WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND MEGHALAYA - HOW THE TRUTH ACTUALLY STANDS

                                              Woman working in her own shop 

A developing nation like India is still facing some major obstacles in the sector of women empowerment and gender equality. Gender equality is one of the Global Goals of the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable development in India (UNDP,2015). One of the few still existing matrilineal Societies in the world includes Meghalaya, a north eastern state of India. 

Meghalaya located in the northeast region of India is dominated by the khasi ethnic group which promotes women empowerment and gender equality through some of their rules, rituals and customs. This state is another example of a place where women literacy ratio is higher than other states of northeast. Meghalaya is also one of the few states in the country where sex ratio is balanced and female voters have exceeded male voters in recent elections. 

This state itself stands for women empowerment by introducing some facilities for women. Meghalaya stands for some other records including an impressive 3.1 percentage point gap in male and female literacy which is lowest among all the states in India, 34 percent land holding with women, measure women land ownership which is the highest among all the Indian states. Ethnic groups in Meghalaya carry their mother’s surname instead of father’s surname. 

All this takes us to the question, is land ownership enough for making women empowered where they are still not in the power position in the society and get dominated in various other sectors of the society. One may wonder if owning a land makes a woman empowered or not. The fact is that most of the women in Meghalaya still consider their husband as a head of their household and think that there may be a physiological component in it. Women from Meghalaya still can not exercise their decision making power and self agency. There are no women cabinet ministers and only three women candidates out of 60 in the State Legislative Assembly. All these facts make the state of women empowerment in Meghalaya more questionable. Local government of took an initiative to involve women in local governance and thereby enhance their political empowerment, passed the Reservation Policy for Women in Village Employment Council in 2020. 

Mawlynnong - Cleanest villege of Asia

                 Welcome to Mawlynnong

North East region is a region in India where we can see picture perfect views throughout the year. Different regions have different best view times in different seasons. But Meghalaya is one of the seven sisters of northeast which change colour of its beauty in different seasons. Mawlynnong is one of the main attractions of Meghalaya . 

Mawlynnong is a village which is located on east khasi hills, 79km away from Shillong. This village was awarded as Asia’s cleanest village in 2003 by Discover India. This is not the only recognition of this beautiful village full of simplicity but it is also known as “God’s own Garden”. 

Weather of this village is tourist friendly throughout the year but the best time to visit this place is in monsoon season. Other than the monsoon season one can come to this village during the festive time of locals. The village ethnicity is dominated by Khasi people and two most famous festivals of them Behdienkhlam and Wangala can be the point of tourist attraction. The Khasi ethnic group have other facts which show the diversity in custom and culture. Khasi left behind the patriarchal society and promoted women empowerment. They take mothers surname and wealth is passed down to the youngest daughter of the family. The youngest daughter took their husband to their mothers house and got the privilege of staying with mother forever. 

Another most famous attraction of Mawlynnong is the living root bridge. The living root bridge was made by the roots of the Ficus Elastica tree around a framework and continuing the process for generations. The living root bridge is also declared as a UNESCO world heritage site. As this village is located at Indo-Bangladesh border so visitors can enjoy the View of Bangladesh’s landscape as well. 

FACTS ABOUT MAWLYNNONG:

 - Mawlynnong is not only the cleanest village in Asia, it is also a village with 100% literacy rate. 

 - Women empowerment scenario of this village is something that the whole world would dream of. 

 - All houses of this village have had a functional toilet since 2007.

 -Plastic bags are banned in this village.

 - Smoking is also prohibited in this place.

 - The village has dustbins made by bamboo all around the village. 

 - Villagers not only clean their house or their personal area, they also clean the roads.

 - Tree plantation became a part of their livelihood. 

Pictures clicked by: Piyali Saha. 

KASHMIR IS NO MORE INDIA’S WINTER WONDERLAND THIS JANUARY

         Valleys of Kashmir in this January 

Kashmir - paradise of scenic beauty and a piece of picture perfect land surrounded with valleys and mountains which reminds about Switzerland. Kashmir is famous for multiple reasons but the beauty of this area can not be overlooked. The creativity of God in making a piece of land shows the utmost potential in this hilly area considered as “Heaven on Earth”.

But this year Heaven on Earth is no longer a winter wonderland because of lack of snowfall. This is the very fast time Kashmir is facing this type of situation and environmental crisis. Till now there is not a single time when Kashmir witnessed a proper snowfall this year where last year they saw 4 to 5 inches of snow all over Kashmir. 

In the time when the valleys should look like covered through white velvet for snow all over around , the valleys are brown and barren. “No snow in Gulmarg” is breaking hearts of locals and as well as tourists, as we all know most of the local’s livelihood depends on tourism and tourism is getting affected by lack of snowfall. Winter is the most touristy season in Kashmir and the economy is dependent on tourism and it supports about 2000 people for their regular life and resources. There were 150 cancellations in January itself confirmed by a hotel manager from Srinagar. Along with that tourists are going back early as they are disappointed because there is no snow in the mountains. Locals are calling the winter landscape “desert” and it has a crushing effect on the tourism industry. 

This time Kashmir felt the record breaking temperature in winter season. Climate is changing globally but this area is most vulnerable towards climate change. Srinagar , capital of Kashmir recorded 15 degree celsius on Jan 13th which is highest in the last two decades. Pahalgam witnessed 14.1 degree celsius on 15th Jan which is another record breaking temperature. 

Every one other occupation related to tourism is badly affected this year. Clothing rental stores, ATV drivers, local transport owners, ice sledge owners all are suffering from this harsh climate change. And it's not only about facing problems in tourist season, they will face problems throughout the year for this lack of snowfall because it will cause regular use water shortage. 

It's high time to do  developmental activities in a more sustainable way. Many regions of the world are facing terrible ecological and environmental issues and this year it's prominent that climate change is the biggest threat for the world and for mankind right now. 

A tree with thousands memories

                      When a tree speaks 

Sometimes rather than people things , objects and other existing entities hold memories more concretely. Am from Kolkata , and there is a tree in my hometown. I consider that tree as an extended part of mine because that tree is not only a tree, that tree is a metaphor of happenings that took place in my life before leaving the city. The tree was with me always when I had nobody to talk to about how I feel when I was going through something. That tree saw every phase of my life. 

The tree was rooted beside a highway named Belghoria ExpressWay. There were a lot more trees along with it but I got attracted to that particular tree because I found a connection between me and that tree. The connection is , one day I was so upset due to some reason and I went to that place and started watching the tree and I noticed that the tree had not a single leaf at that time. Then it struck my mind that just like me , the tree is also not in its 100% today. After that whenever I came back to the tree I found something similar between us. With time the tree became part of me. The tree became one of my closest ones in my teenage years. 

Recently one of my closest teenage memory was taken from me and that is the tree. The tree is no longer there because as the tree was beside the high road the tree was cutted down for making the extension of the road. Not only that tree , a few more trees were cut down because of our development. And nowadays this is a common story that trees are cut down for development but this is exceptional because they not only cutted a tree they cut my teenage, brutally.

It is estimated that around 15 billion trees are cut down globally each year, which averages to approximately 41 million trees per day. These numbers can fluctuate based on a variety of environmental and economic factors. The study by the journal Nature estimated that nearly 42,000,000 trees are cut down daily. Most of the 90’s kids have some memories related to a tree as they have that opportunity to grow up in touch of nature. We all are paying the price with this ecological and environmental loss for our so-called development. Our childhood and teenage years are getting deprived from us.