There is no better friend than a Mithanin

They are the true friends of the state?s tribal population, especially the women and children. Thanks to their efforts, thousands of poor children get nutritious meals and a good education, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Published on: Jan 22, 2007, 02:18:00 IST

None | By Chetan Chauhan, Manendergarh (Chhattisgarh)

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They are the true friends of the state’s tribal population, especially the women and children. Thanks to their efforts, thousands of poor children get nutritious meals and a good education.

Mithanin, a women’s empowerment initiative, has given tribal mothers the power to ensure their children get a good start in life. Mithanin, which means friend, was started in 2003, primarily to monitor health services. It now boasts of a 60,000-strong group that oversees the implementation of most government schemes and gives feedback to the administration.

What makes the Mithanins special is that they not only set examples for others but are examples themselves of how women can overcome hardships and become empowered. Most of them face resistance — from their husbands, panchayats, administration. “They asked us what we women could do. We told them we could fight for our rights and for those of our children,” says Ram Bhai of Roka village.

Since they chose to fight back, the children now get to eat nutritious food and regular teachers at school. “If we bunk, they complain to the officials against us,” says S. Gupta, the sole teacher in the school in Roka.

Like most people who do good, the Mithanins get little support by way of money. They take money on a monthly interest of 15 per cent to buy food for the mid-day meals. “We have not got any money from the government for the last three months,” says Ram Bhai. District officials, however, blame the delay in disbursement on the block-level administration.

A regular day in the life of a Mithanin starts with an inspection of the anganwadi centres, where they ensure the dalia is properly prepared for the mid-day meal. Next, they visit primary schools and health centres. If they find problems, they prepare a report card and discuss the issue with other women. “We first try to correct the mistakes by involving the staff in schools or dispensaries. If that does not work, we send our report to the collector,” says Ram Bai.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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