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3/9/2015 PROCEEDINGS OF CONFERENCE NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON “Gender Equality through Women Empowerment in Cooperatives and Agriculture” held on 9th March at NCUI IFFCO FOUNDATION [PROCEEDINGS OF CONFERENCE] March 9, 2015 Conference on “Gender Equality through Women Empowerment in Cooperatives and Agriculture” held on 9th March at NCUI Conference Highlights IFFCO Foundation organized a Conference on “Gender Equality through Women Empowerment in Cooperatives and Agriculture” on the eve of International Women’s day. The theme of the conference was gender equality in cooperatives and agriculture as per the theme of International Women’s Day. Inaugural Session The Inaugural Session was graced by: Prof. Asha Kadyan, Vice-Chancellor, Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Viswavidyalaya, Dr R B Singh Chancellor, Central Agricultural University Dr. Nandini Azad, President, Indian Cooperative Network for Women Mr. J N L Srivastava, Managing Trustee, IFFCO Foundation Welcome Address by Mr. J N L Srivastava, Managing Trustee, IFFCO Foundation At the outset, Mr. Srivastava congratulated all participants on the occasion of International Women’s Day viz. 8th March. He mentioned that United Nations (UN) has taken Gender equality as the theme for 2015, and explained the significance of the same. He appreciated the parade by women soldiers on the occasion of Republic Day, 26th January. He emphasized the need for social, economic as well as cultural progress as a means to improve the status of women in India. He gave examples of SEWA, NDDB, Urban Cooperative Banks, Fishery Cooperative, Weaver Cooperative, Handloom Cooperative and Consumer cooperative in generating livelihoods for women. However, voices of women members have not reached the policy level. As per the 97th constitutional amendment envisaging reforms in the cooperative sector mandating a minimum of two women on management of each cooperative society in the cooperative act is an innovative step to build leadership capacity of women members. There are 6 lakhs cooperatives in the country which would have to induct two women directors in the board. In this context Mr. Srivastava highlighted the need for training women leaders to reach the target of 12 lakh women cooperators. 2 [PROCEEDINGS OF CONFERENCE] March 9, 2015 Key Note Address by Prof RB Singh, Chancellor Central Agriculture University Prof RB Singh highlighted the sluggish trajectory of women empowerment and reiterated the slogan of Planet 50-50 by 2030 given by UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo- Ngcuka. In 1995, at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, world leaders committed to a future where women are equal. The Earth Summit ’92 in Rio also called for partnership of women for sustainable development. The third goal of Millennium Development Goals promotes “Gender equality and Empowerment of women”. Despite global advocacy for gender equality status of women has not improved. The situation is more serious for India as it accounts for nearly 25% of the world’s hungry and poor, and 40% of the world’s undernourished children. The percentage of anemic children and women in India is quite high – while 79% of the children (6 months – 35 months) are anemic, 56% of married women (15 years – 49 years) are anemic. Not surprisingly, while India’s rank in the Human Development Index (HDI) is 82 out of nearly 200 countries, its rank in the Women Development Index (WDI) is 134. In India the first Global Conference on Women in Agriculture, 13-15 March, 2012 was organized to discuss empowerment of women and gender issues in agriculture. The conference culminated with twelve policy recommendations. There is a need to analyze interconnecting issues emerging from Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, 1995 and Global Conference on Women in Agriculture, 2012 in the form of a matrix which could provide tremendous way forward for gender equality. He also advocated for creation of a special fund for women in agriculture. Inaugural Address by Dr. Dr. Nandini Azad, President, Indian Cooperative Network for Women Dr Nandini Azad expressed concern at the cut of Rs 10,000 crore from the women and child development union budget and the reduction of Rs 8,000 crore from the health budget. She also expressed concern on the land ordinance which would further consolidate the discrimination faced by women farmers. She highlighted increasing feminization of agriculture but with little or no resources at hand. Only 20% of women across the world own land while sharing greater work load. In the context cooperatives can play an important role. Cooperatives can promote a more active role of women in management of agriculture produce, collective bargaining and active decision making. She appreciated IFFCO Foundations’ initiative of leadership development of women in cooperatives. The government is not acknowledging the role of cooperatives which is evident from the budget declaration. She lamented the fact there are no women members in the newly formed NITI Ayog (highest policy level institution of government). 3 [PROCEEDINGS OF CONFERENCE] March 9, 2015 She highlighted the gender and equity model of Indian Cooperative Network for Women whereby Women members manage 14 cooperatives and 200 businesses. The cooperative membership has grown to 2.5 lakh members, and has disbursed loan of Rs 300 crore with a track record of 99% repayment. The reason or success is creating an enabling and comfortable space for women, identification of beneficiary, and training of women members to rise to managerial positions within the cooperative. Chairperson’s Address by Dr. Asha Kadyan Vice-Chancellor, Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Viswavidyalaya Dr. Asha Kadyan began her speech by reciting the lines from the song “I am a Woman” written and composed by Helen Reddy. She argued that even though half of the population comprises of women and 76% of total work is done by women, the lot of women both economically and socially has not improved. She gave examples of exploitation of women in Haryana where women slog equally at farm and home but economic activity like marketing of produce is a man’s domain. She enlightened the audience about the contribution of Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Viswavidyalaya. Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya is the ‘dream come true’ of Bhagat Phool Singh Ji, who established a Gurukul for girls at Khanpur Kalan in 1936. Even after the demise of Bhagat Phool Singh, his equally dynamic daughter Subhashini Ji not only took control of Gurukul but worked vigorously in expanding the Gurukul in terms of its various constituent institutions like BPS Memorial Girls’ College (1967), BPS College of Education (1968), MSM Ayurvedic College (1973), BPS Mahila Polytechnic (1984), TIG Bhainswal Kalan(1999) and PSD Girls’ Law College (2003). There are 7000 students enrolled in varied courses. Most of the girl students come from Uttar Pradesh. The university is involved in community development and has adopted Khanpur village as part of community development program. Due to the efforts of University the literacy rate of Khanpur village is 74% more than the literacy rate of Haryana (67%). Technical Session – I (Gender Equality in the cooperative and agriculture sector) 4 [PROCEEDINGS OF CONFERENCE] March 9, 2015 Session Chairperson: Dr. Meena Kumari, DDG Fisheries Dr. Tabassum Jamal, NISTADS: Dr. Tabassum Jamal highlighted the role of skill development in economic empowerment of women. She focused on the skills related to agriculture and different government initiatives in agriculture sector. Status of Vocational Education at Primary Level in the Field of Agriculture: At present CBSE is offering 33 Vocational courses consisting of 97 subjects but only three vocational courses include 9 subjects are based on Agriculture. Table 1: Agriculture based Vocational courses by CBSE Sr. No. Vocational Courses/ Subjects 1 Horticulture a Vegetable Culture b Floriculture scheme by c Post Harvest Technology and Preservation Ministry of 2 Dairying Agriculture: a Milk and Milk Products For b Milk Production, Transport and Milk Cooperatives higher levels of c Dairy Plant Instrumentation 3 Poultry Farming a Poultry Nutrition & Physiology b Poultry Products Technology c Poultry Diseases & their control Source: CBSE website http://www.cbse.gov.in Flagship sustaining production, it is necessary to target new areas of food grain production, while promoting conservation agriculture in the high production areas, to maintain current levels of productivity. New technologies are needed to break yield barriers, utilize inputs more efficiently and diversify to more sustainable and higher value cropping patterns. Some of the major programmes of Department of Agriculture for filling skill gaps are Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India 5 [PROCEEDINGS OF CONFERENCE] March 9, 2015 (BGREI),Pulses and Oilseeds Villages in Rain fed areas, Saffron Mission in J&K, National Food Security Mission (NFSM) and National Horticulture Mission. Geeta Ben, SEWA Urban Cooperative T/C Society: Geeta Ben spoke about her experience with SEWA Delhi and formation of urban cooperative society in Delhi. After two years of agitation and struggle members of SEWA Delhi were able to register the cooperative in 2007.She highlighted the problems faced by women vendors which led to the agitation for the rights of vendors in Delhi resulting in street vendor bill which was passed in 2013. In her thirteen years of experience with SEWA she has learnt the importance of organization for political and social empowerment of women. Hameeda Ben, Mahila SEWA Urban Cooperative T/C Society ltd: Hameeda Ben highlighted the importance of women’s day celebration and laid stress on the gender sensitization approach of SEWA Delhi. SEWA Delhi organizes women workers and connects them to development programs so they are enabled to achieve full employment and self-reliance. SEWA Delhi has been able to organize poor women of Sunder Nagri and other areas of Delhi to form the cooperative society. SEWA urban cooperative t/c society has been able to successfully mobilize 13 crores of deposits from women. Dr. Firoza Banoo, Chairperson, Raj Laxmi Mahila Urban Cooperative Bank ltd: Dr. Firoza Banoo gave examples of women intellectuals from history like Gargi and said that women were empowered in ancient times. She highlighted international experience of Iran and Philippines where women have created large cooperative societies. She spoke about Raj Laxmi Mahila Urban Cooperative limited which has 500 women members. One of the women members of cooperative started a media group called Shaksham Media with a paltry loan of 50,000 Technical Session – II (Socio-Economic Empowerment of Women) Chairperson: Ms. Uma Prabhu, Trustee Manav Sadhan Vikas Sanstha 6 [PROCEEDINGS OF CONFERENCE] March 9, 2015 Dr. Navin Anand, UNDP Dr. Navin Anand gave successful examples of cooperative societies and self help groups in leveraging economic and social interests of women. He said that the challenge is to scale up such initiatives. He referred to affinity groups of MYRADA. MYRADA through its various programs reaches out to people in various districts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. While the objective is to help the poor help themselves, MYRADA achieves this by forming Self Help Affinity Groups (SAGs) and through partnerships with NGOs and other organizations. He gave examples of marketing linkages formed by self help groups. Shreekant Masale is the largest producer, processor and distributor of different kind of spices and pickles in Maharashtra. This group has a supply linkage with women organization called Chaitnya. He also highlighted the experience of Farmer Interest Group in Uttrakhand. He suggested that organization in the form of cooperative is beneficial than registration as society because as per the guideline of Reserve Bank of India cooperatives are allowed to mobilize savings which is not the case with societies. 7 [PROCEEDINGS OF CONFERENCE] March 9, 2015 Dr. Daman Prakash, Independent Consultant: Dr. Daman Prakash emphasized on organisation, opportunities/skill development and marketing channels for economic and social empowerment of women. IFFCO Foundation a public trust of IFFCO had organized a one day workshop in Delhi with the following objectives: To recognize significance f women’s day To take stock of existing situation of women engaged in cooperatives To identify further avenues for leadership development to empower women through cooperatives The conference concluded with the following recommendations; train at least 100 women leaders, solicit cooperation from various supporting sources, develop women leaders/trainers and prepare training material.As part of the recommendations IFFCO Foundation imparted leadership training to 168 women across India in 2014-15. The Foundation in partnership with NAFUB organised 2 training sessions in Meerut, UP, where 27 women leaders were present at the Regional Staff Training Institute at Pallavpuram and 74 women were present at Talai Gram Sewa Co-operative Society at Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh. IFFCO Foundation in partnership with NCDC and IFFDC also organized training of 29 women from Udaipur (Rajasthan) and Chinchwara (Madhya Pradesh). IFFCO Foundation organized two more training programs at New Delhi and Mumbai for training of 25 and 13 women members respectively in 2015. Audience Participation- Highlights The conference was conducted in a participatory method. Interaction between the participants and speakers was encouraged. The participants included women from various Self Help Groups from rural areas from Uttrakhand, Rajasthan and MP. The participants also included members of cooperatives and self help group who took part in the leadership training program organized by IFFCO Foundation. Concluding Session Mrs. Uma Prabhu concluded the conference by emphasizing the role of women in gender equality through putting an end to discrimination faced by girl child in the society starting from the family. 8 [PROCEEDINGS OF CONFERENCE] March 9, 2015 Mr. J N L Srivastava, Managing Trustee, IFFCO Foundation concluded the Conference by emphasizing that the cooperative sector should play an active role in women empowerment. He mentioned that the proceedings and recommendations of the Conference shall be circulated to relevant stakeholders. Summary of Recommendations: There are 6 lakhs cooperatives in the country which would have to induct two women directors in the board. In this context there is a need for training women leaders to reach the target of 12 lakh women leaders for 6 lakh cooperatives. Analyze interconnecting issues emerging from Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, 1995 and Global Conference on Women in Agriculture, 2012 in the form of a matrix which could provide tremendous way forward for gender equality. Advocacy for creation of a special fund for women in agriculture. The gender and equity model of Indian Cooperative Network for Women may be applicable for other cooperatives with the objective of creating an enabling and comfortable space for women, identification of beneficiary, and training of women members to rise to managerial positions within the cooperative. Organization in the form of cooperative is beneficial than registration as society because as per the guideline of Reserve Bank of India cooperatives are allowed to mobilize savings which is not the case with societies. In the context of feminization of agriculture women farmers may take advantage of the schemes of Ministry of Agriculture. Some of the major programmes of Department of Agriculture for filling skill gaps are Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI), Pulses and Oilseeds Villages in Rain fed areas, Saffron Mission in J&K, National Food Security Mission (NFSM) and National Horticulture Mission may target women farmers for skill development 9