"We Are Poor But So Many,' By Ela Bhatt

The Hindu

Book Review

March 2, 2006

Journey in self-reliance

PADMINI SWAMINATHAN

The inside story of SEWA by its founder — of being poor, women, and self-employed

WE ARE POOR BUT SO MANY — The Story of Self-Employed Women in India: Ela R. Bhatt; Oxford University Press, YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi-110001. Rs.595.

This is a poignant but a powerful first-person account of the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA). Ela R. Bhatt or Elabehn, as she is popularly addressed, the founder of SEWA, traces the trajectory of the growth of the organisation since its inception in April 1972; in the process what comes alive is not only the trials and tribulations accompanying the growth process but the philosophy that brought in the organisation in the first place and which has continued to inform its expansion against all odds.

The journey

As of 2004, SEWA has a membership of over 7,00,000 and the organisation straddles the realms of both unions and cooperatives. There are 10 SEWAs spread over seven states in India, and together these form the SEWA Bharat. Each SEWA however, is an independent and autonomous sister organisation.

"When someone asks me what the most difficult part of SEWA's journey has been, I can answer without hesitation: removing conceptual blocks...Definitions are part of the battle. The Registrar of Trade Unions would not consider us `workers'; hence we could not register as a `trade union'. The hard working chindi workers, embroiderers, cart pullers, rag pickers, midwives, and forest-produce gatherers can contribute to the nation's gross domestic product, but heaven forbid that they be acknowledged as workers! Without an employer you cannot be classified as a worker, and since you are not a worker, you cannot form a trade union. Our struggle to be recognized as a national trade union continues."

SEWA's engagement is with the poorest of the poor. This, in turn, means that it is dealing with women who necessarily are engaged in multiple types of work since income from any one type of work is usually not enough to make ends meet; it also means that their work hours are not defined. Addressing the concerns of such women, in terms of, say, making credit available to them, providing them with life insurance and setting up marketing networks very often meant that SEWA was forced to venture into uncharted territory; it also meant frequent failures and setbacks.

Resilience

What however comes through quite forcefully is the resilience of the organisation and the perseverance of its leaders and members. Despite working against all kinds of odds, SEWA refused to compromise on what it considered its bottom line, namely, shunning large-scale projects that could be quickly implemented by hiring professionals. Instead, SEWA's policy consisted in taking the long and arduous route of empowering grassroots-level people to learn, feel comfortable, and take responsibility for their actions, so that the results, even if slow, are enduring and long-lasting.

The organisation of the book is simple yet purposeful; it brings out the multifaceted nature of the problem: being poor, a woman and self-employed. This understanding is woven into every one of the trade and service-defined chapters: the rag pickers, the chindi and garment stitchers, the vendors, the embroiderers, and the banking and gram haat oriented activities.

While the problems of being poor, a woman and self-employed are common to all, each chapter documents the unique problems of each activity, the range of actors and activities that needed to be addressed to arrive at acceptable and forward-looking solutions, the new problems that these solutions created but the mechanisms that were devised and implemented to tackle such contingencies.

Banking

To take the example of the SEWA Bank. In 1972, when SEWA approached banks on behalf of its members, it realised that existing commercial banks had no clue to the lives and lived realities of the poor, whether urban or rural.

The banks' existing procedures did not and could not accommodate the needs of the poor; worse, the bank staff viewed the poor with distrust and suspicion.

The story of how the SEWA Bank shattered every banking myth is worth reading; further, what is even more startling is that, since its inception, the SEWA bank shareholders have received dividends without fail, a record few commercial banks can boast of.

Every chapter also contains, even if in a few lines, the author's reflections on how mainstream development continues to, not only marginalise, but also make it increasingly difficult for large sections of the people to live decent and dignified lives. At the same time, she also points out concretely, how the activities of these same sections of the population subsidise and profit the larger economy.

At one level, to read the above as a book on SEWA by the founder of SEWA no doubt makes it a valuable account of an invaluable and on-going experience. But a critical engagement with its methodology and contents throws up a number of researchable issues and themes worth exploring, the foremost, among them being, how replicable is this model?

Are SEWAs the answer to our labouring poor women? If SEWAs are not considered and registered as trade unions and if registered trade unions do not engage with the labouring poor, how do we ensure the centrality of the concerns of poor women in our reforms and planning — an agenda that Elabehn herself agrees is key to removing poverty?


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