Getting Social

Ela Bhatt, a lawyer by training, has struggled all her life to ensure working women in the informal sector were not discriminated against by the state and its laws. She is happy that her efforts have made the state bring in better policies and helped working women lead a better life. Extracts from an interview with MoneyQuin. Read on..

MoneyQuin: How have Indian women changed over the years since you started SEWA? Is the change limited to only a section of middle-class women or has it spread to the women represented by SEWA?

Ela Bhatt: In my early days with TLA (Textile Labour Association), I was picking up legal cases in the industry and medical department of the union. But then I saw these are all formal sector workers working and protected under specific employer employee relationship. They were covered by labour laws and had access to social security in their own right. While during those years I observed that there are so many classes of economically active workers who are not covered by any of these laws. When I saw the figure, in ’72, they were 89 pc of the total workforce of India and today it is about 93.7 per cent, according to the planning commission. It also means that the formal sector has been shrinking.

These are home-based workers, petty vendors, hawkers, small traders and then there are agriculture and construction labourers, rag pickers. This is the membership of SEWA. SEWA is the primary labour union in the country. It’s a combination of struggle and development.

MQ: What prompted you to set up SEWA? What is the impact you and your organisations have had on women, policies and society in general?

Bhatt: I saw injustice. Those who work, those who contribute to national income and GDP, they remain invisible. Now there are legislations like the social security Act of the unorganised workers. It has been such a long struggle for us to bring this change.

MQ: Tell us about SEWA’s early days. Where was it stationed? How many people were there?

Bhatt: We started in a small way as part of the women’s wing of the Textile Labour Union. Then we grew and today we are 12.5 lakhs membership. In ’72, it was a union. In ’74, we started the bank. Started with a capital of Rs 5 lakh and membership of six thousand. I have always wanted to be in the mainstream. I always wanted it to be an NGO, a very beautiful organisation. That is why we preserved the form of union and cooperative bank because it is owned by the members.

MQ: What were the challenges in bringing together women especially from the strata that SEWA was targeting as its strategy?

Bhatt: In the beginning it was very difficult. The challenge was from the other side of the table. When we wanted to register as the trade union, they wouldn’t do it asking questions like, “Where is the employer?” Then we had to face questions like, “How can you have a cooperative bank for those who are illiterate, they are slum-dwellers, they don’t have permanent address, they will not repay the money?” But fortunately, banks were nationalised that time and there was pressure from the centre to approach small workers. This did help us. Now even today there is a conceptual block. If it’s a trade union then there has to be an employer-employee. So it has been a long tough struggle to convince those mindsets.

Also in the beginning there was some problem in getting members together. They had never been members of anything outside their own community. For them, of course, it has been a long struggle to first leave their kitchen and come outside their house, and then outside their little downtown market where they worked or the fields from where they worked. They had to attend meetings, to take part in different struggles and then form a cooperative and elect a committee and then somebody to chair it. All these processes have been a challenge. On the other side, they didn’t like them. If they went to regular banks they were not welcome. Also, there has been a constant threat from local touts and contractors. Because they don’t like as these people gain more bargaining power. Then they create all kinds of issues.

MQ: It’s not been an easy journey. Tell us what keeps you going, despite difficulties?

Bhatt: I am a product of those days when our country was fighting for freedom. When I came to college, we had already gained independence. So we had to rebuild a nation. My generation students were all filled with idealism. And there was no confusion in mind because we had to rebuild the nation. Gandhiji had shown the way. Our teachers also asked us to go to villages and work with them. So the spirit was, “This is the dharma and this is what we have to do.”

MQ: Tell us about your own life, your family. A life outside SEWA...

Bhatt: I’m 76...so...(laughs). Well, I am yet to be fortunate to have a weekend. But for work I travel a lot and that is good. I travel to the interiors as well as abroad.

MQ: Do you watch movies? Which is your favourite movie?

Bhatt: Not too many. But yes recently I watched this movie which I really liked. It’s called ‘Well Done Abba.’

MQ: How important has money been for you? Did you ever feel u dint have enough?

Bhatt: No, I never felt that way. I have been fortunate. First my husband and then now my son have made me comfortable. I have never earned a single penny in my life except the awards and the award money I have always given to SEWA. My needs are not that many.

MQ: There are several youngsters who are by choice stepping in the field of social service or development. Are you encouraged by their participation?

Bhatt: I’m quite encouraged by the freshness of the young people. And what I like is that young people are totally disillusioned. I like it because the present system has failed in terms of climate change and development. It has almost failed and we see the consequences of it with the society being corrupt. Young people have understood this. One thing I would want to tell the youngsters is that always try to think in a holistic way. Whatever activity you do, short term or long term, apart from thinking how it affects you, think how it affects everything around you. Then you will be more responsible. Think in a correlated way.

MQ: Do you think the world of non-profit has become a bit too professional--or many people in this field too are chasing money. Is it a cause of concern for you?

Bhatt: I think profit is not bad. In our language we call it surplus. You have to be self- sufficient to sustain. So you have to make profit. That way then surplus is necessary. The point is that where does that surplus go. Does it go into fancy expenses and into bribing government officials or to live a lavish life. Or whether it goes back to the clients, the customers, to the community, to the people you serve, to the industry.