(Women in Development... This concept is nothing new to the Indian context. The problems of women were of great concern to Gandhiji, even during the independence struggle, andhe was instrumental in establishing many institutions serving the rural women and children in the country. Kathy Holm, an intern at CDSA from the University of Minnesota, looks into the functioning of such an institution at Saswad, near Pune.)

Shobhanabai Kulkarni had it all: a hard-working husband who held a good job, four loving children and a pleasant home until tragedy struck. Her husband got cancer, died suddenly and Shobhanabai was left with little education, no job skills and the difficult task of raising four children alone.

First, Shobhanabai turned to her relatives. They offered to take her in, but could not provide for her children. Refusing to abandon them and with nowhere to turn, a friend suggested she contact an organisation run by women for women: The Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust.

Ten years later, Shobhanabai points to her accomplishments: she manages a bakery and has raised her children well - three are happily married and one lives and works with her at the trust in Saswad.

Shobhanabai's story is not unique. Since 1945, when the trust was established, thousands of women across India have turned to this organisation for help. Their reasons for seeking help vary: some face physical violence or psychological abuse at home, others have been abandoned by their husbands, some are divorced or widowed. While individual circumstances vary, they share one plight: they are unable, but not unwilling, to take care of themselves.

On February 22,1944, Kasturba Gandhi, affectionately known as Ba, died imprisoned at Agakhan Palace in Pune,
Maharashtra. After her death, a nationwide collection raised one crore of rupees for a memorial to her and it was handed to Gandhiji. In April 1945, Mahatma Gandhi established the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust on three conditions:

1) The trust money should be spent exclusively for the education and benefit of women and children living in rural areas;

2) The trust should not rely on a bank balance to run its activities, but go directly to the people for financial support; and

3) The trust must be run entirely by women, from administrators to workers. Gandhiji said, "I am giving women a chance to waste this money. Men have wasted their money on violence and wars. I want to see how women spend their money."

The original idea of the trust's work, as envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi, was to train a cadre of women to work in India's remote villages to fight illiteracy and help eradicate poverty and disease. He said he wanted the women of India to be, "aware, united and active, so they can fight for their own upliftment" while working to improve village conditions. Gandhiji wanted the Kasturba Trust to be an instrument and vehicle of their regeneration.

The first Kasturba Trust centre in India was established in the village of Saswad, about 35 Kms., from Pune. It is the headquarters of the trust's activities in Maharashtra. Since 1946, Kasturba Trust has been active in Maharashtra and today there are 56 centres of trust activity operating in 13 districts. Trust activities in Maharashtra operate through six arogya kendras, four composite centres, 11 gram seva kendras, 24 nutrition balwadis, five creches, one balghar, one balgram, two bakeries and 100 adult education centres. The trust's Today most of the women who seek activities in Saswad provide a glimpse of the women and children it serves and the type of service it provides nationwide.

The 8 and 1/2 acre Kasturba Trust Kasturba Trust centre is set outside the bustle of Saswad, Maharashtra. Its buildings and grounds are spotless; peace and quiet pervade. A quick tour of its grounds reveals many things: children sharing various chores — tending vegetable gardens, fruit trees and cows. Residents of Home for Aged Women gather together to share stories.

A glance inside the trust's buildings is look at stark cleanliness — the communal kitchen reveals grains stored in stone vats in the traditional way; a six month supply of garlic, cultivated in Saswad's field, hangs from the rafters. Inside the balgrams, children's rooms are  neatly kept, beds are made, clothes put away and outside the balgram  doors chalk drawings on the hardened mud welcome visitors and residents to their home, The Kasturba Trust at Saswad  is one of 18 trust ashrams nation wide serving rural women and children in India

Today most of the women who seek help form the Kasturba Trust are economically destitute, have been turned out of their homes and simply have nowhere else to go, said Shobhana Ranade, Trustee and spokesperson for Kasturba Trust, Maharashtra Branch.

Shobhana Ranade is a social worker who began working with Kasturba Trust in Assam in 1956. In 1972, she moved to Pune and continues her work  with Kasturba Trust. She is currently  trustee and has acted as the representative of Maharashtra Kasturba Trust from 1972 to 1979.

"Originally, when Kasturba Trust started, women came with an idea of  service..." let's do something for the nation, let us follow Gandhiji' and all " Shobhanabai said. Now-a-days,  come to us for employment. But once the trust trains them and they begin working for us, they become psychologically tied to us. They have no  place to go; Kasturba Trust becomes their home, she said. "We try to provide them with a sense of security and belonging here.

"An average of two to three women comes to Saswad every day seeking help, Shobhanabai said. "This is an open door for them and we have made it a point not to refuse admission to anyone. The woman who is distressed, who is forced to leave her home, she has got a shelter." she said.

The trust also tries to help women who want to return to their families. We look at their background and situation and talk to their families, Shobhanabai said. Formal family counseling is done in Pune. She estimates that less than five percent of the women who come to the trust return home.

The women who come to Kasturba Trust for help are either trained for placement in or given a job at the trust centres. The trust does not consider its work merely social welfare, Shobhanabai said. Our training is designed to build self-confidence in women in part by making them economically self-sufficient, she said.

"Indian women are the most exploited people anywhere," Shobhanabai said, especially destitute women. From birth they are made to feel worthless; they are treated as nothing; they can be sold, resold. Even women must learn to earn," she said, "if she doesn't, she will be at the mercy of society".

Thus, the trust considers education and skill development the most important part of its activities and sponsors various training programmes for women.

One important part of the trust's training activities is training women for village service in the areas of health, education and child welfare. There are four positions which require formal training for village placement in Kasturba Trust: 1) Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) training, a two-year course taught in Indore, 2) creche and 3) balwadi training, both one year courses, taught at various centres, and 4) adult literacy methods, courses of various durations usually taught at state resource centers.

After the Sevikas complete their training and are assigned to village posts, they come together 10 days each year for refresher camps. At these camps, Sevikas exchange notes about the successes and failures of their projects, they receive new recipes for their balwadis, the trust supervises their accounts, gives them training in bookkeeping and they learn new ideas in development - what is happening with development in India and in the world. Kasturba Trust pays for these camps and arranges food, transportation and housing for them. Today, there are about 100 Sevikas working in Maharashtra.

"I really think this refreshing has kept women together," Shobhanabai said. After these camps, Sevikas return to their villages with a renewed sense of commitment, she said.

In order to be admitted to these training programmes, women must meet particular education requirements; for example to receive ANM training, a woman must have completed her SSC. For women who want to go for this training, but do not have the necessary educational requirements, Kasturba Trust offers condensed courses to them to raise their education level to SSC. At this level, various training courses will be open to them. Those who do not want to take or cannot pass the course, for whatever reason, are trained in bakery, tailoring or ambar charkha skills. In Maharashtra, ambar charkha skills are taught in Punc at Agakhan Palace, bakery and tailoring skills are taught at Sa.swad.

Until recently, Saswad's bakery provided important training and much needed employment for 12 destitute village women per day for more than 15 years. That was primarily due to a contract the trust held with the Government of Maharashtra's Social Welfare Department to bake 10,000 loaves of bread per day for a nutritive programme. But the subsidy the trust received from the department was low - 32 paise per loaf - and it has not increased in 13 years, according to trust officials. So about six months ago, the trust dropped the contract which it had been operating at a loss for three to four years.

Another acute problem the trust faces at Saswad is access to water. This portion of Maharashtra is very dry and in later years this scarcity has been exacerbated by drought. In fact a few years ago, Shobhanabai said, the residents were packed up and ready to move to a new location, but at the last minute someone helped them obtain water. So, while the residents have been able to remain in Saswad up until now, access to water remains a critical factor to the trust's success. The residents have not been able to cultivate as much as they would like because of a scanty water supply.

Since 1973, the trust at Saswad has admitted children and today most of its residents are children: 77 live in the balgrams here. Of those 77, 50 are girls appointed by the "Juvenile Court System and 27 are under the SOS Children's Programme. The trust receives 125 Rs./month for each girl and 120 Rs./month for each boy. The children help other residents in various chores, like helping to keep the grounds clean and working at a donated winding machine. All children staying here attend public school in Saswad.

Last year the trust opened a home for women over 60, Prem Ashram, named after the first trust Sevika. Currently there are 10 beds for aged women and three are occupied. Eight of these beds are reserved for women who have spent their lives working for Kasturba Trust, and two are based on community need.

Kasturba Trust in Saswad also coordinates numerous adult education courses, that include skills training, holds awakening camps for women and campaigns against alcohol abuse in villages.

And the ultimate goal of Kasturba Trust activity across India?

"It wants to train women as agents of social change," said Shobhanabai. "Social change that is based on non-violence, sisterhood and love."

Source:

Development Network Newsletter 2, Apr/June 89

Development Network C.D.SA., P.B. No. 843 Deccan Gymkhana Pune 411004, India