on Educational Reform was held at Poona from
5th to 8th  January, 1927. It was a historic event. It brought together women from different parts of
India and from all castes and communities. The main concern of all the women who assembled there
was women’s education. Women’s education had been pioneered by  Ramabai  Saraswati,
Mahadev  Govind  and  Ramabai  Ranade,  Jyotiba  Phule  and  Maharshi  Karve, all of
them well‐ known social reformers of the late ninethenth and early twentieth centuries.

The AIWC is a premier women’s organization that has attacked the most talented and capable
Indian women’s of the century, among them:  Sarojini  Naidu,  Vijaya  Lakshmi  Pandit
Rajkumari  Amrit  Kaur,  Rameshwari  Nehru,  Dhanvanthi  Rama  Rau,  Kamaladevi
Chattopadhyaya,  Muthulakshmi  Reddy,  Charulata  Mukherjee,  Vidyagauri
Neelkanth, Hansa Mehta, and many others. It is equipped to play a crucial role to help women
attain economic self‐ sufficiency and fight gender inequalities.(Aparna Basu & Bharti Ray:1990).

The AIWC has a three‐ dimensional significance. Firstly, it symbolizes  that women were entirely
responsible for their own regeneration.

In the nineteenth century, the movement for women’s education and upliftment was initiated
and led by men. In the twentieth century, as women became more educated, they came to form their
own associations and occupy leadership position. The AIWC has been the premier and pioneer
organization in this arena. It has been a path‐breaker. Secondly, the AIWC was formed at the instance
of western and western‐educated women. In its early phase, it looked towards western role‐models.
The deliberations of the organization indicate that by now the western stereotype had been totally
rejected. The leadership is fully Indian, the members are drawn from the Indian middle class, the
approach to problem has an indigenous bias, and the models for ideals women hood are drawn from
great women of ancient India. Thirdly, the organization has provided with opportunities to come out
into the world outside the parameters of the home, in order to contribute something to society at
large. Most of the women members are housewives and have exhibited initiative and will in carrying
out their organizational activities. For providing the lead in such a crucial areas of life, the AIWC must
be given a place of pride in Indian history (Aparna Basu, Bharti Ray :1990)

Women’s Mobilization, Colonialism and National Movements

In the early nineteenth century, the women question was raised primarily by elite upper caste
Hindu men. The women question included issues like women’s education, widow remarriage and
campaigns against sati. In the 1920s Indian women entered into a new era‐ with what is defined as
feminism leading to the creation of localized women’s associations that worked on issues of women’s
education, livehood strategies for working class women, as well as national level women’s associations
such as the all India women’s conference. The latter were closely allied to the Indian national
congress, and worked within the nationalist and anti‐colonial movements, and under the Gandhi’s
leadership, mass mobilization of women became an integral part of nationalism. Women therefore
played an important role in various nationalists and anti‐ colonial struggles including the civil
disobedience movements in the 1930s (Sarkar1985)

Begum  Rokeya  (1880‐1932) came from a conservative home, the daughter of a Muslim
zamindar from rangpur district in north Bengal in what is now Bangladesh. Her father was not in favor
of educating his daughter and she was married early to Syed Sakhawat hossain, a widower from Bihar.
Her husband, though much older than her, was an educated liberal .(Bharati Ray 2003) He encouraged
his young  wife’s literary pursuit – and she in turn named the school that she founded with his money
after his death , the sakhawat memorial school. The institution‐ that continues to this day – was the
result of the tireless energy and commitment of an amazing woman. In the most cases, however, the
education of muslim girls, as also those from other religious communities, owed much to male
initiatives. Sayyid karamat hussain founded the karamat  hussain girls college in luck now in 1912 and
advocated a separateCurriculam for women befitting their separate sphere of activity. The Muslim girls
college in Aligarh was set up by sheikh Abdullah and his wife wahid jahan with the purpose of
contributing to cultural continuity and perpetuating the norms of parda and familial roles, rather than
doing away with them.
 As early as 1879, college classes were added to the  Bethune  school  in  Calcutta  – with
kadambini basu as th only student    in the years to come, higher education was encouraged by
missionaries (Isabella thoburn, lucknow and kinnaird college, Lahore were started in 1886 and 1913
respectively) and reformers like D.K.Karve and sister subbalakshmi. In the 1920s, it was the
commitment of women like sister subbalakshmi towards upliftment of young widows that prepared the
ground for succeeding generations. Women’s productive roles therefore remained invisible, both within
the household and at the work place. They always performed underpaid, unskilled ,and undervalued
tasks and were regarded by all –the state, employers, trade unionist, and their own families‐ as
supplementary workers. The Women’s Indian Association (WIA) was the first organization to
take up issues relating to women workers in the 1930s in a limited way women’s organizations agitated
for protective legislation for workers in some sectors. Kadambini Ganguly , one of the first woman
doctor of the British Indian empire, was deemed a whore by Bangabasi , a conservative journal. Her
counter part in Maharashtra , Anandibai Joshi, graduated from the women’s medical college in
Philadelphia in 1886, became the first Indian student to study medicine abroad .Earlier, Kadambini and
other eminent Brahmos committed to women emancipation had launched a counter offensive in the
columns of the Brahmo publication, the Indian messenger. Medicine was the earliest profession open to
women, in part dictated by the demands of parda society for female doctors to attend pregnant
women. a large number of Christian women became the earliest Doctors. Hilda lazarus, who was born
in 1890 was among the most Successful Indian Christian doctors. She wore home spun‐khadi saris,
learned a number of languages, and identified deeply with the nationalist cause. Three important
national women’s organizations were set up in the 1920s:The  Women’s  Indian  Association
(WIA,  1917),  The  National  Council  of  Indian  Women  (NCWI,  1925),  and  The  All­
India Women’s Conference (AIWC, 1927). The President of the AIWC included kamala
Devi Chattopadhyay, Muthulakshmi Rddey, Sarojini Naidu, Margaret Cousins, and Drameshwari Nehru.
In the Mean time, the growing women’s movement played an important role in legislation against child
marriage in 1929 when, an important the sharda act (the child marriage restraint act ) was passed with
the support of the some prominent nationalist leaders. In the 1930s, a campaign for the removal of
women’s legal disabilities in marriage and inheritance, primarily in Hindu law, began in real earnest
and a few of the important laws passed in the 1930s included the Hindu women’s rights to property act
(1937), the Muslim personal law (Shari at) application act (1937), and the dissolution of Muslims
marriage act (1939) (Nair janaki: 1996; 181‐211). In addition, the campaign for women’s
enfranchisement was consistent and long, with some success and many retreats

Gandhi And Indian Women

Gandhi ji always wanted women   to be a part of the national movement (sita ram singh: 134‐
206).he believe that if women did not join the movement, India’s march to Swaraj would be delayed.
(L.S.S. O’Malley:93) before Gandhi entered the Indian political scene , very few women took part in
social welfare and revolutionary movements. (Susma Sharma: 1975:38‐40) India had a very few women
like  Mata  Tapaswini,  Madame  Cama,  Sarla  Debi  as prominent terrorist even before 1857.
(The illustrated weekly of India: 1973:21). Revolutionary activities increased later. Two students of
government High School, Shanty Ghosh and Smriti Chaudhuri, had killed the district Magistrate
of Tipperah (Tripura).  Bina  Das  tried to kill the governor of Bengal, and later many women
revolutionaries fought for the freedom. For instance  Pritti  Lata  Waddekar  was an important
member of militant organization (Kiran Devendra: 1985:25).Banalata  Das  Gupta  was detained
without trial for possessing unlicensed arms in her hostel. She died July 1, 1936 in Calcutta as she
refused to give an undertaking   that she would keep away from politics. Gandhi inspired women with
confidence.
 The political awakening of Indian women may largely be attributed to the movement Gandhi
initiated (Vijay Agnew:35), and the general improvement in the status of women in India’s owes a
great deal to the infinite interest that Gandhi took from the very beginning.  A band of emancipated
women emerged under the influence of Gandhi. The women’s movement in India was an integral part
of the nationalist politics of Gandhi.

Kamala Devi Chattopadhya  sold banned literature during Satyagraha, organized cultural shows

for the freedom struggle, joined the  Seva  Dal  and pledged to work until  Swaraj  was won. She
became as an Prominent social worker and edited the  Indian  social  reformer.  Kamala
devi  worked for the formation of the all India women’s conference in 1927 and became its general
secretary. It was her idea to make women’s struggle a part of the freedom struggle. In reading about
her life we come across expression of her respect for Gandhi. She was arrested in the civil
disobedience movement and confined in Yeravada Jail, Nasik. She admitted that her staying in jail
made her better understand Gandhi (Kiran Devendra: 1985:27) In the 1920s in the non‐cooperation
movement, women like Renuka Ray gave away her jewelry. Sarrojini  Naidu  was an extraordinary
woman to whom Gandhi said in 1922, when he was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment: “I entrust
the destiny of India to your hands.”  Her contribution to the renaissance of Indian womanhood cannot
be underestimated. Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Mridula Sarabai, Sucheta Kripalani, Padmaja Naidu ,
Durgabai Deshmuki, Aruna Asaf Ali, worked with men during the various times of test. Mrs. Sucheta
kriplani went underground along with Jaya Prakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia and was active in
organizing the Anti‐ British Resistance. She was arrested in Patna in 1944 and kept in solitary
confinement for more than a year. The daring acts of Mrs. Aruna Asaf Ali to keep the movement going
are incredible. The movement could have collapsed had women not worked underground while the
male leaders were in prision. Kasturba Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi's wife joined her husband while
he was in South Africa and worked with him for many years there. She was a leader of Women's
Satyagraha for which she was imprisoned. She helped her husband in the cause of Indigo workers in
Champaran, Bihar and the No Tax Campaign in Kaira, Gujarat. She was arrested twice for picketing
liquor and foreign cloth shops, and in 1939 for participating in the Rajkot Satyagraha.

Contribution of foreign women in India’s freedom struggle for independence

Meera Ben and Sarla Ben popularly known as Mahatama Gandhi's two English daughters also made
significant contribution to the cause of freedom. Meera Ben whose real name was Madeleine Slade
attended the second Round Table Conference with Gandhi. She sent news releases concerning Gandhi's
campaign to the world press for which she was repeatedly threatened by the government, but she
continued her work. She undertook Khadi tour throughout the country. She was arrested for entering
the city of Bombay in violation of the government order. Catherine Mary Heilman or Sarla Ben as she
was better known went from village to village helping the families of political prisoners.

Annie Besant an Irish lady became the leader of the of the Theosophical Society. In 1902 while
in London she criticized England for the conditions prevalent in India. In 1914 she joined the Indian
National Congress and gave it a new direction. The idea of the Home Rule League was first discussed
by her. She with the radical congress leader Tilak presented a memorial to Montagu on December 18,
1917 which gave equal rights to women in the matters of political franchise. She was the first woman
president of the Congress and gave a powerful lead to women's movement in India. The Mother She
took charge of Ashram in Pondicherry in 1926. She was the inspirer of Auroville, the international town
near Pondicherry. It was to serve as a meeting place for the followers of Shri Aurobindo. Paying her
tribute to the Mother at a women’s gathering in Kanpur the late Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi
said: “The Mother was a dynamic lady, who came from France and adopted the Indian culture. She
played an important role in motivating women like Mrs. Annie Besant and Mrs. Nellie Sen Gupta, The
Mother had also contributed to enrich India’s age‐old heritage and culture”.

Sister  Nivedita  was one among the host of foreign women who were attracted towards
Swami Vivekananda and Hindu philosophy. Born in Ireland on 28 October 1867, she arrived in India in
January, 1898, in search of truth. She was impressed by the ideals of Womanhood in India. She once
remarked that India was the land of great women. She, however, felt that Indian women needed, to
cultivate among themselves a wider and broader concept of the nation, so that they could participate
along with men in building a free and strong nation.She propagated for the cause of India throughout
America and Europe. Swami Vivekananda described her as a real Lioness. Rabindranath Tagore
regarded her as Lok‐Mata and Aurobindo Ghosh as Agni‐sikha besides the hundreds and thousands of
Indian women who dedicated their lives for the cause of their motherland; there were a number of
noble and courageous foreign women who saw in India ‐ its religion, its philosophy and its culture, a
hope for the redemption of the world. They thought that in India’s spiritual death shall world find its
grave. These noble women were sick of the material west and found in India and in its civilization,
solace for their cramped souls. Subhash Chandra bose or netaji as he was polpularly known, accompied
by captain Lakshmi Swaminadhan (later Sehal), joined the rani jhansi regiment at Singapore.
The women’s regiment was a wing of the INA raised during world war II for the liberation of India.
Lakshmi sehgal is the doughter of ammu swaminadhan, an eminent congress worker and member of the
women’s movement. a medical doctor, lakshmi too is an ardent champion of workers’ and women’s
rights. Charulata mukerjee (1880‐1969) eldest daughter of distinguished educationasts P.K. and Sarla
Ray, she  was among the first two women to be admitted to the prisedency college, Calcutta. She was
a pioneer in starting mahila samitis and girls‘s schools in Bengal districts.

Sarojini’s daughter Miss Padmaja Naidu devoted herself to the cause of Nation like her mother. At

the age of 21, she entered the National scene and became the joint founder of the Indian National
Congress of Hyderabad. She spread the message of Khadi and inspired people to boycott foreign goods.
She was jailed for taking part in the “Quit India” movement in 1942. After Independence, she became
the Governor of West Bengal. During her public life spanning over half a century, she was associated
with the Red Cross. Her services to the Nation and especially her humanitarian approach to solve
problems will long be remembered.

                            In Shimla,  Raj  kumari  Amrit  kaur  took a leading part in the protest meetings and
processions which were subjected to ruthless lathi charge about 14‐15 times between 9 and 10 August
1942.Raj kumari Amrit Kaur  was arrested along with other workers.  Shakuntala Sharma, a
first year student of Allahabad University, succeeded in hoisting the Congress Tricolour on the top of
the kuchehri building.

The  Quit  India  Movement  marked a new high in terms of popular participation in the
national movement and sympathy with the national cause. Women, especially college and school girls,
played a very important role. Aruna Asaf Ali and Sucheta Kripalani were to major women organizers of
the underground, and Usha Mehta important members of the small group that ran the Congress Radio. 
The adoption of non‐violent forms of struggle enabled the participation of the mass of the people who
could not have participated in a similar manner in a movement that adopted violent forms. This was
particularly true of women’s participation. Women would have found it difficult to join an armed
struggle in large numbers. But when it came to undergoing suffering, facing lathi‐charges, picketing for
hours on end in the summer of the winter; women were probably stronger than men. (Chandra Bipan:
1989:514). Aruna Asaf Ali, a radical nationalist played an outstanding role in the historic Quit India
Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi on August 9, 1942, and was a prominent leader of the
underground movement. She published bulletins, went from place to place and even met Mahatma
Gandhi avoiding arrest. She edited Inqulab a monthly journal of the Indian National Congress.

Women Participation in Post­ Independence Era

The immediate aftermath of partition and independence saw a steadily increasing sense of
betrayal on the part of workers and peasant, communists and socialists. The delays of the congress in
the fulfillment of its promises of speedy and effective land redistribution infused the kisan sabhas with
a new spirit of opposition at a time when the impact of the Chinese revolution was being felt by Indian
communists, and there were sharecroppers, rallies, strikes and demonstrations, led by the kisan
sahbas, criticizing government measures as insufficient and demanding land reforms. Most of these
agitations were suppressed by the government through the arrest of peasant leaders, but this was not
possible in the case of one of the earliest and most militant sharecropper’s movements, the 1948‐50
telangana movement in Andhra. Under the leadership of maoist‐ influenced members of the CPI, some
two thousand five hundred villages in telangana district were ‘liberated sharecroppers’ debts were
cancelled, rent payments were suspended and land redistributed. In September, 1948, Indian troops
took over the state, arresting peasant leaders, and firing upon demonstrators. The CPI was outlawed,
and the movement forced underground where it took to guerilla tactics. though thousands of women
had been active in the strikes and rallies, and leaders of the telangana movement were unusual for
their time in the attention they paid to such women’s problems as wife‐beating , making it known that
they would chastise offenders, the attitude towards women reminded one of benevolent paternalism,
and when the movement went underground women were not allowed to join the guerillas but were
expected to perform the ancillary tasks of providing shelter, acting as messengers, etc (Menon, Latika,
1998:265).

The Late 1960s and early 1970s saw a radicalization the Gandhian or Sarvodaya tradition of non‐
violent protest. The Sarvodaya response to the political and economic crisis of the period were
movement like the Nav Niman in Gujarat and theBihar Movement led by J.P Narain, Sarvodaya led
and based among intellectuals the Navman activists called for accountability among the people, mainly
the intelligentsia, as citizens. Many Nav Nirman went to Bihar and later joined the movement there.
The Bihar movement acknowledged the Futility of a preoccupation with the politics of power alone.
Much more fundamental change was needed, according to it, in order to achieve a just society. The
movement called for a Total Revolution and raised among its carders and supporters a wide range
of question regarding women. Issues like man – women relations, family violence, rape and unequal
distribution of work and resources were debated openly, and created a widespread ferment among its
women cadres. The Bodhgaya Struggle, which Govind Kelkar and Chetna Gala document, was led by
the Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini, a youth organization that formed the van‐guard of the Bihar
movement. The position it took on land rights for women during the struggle against the feudal rule of
the Bodhgaya Math was a product of this ferment (Mohanty Manoranjan 2004‐326). The Chipko
movement in the Uttarkhand Himalaysas, where village women resisted commercial forest felling,
dates fromk the early 1970s, basically the same period as the Bihar movement. Philsophically traceable
to Gandhian origins as well, the movement raised crucial questions of ecological balance and
developmental priorites. Chipko achieved high levels of women’s participation like the Bihar
movement, although its theoretical stand on the women’s question appears to be different. While the
Bihar movement took a stand on the equal legal rights of men and women Chipko based its campaign
for women’s mobilization on the latter’s supposed special responsibilities for nurture related activities
and generalized from this that women had a special concern for the preservation of life and ecological
systems. The movement of adivasis and growth of the Sharmik Sangathana in Maharashtra’s Dhulia
district is another significant pre‐Emergency movement. In essence it was a movement for the
restoration of the social and economic dignity of the disinherited tribal peasantry of Shahada whose
lands and assets had been appropriated by settlers from outside. The tribal people worked for less than
subsistence wages on lands that were formerly theirs. The frequent sexual violation of the tribal
women was a symbol of the humiliation of the entire tribe. The Shranik Sangathan’s militant struggles
led to a change in this. Initially the main focus in the Sangathans’s work with women was on their
mobilization. Along with the attack on violators of women’s dignity from outside the community‐which
fitted in very well with the focus of the entire organization‐the presence of outside activists was
responsible for the injection into the movement of issues of domestic violence, alcoholism, etc. that
challenged patriarchal relations within the tribal community. And it was through the efforts of the
women’s front that a systematic expose of the subordinations of women in customary tribal law
became available.  (Mohanty Manoranjan : 2004:327).  The  Kerela  Fishworkers
movementdeveloped out of the crisis in the traditional fisheries sector in the wake of mechanized
fishing. The beginnings of this crisis, with dwindling catches and overfishing of the seas, can be traced
to the mid‐1960s,  although the union of Federation the Kerla Swatantra Matrya thozilai‐dates from the
late 1970s  Social activists from Church related groups were important in organizing the fisher folk.
Although women in Kerala do not actually fish. They undertake the major responsibility for marketing
the catch. Sensitivity to their problems was woven into the struggle from the beginning. The struggle
of the Kerla fisher folk eventually merged with the struggles of fisherfolk in Goa. Tamil Nadu and
Karnataka, and today is an extremely powerful voice basing itself on workers’ solidarity, environmental
wholeness and sound developmental planning.  As far as women specifically are concerned, the
organization took up the issue of women’s rights to public transport for vending fish. Within the
movement to a significant debate took place ‐on organizational model for women’s involvement.  The
demand that women be accorded full union membership began in the Trivandram unit where women
were strongest in leadership positions, and subsequently, the issue of whether women needed a
separate front for their women specific issues,  in addition to the union platform, had to be argued and
sorted out in the entire organization. (Mohanty Manorajan 2004‐328). The experiences of the Nipani’s
bidi workers, Tamil Nadu construction workers, Rajanandgaon textile workers all base themselves on a
basis trade union structure. Each is however unique in extending the scope of the trade union into a
much wider social field. The sheer size of the women membership exerts a pressure on the union to
take up trade union and social issues that focus on women. From the Nipani struggle has emerged an
attack on social practices that oppress women, such as the devdasi system, while Dalli Rajhara’s
contribution has been to stress the specificity of the women workers’ point of view, something that has
enriched both the worker’s struggles out of traditional trade union fields like the workplace into a
whole range of social situations including health and culture. The Tamil Nadu construction worker’s
union has woven sensitivity to the women’s perspective in its entire working and struggle practices.
The union has became a forum for the articulation of the tensions between women and men workers,
their differing work conditions, as well as expectations and prospects in the industry.  The  Assam
agitation against ‘foreigners’ in the early 1970s brought women out on the streets in a patriotic
cause in a manner reminiscent of the nationalist movement. (Mohanty Manoranjan 2004:328).

Sporadic Movements

The activism of the Indian women’s movement it generally seen to have reached some kind of
significant point in the mid‐seventies and early eighties. It is from this time that the history of the
movement is said to come into a kind of new phase, a resurgence of activity after what is seen as a
period of quietude.  One of the first ‘Cases’ to come to light was the rape of poor Muslim woman,
Rameeza Bee, in Hyderabad in 1978. The story goes that Rameeza Bee and her rickshaw puller husband
were returning one night from a film when they were picked up by the police‐as the poor and
vulnerable often are in India‐and accused of being criminals, prostitutes, and drug pushers and so on.
In this case the couple was taken to the police station for questioning and Rameeza Bee was accused of
being a prostitute. Taking this as license, inside the station the police who, shamefully, rank high
among the number of rapists in India and who are popularly known as the single most organized
criminal force in the country, lived up to their reputation and raped Rameeza Bee. When her husband
tried to protest, they beat him to death. One of the accusations that is often leveled against the
women’s movement is that it is largely middle class and urban. While there may be some truth in this
statement, it is, as always, difficult to generalize. In Rameeza Bee’s case for example, it was not
middle class feminists who took up her cause (although they joined in later) but local citizens,
particularly the poor, who marched in their thousands through the city of Hyderabad, carrying the
body of her dead husband, and placed it in the verandah of the police station. When the guilty
policemen refused to emerge, the angry public cut their telephone connections, set up roadblocks so
no one could escape, set fire to bicycles and other objects lying in the compound and began to stone
the police station. Later this too was set on fire. Two platoons of armed police were needed to quell
the crowd. In the days that followed, a string of protest actions took place all over the state of
Andhra, and as many as 26 people died in the demonstrations and reprisals. Not surprisingly, for this
often happens in India, the case soon moved into the political arena, with angry opposition members
surrounding the Chief Minister and demanding action. In the end the government was forced to give in
to pressure from women’s organizations and others, and appoint an enquiry commission, and the
situation was brought under control with difficulty. By this time the only people who continued to
focus on the issue as a ‘women’s’ issue, and on the victim as someone who was central to it, were
women’s groups. For others, particularly for the politicians who joined in the fray, Rameeza Bee
herself was of little consequence. (Urvarshi Butalia 2005). In taking up the Rameeza Bee case,
women’s organizations were following a tradition established by other groups before them. As early as
1986, three organizations in Gujarat (Sahiyar, Chingari and the Lok Adhikar Sangh) had filed a joint
petition in the Supreme Court demanding an enquiry into the gang rape by policemen of Guntaben, a
tribal woman from Bharuch district in Gujarat. The enquiry was led by justice P.N. Bhagwati and the
Enquiry Commission interviewed as many as 584 persons. In the end, nine of them were found guilty
(Gandhi and Shah 1992.39‐40). It was, however the Supreme Court judgment in the Mathura rape case
(1980) that finally crystallized and focused the energies of women’s groups all over the country. In
Maharashtra, Mathura, a young woman, was raped by two policemen (although most of these early
cases were cases of police rape, the police were by no means the only offenders), who were found
guilty by the High Court of India. But, in a dramatic reversal of the High Court judgment, the Supreme
Court acquitted them. In response, four eminent lawyers wrote an open letter to the Chief Justice of
India, protesting the judgment of the Supreme Court. This letter sparked off a wave of protests and
demonstrations against the Supreme Court judgment all over the country. The initiative was taken by
women’s groups in Mumbai (Bombay), who contacted groups elsewhere and a series of coordinated
demonstrations were organized in various places (Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmadabad,
Nagpur). Women’s groups demanded action and accountability expressed their solidarity with the
affected women, began to carry out investigations into other incidents that had so far remained out of
the public eye and a whole lot of other incidents (for example in Punjab, Karnataka, Assam, West
Bengal, Bihar) came to light. It became clear that the police were by no means the only criminals, but
that they were joined, everywhere, by their brothers in uniform, the army, and a host of ordinary
men, both rich and poor, for whom rape was the most powerful weapon to keep women in a state of
subjugation. (Urvarshi Butalia 2005). Often the woman was young, sometimes new bride or mother; she
had been subjected to harassment and violence, had been the target for demands (aimed of course at
her family for women rarely have any disposable income of their own and when they do, they seldom
have control of it). Interestingly, and tragically, although there were often other women in the house,
and the likelihood of their working in the kitchen was strong. The only woman to suffer and die was
and the likelihood of their working in the kitchen was strong. The only woman to suffer and die was
the young bride. In most families where In most families where such accidents took place, the police
were slow to seal the place, allowing the offending family ample time to destroy valuable evidence.
Where investigations did take place, women were often unwilling to implicate their husband so strong
was their socialization as ‘good wives’. It was rare, therefore, to get dying declaration that indicated
the husband ‐ much more common was the woman’s insistence that she had taken her own life. This
issue of women’s consent to and acceptance of violence against themselves was one that was to
trouble feminist activists even as they became increasingly convinced that the majority of these deaths
were, in reality, cold blooded murders.  Dowry had been legally prohibited since the sixties but
continued to be part of the marriage rituals of many communities. Agitations against it began in the
late seventies with much of the action being concentrated in Delhi. In the early days, two Delhi based
groups, the  Mahila  Dakshata  Samiti  and  Stree  Sangharsh,  were in the forefront of this
agitation. As early as 1978 the Mahila Dakshata Samiti, whose main focus was on campaigns against
price rises, published a report on dowry deaths which identified them as murders (Mahila Dakshata

Samiti 1978). However, the campaign took off in a major way only with the first demonstration
organized by Stree Sangharsh. This related to the death of Tarvinder Kaur, a young woman who was
murdered by her in ‐laws because her parents, like many others, were unable to fulfill their continuing
demands for cash and goods. Stree Sangharsh’s protest march through the streets of the residential
area were tarvinder had lived and died, gathered, hundreds of supporters and was widely reported in
the national press.    porters and was widely reported in the national press Ironically Stree Sangharsh,
had itself been created following a similar death in Jangpura, that of Hardip Kaur, a friend of
Tarvinder’s. Subsequently, a number of other demonstrations were organized in Delhi which targeted
the police, the state, the offending families and the communities who tacitly provided support to the
perpetrators of violence against women. (Urvarshi Butalia 2005)

The Campaign against Widow Immolation

In 1987 a rather different (and spectacular) case of the violent death of a young woman came to
public attention. Married for barely eight months (of which only one had been spent with her husband)
Roop Kanwar became a window when her husband died in an accident. It is unclear who took the
decision to immolate her on her husband’s pyre‐turning her into a sati but it was reported that she was
forced onto the pyre and prevented from escaping by a phalanx of armed guards who surrounded her,
and that her shouts for help were ignored. But this reality was quickly quashed and a veritable
mythology was built up around her death which represented it as a voluntary act of ‘heroism and
valour’ true to the supposedly ‘authentic’ tradition of Rajasthan, the state she came from. In this
mythology, Roop Kanwar was represented as having ‘willingly’ ascended the funeral pyre, where she
sat serencly amidst the flames, impervious to pain.  Roop kanwar’s death, though not of a widespread
phenomenon such as the increasing number of dowry deaths, was extraordinarily important
symbolically, due to the public approval that her murder received from thousands of people: those who
were instrumental in carrying it out, those who witnessed it but turned a blind eye to it, and the
multitudes who tacitly and overtly supported it as an act that was part of Rajasthan’s ‘authentic
tradition’ of valour and heroism and who came to worship at the site of the pyre. In Rajasthan, at the
time, Roop Kanwar’s murder was also supported by the state and the government in power, as well as
by various sections of the intelligentsia who resorted to splitting hairs and offering approval of what
they described as the ‘voluntary’ nature of the act. In a perceptive essay on the subject, Kumkum
Sangari and Sudesh Vaid point out that window immolation is one of the most violent of patriarchal
practices, distinct from other forms of patriarchal violence, first in the degree of consent it has
received, and second in the supportive institutions and ideological formulations that rationalize and
idealize if (my italics, and this was certainly in evidence in Rajasthan and in many other parts of
India). In fact the violence, in Rajasthan and in many other parts of India). In fact the violence, the
consent and the complex of institutions and ideological formations are mutually interrelated. The
event is mythologized precisely because of and proportionate to the intensity of violence inherent in
it’ (Sangari and Vaid 1996.240)

The Shahbano Case

In the early seventies, Shahbano, a Muslim woman in her seventies, was divorced by her
husband, Mohammed Ahmad Khan. For a short while, Shahbano’s husband paid her a small amount as
maintenance for her and their children, and then, abruptly, the payments stopped. Shabano then filed
an application, under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (which is meant to prevent women
from becoming destitute, provided, their husbands are not destitute themselves). This section of the
law fixes a maximum amount of Rs. 500 a month as maintenance hardly enough to keep anyone, let
alone a whole family, together. The case went back and forth for a considerable time, with arguments
taking in the purview of personal law and its possible conflicts/contradictions with the Criminal 
Procedure Code and, finally, it came before a bench of the Supreme Court for judgment. The five
member Constitution Bench upheld Shahbano’s right to maintenance both under Section 125 and under
Muslim personal law, and it criticized ‘the way women have been traditionally subjected to unjust
treatment’ citing both the Hindu lawmaker Manu, and the statements of the Propher, as examples of
traditional justice (Kumar 1993: 161 ‐62 ). Their judgment caused an uproar among Muslim religious
leaders who claimed that it represented an attack on Islam. Muslim women, they held, were to be
governed by the Muslim Personal Law, and the Supreme Court, or indeed any other authority, had no
right to pronounce on the teachings of the Prophet. They demanded therefore that Muslim women be
excluded from the purview of Section 125. In August 1985, a Muslim Member of Parliament introduced
a bill to this effect in Parliament (this later became an act, the Muslim Women’s Maintenance of Right
on Divorce Act of 1986). Despite considerable opposition to this Bill from many groups, and initially
from the ruling party itself, the Bill went through. It was widely believe that this was the then Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s way of compensating the Muslims (and thereby safeguarding their vote) for
having allowed the locks to be opened at Ayodhya). The campaign which fought for Shahbano’s right to
a life of dignity and respect as a citizen of India, and not as a member of a cultural or religious
grouping and the counter campaign which eventually resulted in the Muslim Women’s Maintenance of
Rights on Divorce act, were fought both in Parliament and in the streets. All over India there were
mass protests both for and against the passing of this legislation. While women’s groups protested that
the government was sacrificing the interests of women for the sake of mathematics of electoral
politics, self‐appointed leaders of the Muslim community mobilized vast numbers of people both men
and women, to protest at what they said was the state’s interference’s in Muslim culture and identity. 
In many ways the two campaigns, against sati and in support of Shahbano, raised similar issues for
women activists. Both the Hindu Right and the defenders of the Muslim ‘community’‐male leaders and
politicians in each case‐used women as symbols to defend what they defined as the identity of the
community, and called upon women to come out in its defence.  The Muslim Women’s Act (Protection
of Rights on Divorce)  was the government’s sop to the Muslim ‘community’ – in reality the Muslim
religious leadership and some Muslim vote banks‐designed to compensate for the concessions they had
been making to the Hindu Right, where women were concerned, however, the passing of this
legislation carried a very real message about the alacrity and willingness with which the state was
willing to sacrifice their rights in the interest of the mathematics of electoral politics.  Nonetheless, on
of the outcomes of the furor over the Shahbano case, as it came to be known, was that it brought the
question of identity politics squarely into the public arenas. The large numbers of Muslim women who
came out in support of the demand for a Muslim women ‘s Bill and against the judge who was seen to
have made derogatory remarks about the ‘Muslim community’, provided ample evidence that Muslims
too could be divided along lines of religious identity. The panacea of sisterhood was no longer one that
activists could unproblematic ally believe in.

Participation of Women and Environmental Movements in India

Chipko movement and participation of women

One  of  the  first  environmentalist  movements  which  were  inspired  by  women  was
the  Chipko  movement(Women  tree­huggers  in  India).  It  began
when  Maharajah  of  Jodhpur  wanted  to  build  a  new  palace  inRajasthan  which  is
India’s  Himalayan  foot  hills.  While  the  axemen  were  cutting  the  trees,  martyr  Amrita

Devi hugged one of the trees. This is because in Jodhpur each child had a tree that could
talk  to  it.  The  axmen  ignored  Devi  and  after  taking  her  off  the  tree  cut  it  down.  Her
daughters  who  followed  her  and  the  mother  were  all  were  killed.  People  from  forty­nine
villages around Jodhpur responded to this act and hugged the trees the axemen were trying
to cut. This act by Himalayan village women was a nonviolent resistance movement to save
the  forest.  Chipko  movement  doesn’t  have  any  formal  structure,  board  of  director  or  any
specific leaders. Women who participated in this movement were largely rural women, who
are  connected  to  each  other  horizontally  rather  than  vertically  via  a  hierarchy.  Chipko
activists  haven’t  focused  on  one  area  and  they  shift  their  hub  into  any  region  which  faces
the  risk  of  deforestation.  Chipko’s  idea  and  philosophy  spread  through  word  of  mouth
mostly  by  women  who  talked  about  them  on  village  paths  or  markets.  chipko  movement
started  in  uttaranchal.  it  was  started  by  a  woman  called  gaura  devi.  Later  on  she  was
supported  by  environmentalists  like  chandi  prasad  bhatt  and  sunderlal  bahuguna.  For rural
women, saving the environment is crucial to their economic survival. As primary food, fuel, and water
gatherers, women have strong interests in reversing deforestation, desertification, and water
pollution. Against these harmful deforestation policies a movement called Chipko was born. “Chipko”
in Hindi means to cling, reflecting the protesters main technique of throwing their arms around the
tree trunks designated to be cut, and refusing to move.  We can also refer here another movement,
which  is  one  of  biggest  in  women  and  environmental  history,  is  the  Green  Belt
movement.  Nobel  Prize  winner  Wangari  Maathaifounded  this  movement  on  the  World
Environment Day in June 1977. The starting ceremony was very simple, with a few women
participating, who planted seven trees in Maathai’s backyard. By 2005, 30 million trees had
been planted by participants in the Green Belt movement on public and private lands. The
Green  Belt  movement  aims  to  bring  environmental  restoration  along  with  society’s
economic  growth.  This  movement  leaded  by  Maathai  focused  on  restoration  of  Kenya’s
rapidly diminishing forests as well as empowering the rural women through environmental
preservation, with a special emphasis on planting indigenous trees.

Women Participation in India and  Narmada Bachao Andolan

Narmada  Bachao  Andolan  (NBA)  is  a  non­governmental  organisation  (NGO)  that

mobilised  tribal  people,  adivasis,  farmers,  environmentalists  and  human  rights  activists
against  the  Sardar  Sarovar  Dam  being  built  across  the  Narmada  river,  Gujarat,  India.  It
originally  focused  on  the  environmental  issues  related  to  trees  that  would  be  submerged
under  the  dam  water.  Recently  it  has  re­focused  with  the  aim  to  enable  the  poor  citizens
especially  the  oustees  to  get  the  full  rehabilitation  facilities  from  the  government.  Their
mode of campaign includes hunger strikes, mass media publicities, garnering support from
noted  film  and  art  personalities  etc.  Narmada  Bachao  Andolan,  together  with  its  leading
spokespersons Medha Patkar and Baba Amte, was the 1991 recipient of the Right Livelihood
Award. Post­1947, investigations were carried out to evaluate mechanisms in utilizing water
from the Narmada river, which flows into the Arabian Sea after passing through the states
of  Madhya  Pradesh,  Gujarat  and  Maharashtra.  Due  to  inter­state  differences  in
implementing  schemes  and  sharing  of  water,  the  Narmada  Water  Disputes  Tribunal  was
constituted  by  theGovernment  of  India  on  October  6,  1969  to  adjudicate  over  the  water
disputes.  This  Tribunal  investigated  the  matters  referred  to  it  and  responded  after  more
than 10 years. On December 12, 1979,  the  decision  as  given  by  the  Tribunal,  with  all  the
parties  at  dispute  binding  to  it,  was  released  by  the  Indian  Government.  As  per  the 
Tribunal's  decision,  30  major,  135  medium,  and  3000  small  dams,  were  granted  approval
for  construction  including  raising  the  height  of  the  Sardar  Sarovar  dam.  In  1985,  after
hearing about the Sardar Sarovar dam, Medha Patkar and her colleagues visited the project
site  and  noticed  the  project  work  being  shelved  due  to  an  order  by  the  Ministry  of
Environment  and  Forests,  Government  of  India.  The  reasons  for  this  were  cited  as  "non­
fulfillment  of  basic  environmental  conditions  and  the  lack  of  completion  of  crucial  studies
and plans".]What she noticed was that the people who were going to be affected were given
no  information,  but  for  the  offer  for  rehabilitation.  Due  to  this,  the  villagers  had  many
questions right from why their permission was not taken to whether a good assessment on
the ensuing destruction was taken. Furthermore, the officials related to the project had no
answers to their  questions.  While World Bank,  the  financing  agency  for  this  project,  came
into the picture, Patkar approached the Ministry of Environment to seek clarifications. She
realized, after seeking answers from the ministry, that the project was not sanctioned at all,
and  wondered  as  to  how  funds  swere  even  sanctioned  by  the  World  Bank.  After  several
studies, they realized that the officials had overlooked the post­project problems. Through
Patkar's  channel  of  communication  between  the  government  and  the  residents,  she
provided  critiques  to  the  project  authorities  and  the  governments  involved.  At  the  same
time,  her  group  realized  that  all  those  displaced  were  only  given  compensation  for  the
immediate  standing  crop  and  not  for  displacement  and  rehabilitation.  As  Patkar  remained
immersed in the Narmada struggle, she chose to quit her Ph. D. studies and focus entirely
on  the  Narmada  activity.Thereafter,  she  organized  a  36­day  long,  solidarity  march  among
the neighboring states of the Narmada valley from Madhya Pradesh to the Sardar Sarovar
dam site. She said that the march was "a path symbolizing the long path of struggle (both
immediate  and  long­term)  that  [they]  really  had".This  march  was  resisted  by  the  police,
who  according  to  Patkar  were  "caning  the  marchers  and  arresting  them  and  tearing  the
clothes  off  women  activists".There  were  groups  suchas  Gujarat­based  Arch­Vahini
(Action  Research  in  Community  Health  and  Development)  and  Narmada
Asargrastha Samiti (Committee for people affected by the Narmada dam), Madhya
Pradesh­based Narmada Ghati Nav Nirman Samiti (Committee for a new life in the
Narmada  Valley)  and  Maharashtra­based  Narmada  Dharangrastha  Samiti
(Committee for Narmada dam­affected people) who either believed in the need for fair
rehabilitation plans for the people or who vehemently opposed dam construction despite a
resettlement  policy.  While  Patkar  established  Narmada  Bachao  Andolan  in  1989,  all  these
resettlement  policy.  While  Patkar  established  Narmada  Bachao  Andolan  in  1989,  all  these
groups joined this national coalition of environmental and human rights activists, scientists,
academics and project­affected people with a non­violent approach.
She  further  undertook  a  similar  fast  in  1993  and  resisted  evacuation  from  the  dam
site.In  1994,  the  Bachao  Andolan  office  was  attacked  reportedly  by  a  couple  of  political
parties,  where  Patkar  and  other  activists  were  physically  assaulted  and  verbally  abused.In
protest, a few NBA activists and she began a fast and 20 days later, they were arrested and
forcibly fed intravenously. While the tribal people spend most of their time in their own villages and
forests around them, they migrate seasonally to neighbouring peasant villages to harvest crops and
earn some cash or grain. The lands on which the adivasis practice their primitive agriculture usually
are classed as forest lands technically not available for cultivation but which have been under the use
of the adivasis since time immemorial. The adivasis are denied titles to those lands and are held to be
encroachers and are subject to periodic illegal exactions by the forest officials. The peasant villages
usually set in fertile valleys are stratified into various hierarchically ordered castes, some being 
relegated into being landless untouchable outcastes. Among the peasants some are very rich,
producing for the market, using modem machinery and wage labour. The rest of the peasants are
middle and small farmers. The rich peasants may have large holdings but large feudal land holdings are
a rare phenomenon. As mentioned above they use the underpaid labour of the dalits and adivasis. The
compensation promised by the government is highly unequal: only those who already own land and can
show their title to it are entitled to land compensation. Thus the dalit labourers , women and the
adivasi 'encroachers' are not entitled to any land compensation. (Gujarat however, promises land to all
though it has not been able to show how it proposes to keep its promise). Of the people threatened
with submergence the overwhelming majority are adivasis and as such the tribal question is central to
the whole issue.

Institutionalization of women’s movements

Women self help group

Nilakantha Mahila Kosha is the name of a women self help group from Puran Panchayat of
Balianta Block. It was created, with the help of a local NGO, after the Super Cyclone, in 1999. This
eighteen member group, besides undertaking micro credit enterprise, shares all their problems and
try to resolve it collectively. During the critical floods from 2001 the group faced one more
challenge. It fortunately could be solved with techniques and information they acquired in the
trainings promoted by the Disaster Campaign and Preparedness Programme. It was last year,
when one of the villagers got drunk. He did not take proper care and went near the river to see the
floodwater. Suddenly, he swayed and fell into the river and began to drown. The self‐help group
was informed in time and, with the help of the local youths, could save him. As he required some
medical support, also because his wife was about to give birth, again Nilakantha Mahila Kosha came
to his rescue. The self‐help group gave from their savings a financial assistance to the family. The
group, after this experience, called a meeting with all the male members of the village to try to
close all the liquor shops of the village. Also, the local police and the Panchayat ‐ the village level
politician ‐ assisted them in this mission. In addition, the villagers came forward to prepare a
contingency plan for the natural disaster faced by them and this women self help group took the
lead in doing so. They organized male groups and started rehabilitation works of the community by
repairing roads, monitored relief distribution and management of village affairs.

The All India Women's Conference (AIWC)
 AIWC was founded in 1927 "to function as an organization dedicated to the upliftment and
betterment of women and children". The organization continues its mission and has since diversified
into various social and economic issues concerning women. In the 80th year of service to the nation,
over 1,56,000 members in more than 500 branches of AWIC across the country carry on the work
zealously with selfless dedication. AIWC is recognized the world over as a premier organization working
for women's development and empowerment.

AIWC Was registered in 1930 under Societies Registration Act, XXI of 1860. (No. 558 of 1930) The
main objectives of the organization are:

·         To work for a society based on the principle of social justice, personal integrity and equal
rights and opportunities for all.

·         To secure recognition of the inherent right of every human being to work and to achieve the
essentials of life, which should not be determined by accident of birth or sex but by planned

social distribution.

·         To support the claim of every citizen to the right to enjoy basic civil liberties.

·         To stand against all separatist tendencies and to promote greater national integration and
unity.

·         To work actively for the general progress and welfare of women and children and to help
women utilize to the fullest, the Fundamental Right conferred on them by the Constitution of
India.

·         To work for permanent international amity and world peace.

At and international level, AIWC has
·         Consultative status with the United Nations (ECOSOC)

·         Membership of UNICEF Executive committee for 10 years

·         Membership of CONGO. Elected as Vice‐President of CONGO for two terms.

·         A national Focal Point for International Networking for Sustainable Energy (INforSE)

·         Membership of the World Renewable Energy Network (WREN)

·         Membership of ENERGIA International Network on Gender and Energy

·         Global Village Energy Partnership

·         Membership of World Water Partnership

·         Affiliated member of the International Alliance for Women (IAW)

·         Affiliated to the Pan Pacific South‐East Asian Women’s Association (PPSEAWA)

·         Affiliated to NIMROO Education Centre, Japan

Kali For Women: Zubaan
 In 1984, Urvashi Butalia and Ritu Menon founded Kali for Women, Indiaís first feminist publishing
house. Their objectives were to publish quality work, keep overheads low, and ensure that not only the
content, but also the form of what they published met international standards. Within five years of its
establishment, Kali had become self‐sufficient. Over the years Kali has come to be seen as one of the
most significant publishing houses within Indian and internationally. Its name stands for quality,
editorial attention, excellence of content, and, most importantly, for providing a platform for
womenís voices to be heard.  started in 1984, in a Delhi garage, Kali has been providing a
viable  publishing  mouthpiece  to  Indian  feminism.  Both  Ritu  Menon  (Publishing  for  Social
Change)  and  Urvashi  Butalia  came  to  publishing  with  substantial  technical  training  as  well
as  a  strong  commitment  to  feminist  activism.  It  is  not  surprising  then  that  from  its  early
days  Kali's  catalogue  shows  an  interesting  mix  of  theory  and  practice.  Some  of  Kali's
biggest  print  runs  have  been  activist  publications  which  don't  necessarily  bring  in  any
money,  but  redefine  issues  of  women's  lives  in  a  positive  way.  It  also  has  titles  that  are
more theoretical in orientationand  are  targeted  at  academia.  Whoever  may  be  the  specific 
audience  in  mind,  Kali's  objective  is  to  increase  the  body  of  knowledge  on  women  in  the
Third World, to give voice to such knowledge as already exists and to provide a forum for
women writers. Apart from publishing English translations of significant fictional writings by
women  from  various  Indian  languages,  Kali  also  deals  with  issues  of  representation  of
women in the media, their social roles under right wing Hinduism and Islam, as a workforce
in  agriculture,  and  as  victims  and  saviours  of  environmental  degradation.  Kali's  list  of
authors  include  well  known  writers  like  Radha  Kumar,Vandana  Shiva  and  Maria  Mies  and
many  others.  As  the  definition  of  Feminism  in  the  subcontinent  and  indeed  world  wide
becomes amorphous and wide ranging Kali has been able to pour its energies into each new
opening  with  immense  fluidity.  Publishing  a  wide  range  of  genres  Kali  reaches  out  to  a
readership that is not confined to a country or region. Kali for Women has now split into two
independent  imprints.  The  co­founders  of  Kali,  Urvashi  Butalia  and  Ritu  Menon  have
established  their  independent  publishing  imprints  ­  Zubaan  and  Women  Unlimited
respectively, K‐92, First Floor, Hauz Khas Enclave, New Delhi ñ 110016, INDIA, Tel: +91­11­
2652 1008, 2686 4497 and 2651 4772,Email:  zubaanwbooks@vsnl.net   

The Centre for Women’s Development Studies

The Centre  for  Women’s  Development  Studies  (CWDS) was established on 19th April
1980, in the middle of the International Women’s Decade,  by a group of men and women, who were
involved in the preparation of the first ever comprehensive government report on the ‘Status of
Women in India’ entitled ‘Towards Equality’ (Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in
India, (CSWI), Government of India) and who were later associated with the Women’s Studies
Programme of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR).  The Advisory Committee on
Women's Studies of the ICSSR recommended the need for an autonomous institute to build on the
knowledge already generated, but with a wider mandate and resources to expand its activities in
research and action.  The recommendation was accepted by the ICSSR, and communicated to the
Women’s Bureau of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Government of India. A few months later, under the
leadership of late Prof. J.P. Naik, the CWDS was registered under the Societies’ Registration Act, 1860 
in New Delhi and started functioning since May 1980, with a small financial grant from the Vikram
Sarabhai Foundation, under the Chairpersonship of Dr. Phulrenu Guha and Dr. Vina Mazumdar as the
Director. In 1984‐85, on the recommendation of a visiting committee appointed by the Indian Council
of Social Science Research, CWDS began to receive an annual maintenance grant from the ICSSR and
became recognised as one of the Research Institutes supported by ICSSR.

Established  in  1987,  the  Women  Studies  and  Development  Center  ­

WSDC  became an integral part of the University of Delhi in 1998 and is now covered by the
maintenance grant of the University. WSDC receives direct support from the University Grants
Commission which requires it to act as 'nodal' agency for the colleges and for the region. The
responsibilities extend to evolving projects that provide leadership in identifying key areas in women's
studies research and curriculum, and in actively collaborating with organizations serving development
goals for women. In believing that gender sensitization creates the necessary base for balanced
perspectives on socials construction, the WSDC initiates and implements appropriate research,
curriculum development, teaching, advocacy and action. Using its location on campus to advantage,
the WSDC programmes strive to engage the academic community in current issues relating to women
from every strata of society. As part of a network, it seeks to strengthen individual and institutional
efforts that enable women's empowerment.  Women’s  Studies  &  Development
Centre,  Academic  research  centre,  II  floor,  Patel  Marg,  University  of  Delhi,  delhi­110007,

India,  Tel.  no.  :  011­  27666669  email:wsda­du@yahoo.com,  University  of  Delhi

website:www.du.ac.in

National Commission For Women
The national commission for women was set up as a statutory body in January 1992 under the
commission for women act, 1990 (act no. 20 of 1990) of    government of India, to review the
constitutional and legal safeguards for women, recommend remedial legislative measures, facilitate
redressal of grievances and advise the government,    on the policy matters affecting women
commission also interacts with the media, social activists and representation.

Major Objectives of the National Commission for Women

Investigate and examine all matters to the safeguards provided for women under the
constitution and effective implementation of those safeguards for improving the condition of women in
the union of any state. Look into the complaint and take suo moto of matters relating to: deprivation
of women‘s rights, non‐ implementation of laws enacted to provide protection to women and also to
achieve the objective of equality and development. Non‐compliance of policy decisions, guidelines or
instructions aimed at mitigating hardships and ensuring welfare and providing relief to women, and
take up the issues arising out of such matters with appropriate authorities. Call for special studies or
investigations into specific problems or situations arising out of discrimination and atrocities against
women and identify the constraints so as to recommend strategies for their removal.

The commission have the power to investigate any matter referred have all the power of a civil
court trying a suit. The national commissions for women have the special cell, which is the core unit of
the commission and processes the compliant received oral, written or suo moto under section 10 of the
NCW act. The complaints are also used as case studies for sensitization programmes for the police,
judiciary, prosecutors, forensic scientists, defence lawyers and other administrative functionaries. 
Functions and role of the National Commission of Women
The commission constitutes expert committees for dealing with such special issues as may be
taken up by the commission from time to time. The expert committees are on different subjects are‐
law and legislation, political empowerment custodial justice for women, social security, panchayati
raj, women and media, development of schedule tribe women, development of women of weaker
sections, development of women of minority communities, transfer of technology in agriculture for
development of women.Women‘s movement in the country was brought to the fore front by the efforts
of the NGOS. The commission interacts and network with the NGOs and the state commissions for
ensuring gender equality and empowerment of women. The women commission also interacts with the
media, social activists and academicians to suggest the ways of ensuring due representation of women
in all spheres.
The commission undertakes state visits to evaluate the progress of development of women in
various states. It has covered the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh,
Orissa, Sikkim, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Tripura, and Manipur. The commission conducts seminars,
workshops and conferences and sponsors such events by providing financial assistance to reach
organizations and NGOs. The important Areas so far covered include violence against women, sexual
exploitation of women at work place, educational health and employment aspects, women in
agriculture sector, women in panchayati raj, custodial justice, mental health institutions etc. The NCW
holds public hearing on issues affecting large sections of women such as crime against women, women
in unorganized labour sector, women in agriculture and women of minority groups. The deposition at
these enquiries helps in appreciating and initiating remedial action.

Delhi State National Commission

The Delhi state national commission for women has been set up under an act of the legislative
assembly of the national capital territory of Delhi, passed in 1994.the Delhi act is based on the lines of
the 1990 act of the parliament under which the national commission for women was constituted. The
geographical area of operation assigned to the state commission is the national capital territory of
Delhi which has a population of over million. The main objectives of the commission are to ensure
security, development and well‐being of women in every sphere of national life‐ particularly to suggest
and ensure implementation of steps against gender discrimination. the commission is also to ensure
that adequate provision for women’s advancement are included in all state policies, plan legislation
and amendments to existing laws to meet the objective of gender equity and advancement of women.

Programmes and Projects under taken by Delhi Commission for Women

Negotiating with the NGOs and the press especially for the work of engagement and
advancement of women at national and state level, full co‐operation and assistance from the police,
net‐working with NGOs and the community neighbourhood groups, legal assistance from the
commission through a consultant well‐versed with the problem of women in Delhi and through legal aid
centers. Compulsory primary education both for    boys and girls should not only be a matter of policy
but steps should be taken for its effective implementation. other urgent measures suggested by DCW
are: legal literacy be made compulsory for girls at high school and college level and spread through
mahila mandals in rural areas, all police cells cell dealing with the crime against women be linked
effectively with the central  cell. This would facilitate regular survey‐and‐analysis of the crime
situation. Delhi  Commission  of  Women,Govt.  of    Nct  of    Delhi,  A­block,  2nd  floor,  Vikas
Bhawan,  I.P.  Estate,  New  Delhi­  110002,  Fax:  23378325,  Website:  www.dcw.
delhigovt.inc.in, Helpline nos. 011­23379181, 011­23370597.

Emergence of feminist groups

The anti‐rape campaign took off in different cites of the country almost simultaneously. In
Mumbai, FAR was formed on January 1980, made up of a conglomerate of women, some already active
in left‐wing parties, others who had entered politics for the first time. In other parts of India,
autonomous women’s groups emerged, including Saheli and Stree Sangarsh in Delhi, Asmita
in Hyderabad and Vimochna in Bangalore.

From forum against rape to forum against oppression of women

In the 1980s and 1990s, a number of groups emerged in Bombay and all over the country, which
took up women’s issues. Members of FAR (forum against rape) identified themselves as an ad hoc body,
predominantly made of westernized women with ‘cosmopolitan’ values, and well informed about
western liberation movements. As an issues based federation, FAR lasted only 2 years, and moved on
to a forum that addressed broader issues of women’s oppression, renaming themselves as forum
against oppression of women in 1982. the broader issues that were addressed –and indeed continue to
be addressed‐ include sexual harassment in the workplace and in public spaces, dowry related violence
and murders, domestic violence, representation of women in the media, discrimination against women
in civil and criminal law, rights of working class women, including sex workers, women’s health and
reproductive rights and support the work of social movements working against poverty, class and caste
oppression. 
Advocacy to support women’s centre
Working on violence against women created an awareness of the vulnerability of women within
the home and outside it, therefore some activist within the FAOW felt the need to provide women with
support during moments of crisis. This need was partially met in 1981 by the establishment of feminist
group, which called itself women’s centre. The centre saw itself as a ‘super‐community’ for women
outside of an oppressive, patriarchal world, working since its inception primarily against domestic
violence, even while there was recognition that the workers would not be ‘ experts’ in the areas of
counseling or social work. The center located itself in a middle class locality in the eastern suburbs of
the city. The members of the group decided not to work within a working class area in the city, even
though their status was on poor and working class community could be conceived as a challenge to the
patriarchies present within such a space. On the other hand, if an alternative space was provided for
women that were geographically located at a distance away from their own context, it could provide
anonymity to women using it.
The women’s centre has used non‐legal and legal methods of resolving domestic violence. Non‐
legal methods include public demonstrations outside the home of domestic violence perpetrators,
therefore shaming perpetrators, and creating social pressure on the families. Women approaching the
center are supported, whether or not they choose to go down the legal route, and the normative
nature of marriage is challenged, by presenting singleness as a viable choice and a possibly enriching
way of life. Activists in the women’s center also spend much energy attempting to retrieve the
property and dowry of women experiencing domestic violence from their families. (Gangoli, Geetanjali
2007)

Social welfare groups: the women’s question in Annapurna Mahila Mandal
Annapurna  Mahila  Mandal  in Bombay, that emerged from the need to mobilize working
class women and families in ways that differ from those adopted by Marxist Leninist groups like Stree
Jagruti Samiti, or self consciously feminist ones such as women’s centre or FAOW.AMM was founded
in 1975 by Prema Purao, a CPI trade unionist who was frustrated by the marginalization of women
within left‐wing unions. The economic shifts during the 1970s had led to the entrenchment of women
workers from cotton mills, leading to the women seeking employment as khananwalis.as per folklore,
Annapurna is a woman who takes charge of the house hold and provides for the whole world after her
husband deserts her. This image has a powerful resonance in the lives of the khananwalis., many of
whom are forced to support their families due to absent, indifferent or unemployed husbands. Purao
attempted to organized khananwalis, who in spite of their close links with the cotton mills, have been
treated as insignificant by trade unions. the most glaring problems faced by such women is an inability
to get loans from nationalized banks, leading to dependence on private moneylenders, who charged
high interest on the loans. AMM has helped khananwali women to create a corpus of funds on the basis
of which they are able to get loans on rates of interest which are lower than those charged by private
money lenders. In addition to proving credit to working class women, AMM also intervenes in situations
of martial violence and discord, and encourage women to use family planning methods as a means to
improve their lives. The focus of the group is to draw out the strength already present in women, but
not to question the power relations within the family. working with families and women involves in
many cases, offering women advice in case of martial discord to keep the family going by providing
unconditional love and support. Therefore, the aim if AMM is to make women economically
independent, but not to challenge the oppression of women within the family (Gangoli, Geetanjali
2007).
CONCLUSION 
Till date, women have been not well aware of their rights. They have remained contended
with, what is given to them and tolerate all kind of atrocities by convincing themselves that it was
their fate and some divine justice will shine upon them one day and they shall be free from all
sufferings. The women of India fail to recognize their strengths which need to be properly
channelized to help them reach divine justice of their lives.  They  must  get  used  to
disassociating  their  names  from  that  of  their  fathers  and  husbands  and  look  at
themselves as individuals who have the ability to touch the sky. a clarion call is needed
'women of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but yours fetters. Women movement
integrates the various aspects ie nature, objective, polices and attitude towards women
development in India. Starting from the pre independence period to post independence period,
from feminist to anti‐patriarchal, from women reform movement to anti‐dowry agitation, from
AIWC to kali for women. Many women actively participated in the movement and their image as an
activist had transcended all consideration of self that had been long part of the political culture of
India. Government polices for women must be formulated to encourage women participation in
their own development while projecting their profiles themselves. Women welfare programmes
gradually began to open possibilities for women entrepreneurship in various government and
corporate sectors. Organization for professional growth of women needs to be active for granting
advocacy and technical support to the women. They should offer fellowships to young women
graduates to pursue their developmental training to mature women entrepreneurs to refine their
skills. Legally considering there is absolute equality between men and women in each sphere of
life. But law directs the society to promote the interests of women, to develop their personality, to
secure social justice, to provide humane working conditions and primarily it aims at making women
aware of their rights which they can exercise at the time of need.
 
 
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