Kishori dals or girls’ collective that began in Odisha village is helping ensure girls’ rights
The Kishori dala of 17 adolescent girls from Ankula Padar village in Odisha is raising its voice against not being allowed to step outside on their own, discrimination in food allocation at their homes to early marriage and pursuing education. Photo: K Nitin Chowdary On November 12, 2023, a pleasant December morning, a group of 17 adolescent girls from Ankul Padar village in Odisha’s Rayagada district walked for 5 kilometres to a nearby village. As they set out on their mission, they felt both excited and anxious.
The girls, from Kondh tribal community, were going to participate in a block level cricket match for the first time, and that too in front of an audience. The audience also included their family members — convincing whom to allow them to play any sport had been a challenge for the girls.
The rival all-girls team was from the village hosting the match, while the girls from Ankul Padar were the organisers. While the latter lost the match that day, they won something far more precious: A fight against discriminatory societal norms restricting their freedom.
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“When we played that day, it felt like a big achievement. Cricket, or any sport in our village, is understood to be a boy’s game. We could have never thought that we could hold a cricket bat, let alone play in front of an audience, or even travel alone outside the village. When we started convincing our parents, it didn’t seem like it could happen. But we stayed determined,” said 19-year-old Tulasi Kutraka.
The determination to constructively challenge established norms arose when the girls united and established a collective comprising all 17 members, ranging from ages 10 to 19, in the village in 2022.
From raising their voice against not being allowed to step outside on their own, discrimination in food allocation at their homes to early marriage and pursuing education, the girls have understood the importance of a collective, which they call ‘kishori dala’ (girls’ collective) in their language.
On January 26, 2024, the group went to the Gram Sabha office and gave an application to the village sarpanch for toilets at the household level and bathing rooms at the community level. There are toilets in the houses, but they lack water connections and thus remain unused.
“Going to the Gram Sabha was a novel thing. Girls are not known to participate in the meetings or discussions,” said 16-year-old Mamita Hikoka.
Didn’t they fear the backlash? “No,” came the reply in unison. “Because we were together.”
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“We have understood a basic thing: If we fight these battles on our own, it won’t bring many results, but approaching these issues together as one team will certainly give us more strength and the village will have to think about our demands,” said 19-year-old Sushanti Toika.
The change is slow and sometimes not what they want, but it’s happening.
Just last month, 16-year-old Jhili Kadraka’s father accepted a marriage proposal for her. She refused, but he was adamant. Kadraka decided to approach the kishori dala. The rest of the 16 girls, along with Kadraka, then reached her home and talked to the parents about the perils of marrying her at such a young age and the difficulties she could face ahead.
The father agreed and postponed the marriage for now. But how did they have this awareness of early marriage being a social evil?
Twice every month, the girls sit together and delve into these issues, once with a social worker from Living Farms, a voluntary organisation working in Odisha’s Rayagada district with indigenous and forest dwelling communities on food security and natural resources, and another time amongst themselves.
“In these meetings, there were discussions on the kinds of physical and psychological problems girls face if married as adolescents. We argued with the same points in front of elders,” said Kutruka.
The idea of a collective among the girls was in fact sown during such mobilisation meetings, where discussions happen through participatory learning and action. “It’s not like a lecture but more like girls doing different activities like picture cards, songs and stories. These activities help to also develop their leadership ability,” said Bichitra Biswal, senior programme manager, Living Farms.
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In the last two months, some 7-8 families have postponed underage marriages in 20 villages in Bissam Cuttack block of Rayagada district. All these villages have witnessed the formation of kishori dala.
One of the biggest takeaways from these meetings is how they are identifying different forms of gender discrimination and evolving their thoughts on unfair practices prevalent at their homes or in society that they earlier thought were “normal”.
Many said they have always wanted to play sports like kabbadi and cricket whenever they used to see their brothers or other boys in the village playing.
The girls of Ankul Padar in yellow uniforms at the block-level cricket match for the first time. Photo: Living Farms
The girls were not even allowed to roam outside, without any male member accompanying them, and that too was not far. So it didn’t occur to them to ask for participation in any sport.
“We generally do more work than our brothers, eat last at our homes and many times, not much food is left for us. Since we were children, we saw this happening and thought it was normal. After going through gender modules in these meetings, we could identify these forms of discrimination,” said Kadrika.
The fight is not easy. When Toika complained at her home about having to eat last and not being given equal food, she was met with a fierce “ladki hoke itni zor se kyun bol rahi hai” (why are you talking so loudly being a girl) from her mother.
But definitely, some change has taken root. In a few homes, the girls’ brothers have started noticing their resistance and standing up for them. In other cases, if there is only one egg, it is cut into pieces for the siblings.
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The initiative is also helping them keep track of and access different government schemes and entitlements available for adolescent girls.
For example, the group has started taking their iron tablets together to make sure that no one misses them.
Education is another crucial topic of interest among the girls. Minnati Pidikaka (15) dropped out of school in class five after the death of her father and started helping the family with agriculture work. Last year, she put forward her interest in starting studies again amongst the group. The group approached the mother and the village school headmaster.
She is now enrolled in Class VIII in the upcoming academic season. Another girl wants to join a computer class and her father has now agreed to it for next year, after he can arrange some money.
“It’s difficult, but at least the elders are listening to us. There are times when we don’t succeed, but we don’t feel bad. We think if we keep pursuing this, change will certainly come,” said Kutraka.
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