Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sangathan

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Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sangathan
AbbreviationKAMS
PredecessorAdivasi Mahila Sangathan
FounderCommunist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War
Dissolvedn/a
TypeVoluntary association
Legal statusBanned
PurposeTo fight against the exploitation, oppression and atrocities faced by women
Parent organization
Communist Party of India (Maoist)[1][2]
Volunteers
90,000 – 100,000

Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sangathan (English: Revolutionary

Maoists in 1986.[6]

Aims and objectives

The count of the KAMS's registered members is about 90,000,[7] which ranks it amongst the top-most women's organisations in India when it comes to numbers of registered members.[6] But, Rahul Pandita, in 2011, claimed that the members of the KAMS are estimated to number around 100,000.[3]

The KAMS concentrates on addressing various social issues faced by the women. The members of the KAMS crusades against the evil practises against women in the society like abducting the women and forcing them to marry against their will,

patriarchal mentality within their communities.[8] In Dandakaranya, the adivasi men did not permit the women to sow seeds in the fields, but when the members of the KAMS approached the Communist Party of India (Maoist), the party held meetings (with the adivasis) to address the issue. While during the meets, the adivasi men have accepted their mistake and decided to refrain for such activities, they are yet to bring their resolution to practise. However, the CPI (Maoist) have ensured that the women are allowed to sow seed, raise vegetables, and construct check dams "on common lands, which belongs to the Jantana Sarkar"[6] (people's government).[9]

In Bastar, the KAMS members have rallied with hundreds in numbers to highlight the atrocities by the police, and a few times the attendance figure have been in thousands to "physically confront" the police.[6]

Arundhati Roy writes,

"The very fact that the KAMS exists has radically changed traditional attitudes and eased many of the traditional forms of discrimination against women."[6]

The organisation's members also addresses problems like

forced migration and other political issues as well.[10] Roy says that the KAMS has also been opposing mining in the Dandakaranya region.[8]

Alleged atrocities by Salwa Judum

A senior worker from the KAMS told Arundhati Roy that after facing "bestial sexual mutilation" and getting raped by the Salwa Judum members, several of the organisation's members have left the KAMS and joined the CPI (Maoist). A number of girls, who were not the members of the KAMS but witnessed the atrocities upon the KAMS members by the Salwa Judum members, have also joined the Maoists.[6]

Legal status

The KAMS was reported to be a frontal organisation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War, and was thus banned.[11] Arundhati Roy says that the Government of India can "wipe out" all the 90,000 members of the organisation, any time.[10] She writes,

"I went with a very firm prejudice. That in an armed struggle, women were at the receiving end of violence. But I was disabused. I saw 48 percent of the guerrillas were women. They had come after watching their mothers and sisters being raped, houses burnt down, or to escape the patriarchy of their own society. The Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sangathan (a women’s organization in Chhattisgarh state) has 90,000 members and is probably the biggest feminist movement in India. But they are all called terrorists and are liable to be shot on sight."[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ Sundar, Nandini. "The Immoral Economy of Counter Insurgency in India" (PDF). Yale University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 January 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  2. ^ "Subalterns and Sovereigns" (PDF). University of California, Berkeley. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  3. ^
    OCLC 754482226.[permanent dead link
    ]
  4. ^ Sen, Shoma (3 November 2010). "Contemporary anti-displacement struggles and women's resistance: a commentary". Sanhati. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  5. ISBN 978-8184754841
    .
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Roy, Arundhati (27 March 2010). "Gandhi, but with guns: Part Four". The Guardian — Books. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  7. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  8. ^ a b Roy, Arundhati (26 March 2012). "Capitalism: A Ghost Story". Outlook. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  9. ^ Roy, Arundhati (27 March 2010). "Gandhi, but with guns: Part Two". The Guardian — Books. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
  10. ^ a b "Institutions of democracy weak". The Hindu. Kochi. 5 February 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  11. ^ "New guerrilla squad emerges in Madhya Pradesh". The Hindu. Bhopal. 18 August 2005. Archived from the original on 14 November 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  12. ^ Sarkar, Sudeshna (2011). "Girl who kicked the hornet's nest". China Daily (Asia Weekly). Retrieved 9 September 2013.
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