STRENGTH OF A SINGLE WOMAN
NIRMALCHANDEL, 53 Social activist, HIMACHAL PRADESH
Widowed at 23 and blamed for the misfortune, Nirmal Chandel spent a year in a dark corner of her in-laws’ home. “I thought of ending my life once, but life had some other role for me in mind,” says Chandel.
Thirty years on, Chandel, now 53 and living in the Sarkaghat area of Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh, has not only transformed her own life but become a beacon of light for other single women in the state. She leads the over 16,000-member-strong Ekal Nari Shakti Sangathan (ENSS) and fights for the rights of poor widows, divorced, deserted and unmarried women in Himachal villages.
In 1990, a year after her husband’s death, Chandel left her in-laws’ home to work independently with Social Upliftment through Rural Action (SUTRA) as an accountant for Rs 350 per month. While working with the NGO, Chandel realised that most women have the same story—deprived of basic rights, financial security and property if there’s no husband in the picture.
In 2005, SUTRA’s director Subhash Mendhapurkar motivated her to work on a single women’s forum in Rajasthan. Encouraged by this opportunity, Chandel went on to form ENSS the same year with 120 women joining her initially. The ENSS has now spread over 435 panchayats of 22 developmental blocks in eight districts of Himachal Pradesh and is still expanding. It was awarded Rs 22 lakh from the Ashoka Foundation in 2011 for its concept of a ‘new sasural (in-laws)’ for widows, deserted and divorced women. It has saved the money and plans to use it to assist single women looking to start small ventures.
The organisation strives for the dignified living of single women and tackles issues like eligibility for ration cards and inclusion in the government schemes, to increasing their access to justice. “Many poor single women, who are deserted by husbands, do not have access to justice due to lack of funds and awareness. We try to facilitate them as much as we can,” she says. The ENSS works towards giving single women a dignified life.
In 2008, Chandel led over 3,000 women in a 45-km march from Dhami to Shimla to demand inclusion of single women by Himachal’s political leadership in policy matters. As a result, more than 400,000 women in the state were
“THE REAL SUCCESS IS THAT SINGLE WOMEN ARE NOW HIGHLIGHTING THEIR PROBLEMS, NOT FOR SYMPATHY BUT TO EARN SELF-RESPECT”
given benefits under budget schemes, including health insurance, social security pension and ration cards. “I think the real success is that single women are getting confident enough to highlight their problems and demand their rights not to gain sympathy but to earn self-respect,” says Chandel.
Apart from Rajasthan, says Chandel, Himachal is the only state to have implemented the Mother Teresa Asahaya Matri Sambal Yojana to provide financial assistance to widows and destitute women. The state also provides monetary help via the Mukhyamantri Kanyadan Yojana and preference in jobs under the mid-day meal schemes and water carriers in schools.
The ENSS’s demand for Nyay Panchayats to help single women access justice at the panchayat level is pending. “We are now motivating single women to assume leadership roles to strengthen their voice at least in the panchayati raj institutions,” she says.
Chandel heads the national forum, the Rashtriya ENSS, which has a presence in 14 states and 135,000 members.
“The movement to fight for the rights of single women has improved their condition across the state, but much more needs to be done,” says Chandel. ■