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India
For Tripura's Tribal Women Leaders People Come First
Ninglun Hanghal

It's not often that one gets to hear about resounding success stories of women's grassroots leadership from Tripura, a small hill state in the northeast. While exceptional panchayat women from other parts of the country have been routinely making headlines not many are aware that there are several tribal women leaders in Tripura, who have been quietly doing committed work within their communities for many years now. Meet Sandhya Rani Chakma, Sabitri Debbarma and Madhumati Debbarma, the only female members of the Tripura Tribal Autonomous District Council that independently administers the tribal areas of the state. While the trio's dedication towards the welfare and rights of their people got them elected to the governing body, today central to their agenda are issues like provision of healthcare in remote rural areas, livelihood generation and, yes, demanding reservation to boost women's political participation.

'If women are given greater support many more will come forward to contest elections. As women leaders this has been a constant demand from our end. We are always trying to ensure more nominations for women.'

[Photographs Available]

 WFS Ref: INDM605H 1140 words


India
Why Do Men Keep Us Out Of Politics, Asks Divya
Senthalir S.

Patriarchy undergirds every sphere of society and political movements are no exception. Take the case of 23-year-old Divya G.K. of the Students' Struggle Committee for Tamil Eezham (Tamil Eezhathirkana Maanavar Pooratta Kuzhu). She played a key role in leading the recent students' struggle in Tamil Nadu in support of Tamil Eezham in Sri Lanka - an issue that was hitherto always articulated by men. Divya quickly grabbed media attention with her eloquent speeches but her rise on the political horizon did not go down well with many male-centred political groups. Soon she was facing sexist remarks, hate campaigns in social networking sites and bulk emails decrying her. In this piece, Divya speaks about her experiences as a young political activist in Tamil Nadu.

“Families easily allow a boy to take part in a protest but not the girls.”

[Photographs Available]

 WFS Ref: INDM606 1000 words


India
Travel Unlimited: Clubs That Get Women To Pack Their Bags
Azera Parveen Rahman

“Sign me up!”says one woman. “I want to be a part of this, too,”states another. These remarks are from the Facebook page of a travel club, and there are hundreds of comments of enthusiastic women vying with each other to let their hair down and go on a holiday to some place exotic and unexplored – alone. Welcome to women-only travel clubs of India, institutions that allow groups of like-minded strangers to get together for a holiday, knowing that their safety and comfort is guaranteed. Kind of like a dream-come-true? Yes, and judging by the flood of responses from travellers and potential travellers that they elicit in websites and social media pages, they are hot favourites as well. Many of those who sign on had always wanted to travel but could not, either because the schedules of family members and friends did not quite permit them to take wing or because they were hesitant to travel alone for safety considerations.

“I have always enjoyed travelling, and have been doing so on my own since I was 16 when I went to South America. What I noticed was that while there were foreigners travelling on their own, there were hardly any Indian women doing so.”

[Photographs Available]

 WFS Ref: INDM608 1250 words
 
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