Rescued Dalit women labourers’ horror tales

Chennai: It was thanks to an NGO that rescued two teenaged Dalit girls, S. Violet Mary and M. Shanthi, from a life of unremitting labour that they lived to tell their tale at the 15th state-level Dalit women's conference in the city on Sunday.The two girls were sent to a cotton mill in Dindigul district to work so they could return in three years with savings of Rs 30,000. It was a nightmare that the girls from Athoor village went through, working continuously for more than 12 hours.

“About 15 were put in a small room and our day started as early as 3.30 am. An NGO helped us get out of the cotton mill where we were employed,” said Violet Mary. Dalit women from various districts narrated their stories, speaking of the discrimination they faced and how they fought for their rights. “There are 199 cotton mills in Dindigul district alone that employ more than 1 lakh women, and of them, 30,000 are Dalits. These mills announce various schemes, like Sumangali, Kanmani, Thirumagal and lure adolescent girls from economically backward sections with the promise of a lump sum payment of Rs 30,000 after three years.

All these women work for hours together and the mills pay them only if they complete the three-year period,” said G.F. Viswasam, secretary of the Sirumalai Evergreen Multipurpose Community Development Society.The NGO has rehabilitated 93 women from the Sumangali scheme and has been giving them vocational training. Violet Mary and Shanthi discontinued their participation in the scheme within a month of joining it and are now in a tailoring programme. “As our seniors narrated various stories to us, we told our family and they accepted,” they said.

The long working hours were not the only troublesome aspect. The mills selected girls only from families that had three or more children. “They are also subject to sexual harassment by supervisors,” said Viswasam. The story of bonded labourers from Maharajapuram, Chittoor district in AP, was even worse as 30 people from 15 families lived as slaves, literally, for 15 long years. Members of the Ambedkar Movement rescued them a few months ago. Kasturi, who still struggles to cope with the atrocities and discrimination she faced at an estate in Maharajapuram, said men and women were beaten up like animals just because “we asked the owner to hike our wages”.“We were given only '110 a day for work we did for 18 hours,” said Jeeva, another worker.