India's 11 Ordinary People with Extraordinary Tales
Kapila Vankar
With family of 12 members, Kapila Vankar could only hope for a miracle to change her life. Working in the fields and tobacco factory, affected her health. At the factory she was paid Rs 7 a day which is half the prescribed minimum wage. The miracle finally happened when Vankar joined the Self Employed Women's Association (Sewa). In 1997, she was part of the protest against the meager wages at the tobacco factory. She said, “My family was offered Rs1lakh to back off, but we didn't." Eventually the owner cleared workers' dues. Now she is taking lead in many of the village issues like, building storm-water drains, building pucca houses, etc. Being elected the president of Sewa in 2011, she has met Hillary Clinton, travelled to Washington and New York so far.
Baluben Makwana
Baluben Makwana worked a lifetime on other people’s fields but now she is a farmer with her own farm. In 1990s, Navsarjan Trust identified 100 acres of government land near the Vautha village in Ahmedabad being cultivated illegally by the upper class villagers. The land lease was cleared by the trust for the landless dalits. The trust in 2009 helped Baluben to set up a micro-credit group of 51 women and procured the required permissions to start farming on the land. She said, “We earned more than Rs 5 lakh last year and reinvested the money in the fields,” as reported by TNN. Now she is the head of a group of dalit women farmers, called Jai Bhim Mahila Kheti Mandali.
