COMMON INTRODUCTION
P. Sainath is an Indian journalist who focuses on issues such as social and economic inequality, rural affairs and poverty. He was the Rural Affairs Editor at The Hindu. He has been writing for the various dailies and fortnightlies.
Comprehension II
1. What is the role of Arivoli Iyakkam in liberating women?
Ans: Arivoli Iyakkam – Light of Knowledge Movement organizes various activities benefitting rural women and the disadvantaged people in society. It helps people become literate. One of the remarkable initiatives taken up by Arivaoli for the liberation of women in 1992 in Pudukkottai district of Tamilnadu was cycling movement. It helped women gain confidence. They became independent: they were able to fetch water; they could cart provisions from other places. Arivoli gave these women a new lease of life. Cycling offered a way out of enforced routines, around male imposed barriers. This cycling movement in turn enriched the literary movement. Arivoli composed songs to encourage cycling. One of the lines goes like this: ‘O sister, come learn cycling, move with the wheel of time…’ Arivoli gave cycling social sanction and it gave women mobility.
2. In what different ways does the cycle empower rural women?
Ans: Cycle for the rural women of Pudukkottai district stands as a symbol of independence, freedom and mobility. It gave the women their right. It helped women to take up literacy even more vigorously. Bicycle helped these women with confidence. The bicycle cut down on time wasted in waiting for buses. It saved more time to focus on selling their produce. It gave women their leisure time. Earlier, they had to depend on fathers, brothers, husbands or sons to reach the bus stop. They could cover only a limited number of villages to sell their produce. They had to rush back early to tend to the children and perform other chores. The bicycle now changed all these. It brought these rural women a sense of self-respect.
3. Why does the author describe Arivoli ‘cycling training camp’ as an unusual experience?
Ans: It is indeed an unusual experience for the author because all the prospective learners had turned out in their Sunday best in Kilakuruchi village. They were very passionate about the pro-cycling movement. They were excited to know that cycling offered them a way out of their enforced routines, around male-dominated barriers. In fact, they wanted to ‘move with the wheel of time.’ A large number of trained cyclists had come back to help new learners. They worked free of charge for Arivoli as ‘master trainers’. They felt it very strong that ‘all women ought to learn cycling.’ This experience also helped them promote the literacy movement even more actively. Arivoli had a massive influence on neo-literate women in learning cycling.
4. Do you think neo-literate women taking to cycling contribute to literacy movement?
Ans: Yes. Neo-literate women in Pudukkottai district of Tamilnadu found this humble medium of transport a catalyst in their life. They hit out at their backwardness expressing defiance by using bicycle. The agricultural workers, quarry labourers and village health nurses took to cycling. Balwadi and anganwadi workers, gem cutters and school teachers also joined the movement. Even gram sevikas and mid-day meal workers were in the race. In fact, the vast majority had just then become literate. As literacy gives women power, cycling gives them mobility. These neo-literate women could now cover more distance reaching out to those disadvantaged women. In fact, literacy movement accelerated its speed, thanks to bicycle.
5. How does Sheela Rani Chunkath, the district collector, promote the empowerment of women?
Ans: Sheela Rani Chunkath, former popular district collector came up with the idea of cycling for women empowerment in 1991 in Pudukkottai district of Tamilnadu. This was to further train female activists to reach literacy to the women in the interior. She included mobility as a part of the literacy drive. She knew that lack of mobility among women had undermined their confidence. She pushed the banks to give loans for the women to buy bicycles. She ensured that each block did its best to promote the movement. She gave it personal attention as the top official in the district. This kind of motivation is required to achieve something very big on the social plane.
6. How did the women react to the shortage of ladies’ cycle?
Ans: The women were very passionate to learn cycling. First, the activists learned followed by the neo-literates. Every woman wanted to learn too. This resulted in the shortage of ladies’ cycles. However, they were so passionate about cycling that they wouldn’t mind riding gents’ cycles. Some women preferred the gents’ cycles as they had an additional bar from the seat to the handle. They could seat a child on the bar. There was an incredible rise in the sale of ‘ladies’ cycles in one year. A lot of women who would not wait for ‘ladies’ cycles, went in for men’s cycles. Thus the spirit among the women was very high over their new found joy.
Comprehension III
1. How does P. Sainath show that cycling brings about changes beyond economic gains?
OR
‘O sister, come learn cycling, move with the wheel of time…’ How does the song suggest that the cycle could be an instrument of social change and progress?
Ans: The neo-cyclists wanted to ‘move with the wheel of time.’ They discovered a new identity through the humble vehicle, bicycle. The rural women found a new way to assert their equivalent roles with men. As the young women zipped along the roads on their bicycles, P. Sainath was mesmerized to witness a social movement that took the entire Pudukkottai district by storm in 1992. Tens of thousands of neo-literate rural women of the district chose to sun their backwardness by riding bicycle as a symbol of independence, freedom and mobility. A young Jamila Bibi found cycling as her right. The rural women just got addicted to this new phenomenon. Cycle has strong economic gains, no doubt. But, more than anything, cycling gave these rural women their personal independence and confidence. Now the women did not have to wait for the men. They could even cart provisions from other places on their own. They felt that all women ought to learn cycling, for it would empower them with literacy and mobility.
More than the economic aspect, cycling gave them the sense of self-respect. The women ride bicycle for the goodness and independence. To P. Sainath, the humble vehicle appeared to be a metaphor for freedom. For those rural women, ‘it’s a Himalayan achievement, like flying an aero plane.’
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