2009-02-24

PRESENTATION: Gulabi Gang

Gulabi Gang
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7068875.stm

The Gulabi Gang is a group of Indian women and their allies who fights for women's rights, specifically in rural regions in India. They are using force and strength to combat a systematic oppression of women and impoverished individuals, forcing communities and government officials to value all people. The group works outside the traditional system of NGOs and government programs/police because they feel that taking the law into their own hands is more effective.

From the BBC article above:
"
The pink women of Banda shun political parties and NGOs because, in the words of their feisty leader, Sampat Pal Devi, "they are always looking for kickbacks when they offer to fund us".

Two years after they gave themselves a name and an attire, the women in pink have thrashed men who have abandoned or beaten their wives and unearthed corruption in the distribution of grain to the poor.

They have also stormed a police station and attacked a policeman after they took in an untouchable man and refused to register a case.

'Nobody comes to our help in these parts. The officials and the police are corrupt and anti-poor. So sometimes we have to take the law in our hands. At other times, we prefer to shame the wrongdoers,' says Sampat Pal Devi, between teaching a 'gang' member on how to use a lathi (traditional Indian stick) in self defence.

...

Sampat Pal Devi is a wiry woman, wife of an ice cream vendor, mother of five children, and a former government health worker who set up and leads the "pink gang".

'Mind you,' she says, 'we are not a gang in the usual sense of the term. We are a gang for justice.'

"

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