For 75 years it has helped women, particularly those from the economically weaker sections of the society, stand on their own feet and mange their lives.
For 75 years it has helped women, particularly those from the economically weaker sections of the society, stand on their own feet and mange their lives. It began as a means to provide women, who came out of their homes to join the Satyagraha moment, social acceptance.
Since its inception in 1934, the Jyoti Sangh, founded by Mridula Sarabhai, has lit up lives. It came into existence after Mahatma Gandhi called for an organisation run by women and for women. But over the years, its efforts have been limited to certain areas.
It was during the Satyagraha that women started joining the Independence movement. But the problems faced by them while stepping out of their homes were what prompted Sarabhai to come up with the idea.
The aim was to rescue women and assure them social respect and economic independence through training and skill development. People associated with the Jyoti Sangh say that its stagnation came about because of varied reasons, including a lack of effective leadership.
Earlier, female leaders like Sarabhai, Padma Jaykrishnan and Charumati Yoddha steered the organisation in new directions. Some believe that restricted financial help from the state government meant that the organisation could not come up with new programmes to help women.
The Jyoti Sangh is seen as a pioneer in its Rahat Kendra, better known as counselling centres, for family disputes. It runs small-scale projects such as training women in thepla and pickle making, craft making, stitching classes, coaching classes for senior citizens, among other things. Lately, it has been known for its project with sex workers to spread awareness about HIV/Aids.
“The main reason why we see the organisation heading towards stagnation is because of their numerous projects; only three have been successful. These include counselling centres, a school for mentally challenged girl children and a project to spread awareness about HIV/Aids among sex workers,” said former activist with the Jyoti Sangh, Gaurang Jani.
Jani said that the Jyoti Sangh executive members preferred the simplicity tag and did not change the way they worked to accommodate changing circumstances. “They failed to raise significant issues and make it part of their mission to help women. The Jyoti Sangh has restricted itself to limited issues. If we do not want to say that it is dying, we can certainly say that it has weakened because of absent leadership,” he said.
However, Bharti Gandhi, current president of Jyoti Sangh believes that its projects have been effective. “To expand our service, we have come up with a branch at Wadaj.
Around 700 women learn stitching, embroidery and dress designing there. Currently we are working on a mega project with sex workers; around 4000 of them are associated with us,” said Gandhi. She said the project aims to bring behavioural change in sex workers “We give them an opportunity to learn activities so that they can have their own source of income,” she said.
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