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Women's empowerment by the colour

SDas08_GulabiGang__66.jpg

My name is Banhari Devi and I am 42 years old. I am unemployed. I have no money, and I rely on my son to bring the money every evening so we can cook our meal everyday. Sampat Devi came to my rescue, she is like a messiah, always looking after the poor. She struggled for me and got me the red card (Below Poverty Line Card). I fall under a category of families below the poverty line and the card entitles me to cheap rice and wheat from the public distribution system. I joined the gang 6 months back and since then I feel self confident and stronger. There have been instances when we went on a gulabi gang mission and the authorities threatened us but being a cumulative group gives us the confidence that we can fight injustice. When I joined the gang, Sampat Pal gave us an introduction to what the motives of the gang were and we were trained in street plays and lathi (Indian traditional stick) fight. The basic concept of the fight is more to defend than to attack. We are not a violent lot, but if you challenge us - we are vicious. We follow the peaceful agitations first but if things don't work, we resort to lathi fight. ..Being in the gang has changed my life, and I plan to be with the gang till I die.
Copyright
Sanjit Das
Image Size
2912x4368 / 2.9MB
My name is Banhari Devi and I am 42 years old. I am unemployed. I have no money, and I rely on my son to bring the money every evening so we can cook our meal everyday. Sampat Devi came to my rescue, she is like a messiah, always looking after the poor. She struggled for me and got me the red card (Below Poverty Line Card). I fall under a category of families below the poverty line and the card entitles me to cheap rice and wheat from the public distribution system.  I joined the gang 6 months back and since then I feel self confident and stronger. There have been instances when we went on a gulabi gang mission and the authorities threatened us but being a cumulative group gives us the confidence that we can fight injustice. When I joined the gang, Sampat Pal gave us an introduction to what the motives of the gang were and we were trained in street plays and lathi (Indian traditional stick) fight. The basic concept of the fight is more to defend than to attack. We are not a violent lot, but if you challenge us - we are vicious. We follow the peaceful agitations first but if things don't work, we resort to lathi fight. ..Being in the gang has changed my life, and I plan to be with the gang till I die.