Navnirman Trust (Jagrutha Mahila Sanghatan)

JMS is a Dalit woman agricultural labourer’s collective and is located in Potnal village of Manvi Taluka in Raichur district of the South Indian state Read more of Karnataka. The process of organising Dalit women started in the year 1999 and was facilitated by a group of youngsters from different parts of the country who were inspired by the Narmada Bachao Andolan, National Alliance of People’s Movements, and other social movements for social justice and equitable development. The team consisted of E. Premdas Pinto, Mita Deshpande, Neju George, Varghese Koshy and the local Dalit youth consisting of Devaputhra, Chauramma, Narasappa and later Chaurappa and Ratnamma. The process of JMS included the following:  Large scale mobilisation in 25-gram panchayats covering about 65 villages  Community organisation of Dalit women in each village  Capacity building of women to respond to situations of exploitation: Series of pieces of training on patriarchy, caste-class analysis, reflection on the structural causes of poverty, ownership of resources, land wage etcetera were conducted.  Demonstration of collective power against exploitation  Creative Initiatives for livelihood opportunities, rejuvenation of land and work on natural resources feeding into the process of economic and social empowerment The Framework: The framework of the community organising and mobilising was two-fold: Sangharsh and Navamirman. Sangharsh is the struggle for rights, self-respect and taking courage to voice out against injustice and Navanirman is creative efforts to build life, livelihoods and harmonious community.