Mumbai, June 24 In city to release series of films on ‘food sovereignty’, Dalit and peasant women film-makers advise cotton farmers to move to food crops
A group of poor, uneducated Dalit women from Pastapur, a small village in Andhra Pradesh, is in the city with a piece of advice for Vidarbha’s farmers: Form communities, shift to food crops and stay strong, not just to survive, but also to live with dignity.
All peasants, these women know a thing or two about living with heads held high. For they are now in the city as filmmakers, here to release a series of films on “food sovereignty” in south India.
“The reason Vidarbha’s farmers are forced to commit suicide is because they have nothing with them. They worked on a crop not suiting their eco-system, they don’t have seeds of their own, even manure is procured from the market, labour is hired, their own lands are leased out,” said Holigeri Chandraumma (62), speaking in Telugu. “They need community support. Those farmers not cultivating cotton should encourage others to go back to food crops and be self-sufficient in terms of own nutrition as well as earning good money,” added Chandramma who, along with 5,000 other Dalit women of the Deccan Development Society (DDS) from 75 villages of Medak District in Andhra Pradesh, is actively involved in capturing issues related to agriculture on camera.
The message comes from lessons learnt the hard way. “Just when things were going right with our millet crop, the N T Rama Rao government introduced rice at Rs 2 in the public distribution system. Not just the landlords, even the daily wage earners making Rs 25 per day got their ration for the whole month. This not just affected the nutrition of the family members as dietary patterns changed but also the cultivating patterns. People became apathetic towards farming, since rice was easily available,” recalls P V Satheesh, director of the DDS.
In 2001, after a few Dalit women from the group were selected to undergo training in media, the Community Media Trust came into existence. Since then, the trust has been working on farmers’ issues and their rights.
Today, the trust has 10 cameras plus editing equipment. Many of their videos have had great impact not just on society but also forced governments to act. One such instance was the ban on BT Cotton by the state government. “Our five years of extensive research captured on film paved the way to a ban on BT Cotton by the AP government,” said Hasangari Narsamma (35). All the women were trained extensively for eight months, to shoot as well as to edit.
Cameras in tow, they have come a long way from village roads to global highways, acting both as peasant representatives as well as media personnel. Their films are not just shown in international and national film festivals but are also an integral part of biodiversity conferences in London, having been dubbed in French, German and Spanish.
“The camera can only record, but at the fundamental level, it is the issue of food driving us,” said Chandramma.
“A big hurdle was that we were all victims of untouchability, but the camera lifted us from untouchability. We requested one of the upper caste landlords to allow us to shoot the way they celebrate Dasera. We were not just allowed into their houses but also into their house temples,” said Begari Laxmi (40), who says her camera is no different to her from her sickle
A group of poor, uneducated Dalit women from Pastapur, a small village in Andhra Pradesh, is in the city with a piece of advice for Vidarbha’s farmers: Form communities, shift to food crops and stay strong, not just to survive, but also to live with dignity.
All peasants, these women know a thing or two about living with heads held high. For they are now in the city as filmmakers, here to release a series of films on “food sovereignty” in south India.
“The reason Vidarbha’s farmers are forced to commit suicide is because they have nothing with them. They worked on a crop not suiting their eco-system, they don’t have seeds of their own, even manure is procured from the market, labour is hired, their own lands are leased out,” said Holigeri Chandraumma (62), speaking in Telugu. “They need community support. Those farmers not cultivating cotton should encourage others to go back to food crops and be self-sufficient in terms of own nutrition as well as earning good money,” added Chandramma who, along with 5,000 other Dalit women of the Deccan Development Society (DDS) from 75 villages of Medak District in Andhra Pradesh, is actively involved in capturing issues related to agriculture on camera.
The message comes from lessons learnt the hard way. “Just when things were going right with our millet crop, the N T Rama Rao government introduced rice at Rs 2 in the public distribution system. Not just the landlords, even the daily wage earners making Rs 25 per day got their ration for the whole month. This not just affected the nutrition of the family members as dietary patterns changed but also the cultivating patterns. People became apathetic towards farming, since rice was easily available,” recalls P V Satheesh, director of the DDS.
In 2001, after a few Dalit women from the group were selected to undergo training in media, the Community Media Trust came into existence. Since then, the trust has been working on farmers’ issues and their rights.
Today, the trust has 10 cameras plus editing equipment. Many of their videos have had great impact not just on society but also forced governments to act. One such instance was the ban on BT Cotton by the state government. “Our five years of extensive research captured on film paved the way to a ban on BT Cotton by the AP government,” said Hasangari Narsamma (35). All the women were trained extensively for eight months, to shoot as well as to edit.
Cameras in tow, they have come a long way from village roads to global highways, acting both as peasant representatives as well as media personnel. Their films are not just shown in international and national film festivals but are also an integral part of biodiversity conferences in London, having been dubbed in French, German and Spanish.
“The camera can only record, but at the fundamental level, it is the issue of food driving us,” said Chandramma.
“A big hurdle was that we were all victims of untouchability, but the camera lifted us from untouchability. We requested one of the upper caste landlords to allow us to shoot the way they celebrate Dasera. We were not just allowed into their houses but also into their house temples,” said Begari Laxmi (40), who says her camera is no different to her from her sickle
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