By Irudhaya Jothi
Kailashahar, March 7, 2022: Tribal women in Tripura have marked the International Women’s Day by praying for the victims of war in Ukraine.
“We pray for the repose of the souls of barbarian war in Ukraine by Russia and send peace vibrations to the families who have lost their loved ones while resolving to establish peace locally,” read a pledge Trishna Orang read out during the March 6 program at Kailashahar, the headquarters of Tripura’s Unakoti district.
Women belonging Adivasi (descendants of migrants from the eastern India’s Chhotanagpur region) and Tripura’s various tribal groups celebrated their first international women’s day at Xavier Institute for Development Education, the social action wing of the Jesuits of Tripura.
The women delegates numbering 178 belonged to Halam, Debarma, Reang, Orang, Munda and Santal tribal communities. They celebrated the day with gaiety and fun.
Champa Toppo,an Orang and leader of a village self-help group explained that the first International Women’s Day was celebrated in 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. “The centenary was celebrated in 2011, so this year we’re technically celebrating the 111th women’s day.”
The UN announced their theme for 2022 as “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow.” Their events will recognize how women around the world are responding to climate change.
The International Women’s Day website says it is designed to “provide a platform to help forge positive change for women.” It has chosen the theme #BreakTheBias and has asked people to imagine “a world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination”.
The pandemic created havoc on the lives of people around the world and it continues to have a serious impact on women’s rights. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021, the time needed to close the global gender gap has increased by a generation from 99.5 years to 135.6 years.
A 2021 study by UN Women based on 13 countries showed that almost one in two women (45 percent) reported that they know or experienced personally a form of violence during the Covid-19 pandemic. This includes non-physical abuse, with verbal abuse and the denial of basic resources being the most commonly reported.
At the Kailashahar program, 12 women representatives and a girl from different tea gardens or estates lighted the lamp to open the celebration symbolically.
Andrea Halam, a 7-year-old girl child was the guest of honor, keeping this year’s theme of the day.
The participants were helped to reflect and understand the challenges India faces today from present administration which is anti-women and pro-corporate and how they need to prepare them and their children to successfully face the onslaught of globalized corporate agenda and be liberated from the dehumanizing clutches in the tea gardens and villages.
The program included songs and dances by tribal women in Chorai (Halam), Orang and Mundari languages.
The sharing of Neoti Baraik and Lien lal den Halam highlighted f women’s whirlwind lifestyle from early morning to late night, contributing substantially to the formation and sustenance of the human race. Observing that women’s such contributions have been taken for granted, the program assured the women that their continued dedicated parenting and community building will be recognized.
“We will continue such a meaningful and empowering celebration every year,” said Lal Ring Sangi Halam, the secretary of the SHG federation at Jamtialbari. Sangi was emphatic when she said, “This will be our annual event as part of our yearly program.”.
The Jesuit institute has the registered office at Jamtailbari in Kailashahar that organized the event for the first time among women Self Help Group women in the neighboring villages. Tripura has five Jesuits working with formal and non-formal education and women empowerment mission.