Leaders of the Self Employed Women's Association, known as SEWA, say the
fundamentalist Hindu government of Gujarat in northwest India began raising
charges of incompetence and financial irregularities 15 months ago, after
SEWA rejected demands for bribes and kickbacks and for an end to services to
Muslims.
In a Dec. 26 written response to questions, the Gujarat government called
SEWA's account "baseless" and "part of its pre-emptive strategy to sidestep
the main issues and divert attention of public and media from its poor
performance and financial irregularities."
With 720,000 members, nearly all impoverished rural women, SEWA has been
doggedly non-partisan since its founding in 1972, when activist Ela R. Bhatt
helped organize Ahmedabad female cart-pullers into a trade union. It adopted
Mahatma Gandhi's goals of nonviolent struggle for rights and development,
accepting women from every social level, Bhatt said in an interview.
Nancy Barry, president of Women's World Banking, a global network of
microfinance institutions and banks based in New York, said SEWA was
renowned for including Muslims, Hindus and minorities in its programs.
"The Muslim community is almost by definition poor in India," she said. "But
SEWA's mission is not politics; it's social change."
SEWA, now an estimated 40 percent Muslim and minorities in a country where
Hinduism is the predominant religion, first used tiny membership fees to set
up training, microfinancing and loans, self-education groups and handicraft
production and sales. As it grew, it provided members with insurance, health
care, child care and legal aid.
SEWA members in seven Indian states now earn income providing these services
and train one another in more than 100 cooperative ventures. Support from
international foundations and multilateral agencies is channeled to SEWA
through contracts with India's central and state governments like Gujarat's.
contd..
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2610/context/archive
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