Nandini Voice for the Deprived carried out an in depth study, amongst the lower income group living in Chennai and its suburbs to find out as to how the womenfolk in the lower income group families have been affected due to the drinking habit amongst men.

In recent times, Nandini Voice for the Deprived has come across a number of cases, where women in distress with children to support have been seeking help, since the husbands waste their time and earnings in drinking and not giving money for sustaining the family. The women are the silent sufferers and have been forced to take up the responsibility almost entirely for looking after the family and bringing up their children. This has put enormous stress on the women, affecting their health conditions and morale.

Nandini Voice for the Deprived, thought it to be necessary to conduct a detailed study on the problems of such women in poor families and provide the findings to the Government and the society, so that any possible corrective actions can be initiated.

The study was conducted amongst the visiting women who approach for help and also by visiting the poor families in their dwelling places. Discussions were carried out informally, taking particular care to ensure that the women would not know that a study is being carried out. This was to ensure that true facts would be revealed during discussions without making exaggerated claims or trying to “impress” the interviewer with any dramatic scenes.

The survey was conducted by a small team led by Sri. N.S. Venkataraman, Trustee, Nandini Voice for the Deprived.

105 women were contacted during the period of three months commencing from 10 th March, 2005 to 15 th June, 2005.

The earnings for the Government from liquor sale have become a major source of revenue and it appears that the Government would not give up this income, whatever may be the adverse consequences to the social and economic conditions of the poor families. In the days of Prohibition, the drinkers were considered as law breakers and were socially dishonoured. This condition does not exist anymore.

Therefore, one gets a feeling that the suffering of the women in the lower income group due to drinking habit amongst husbands will continue, perhaps with even more intensity in the days to come.

Those who understand the seriousness of the issue would feel sad and desperate. A few isolated social activists fighting against drinking habits are unlikely to make any headway, when the Government itself has turned to be the chief marketer of the liquor.

The study has been based on the response received from around 1,500 boys and girls in the age limit below 23 from all over Tamil Nadu during informal discussions. The boys and girls covered include many of those who have studied in Nandini Computer Schools, which provide free computer education to the underprivileged.

Cost of computer education

The students belonging to underprivileged section of the society mostly discontinue their education after plus two level, since they cannot afford to pay the required fees for higher education. Such boys and girls can get themselves gainfully employed as data entry operators or in office functions, if they could be provided training in basic computer operations.

Other than the colleges, the computer education in the country is largely under the control of the private sector institutions.

In recent times, a number of computer education institutes have been opened in all parts of the country including rural areas. Such institutions do not come under any control of the Governments or any established statutory bodies. They decide their own syllabus, duration of the course and fees levels and many of them are found to be under staffed or have inadequately trained teachers. The fees fixed by such institutions are arbitrary and are often found to be quite high, unrelated to the investments made in setting up such institutions..

Such institutions cater to the requirement of the middle and the upper income group, but not the underprivileged class who cannot afford to pay the fees. In such circumstances, many poor boys and girls do not get opportunity for any computer education at all.

Disconnected from Computer Revolution

In view of the non affordability for computer education by underprivileged, it is seen that most of the job avenues in the field of computer at any level are cornered by those belonging to middle and upper income group.

The computer offers enormous job opportunities even at lower level in basic operations. If only the poor could be trained to take up such jobs, huge employment opportunities would open up for them that would enable them to improve their economic and social conditions.

Unfortunately, the poorer section of the society remain largely disconnected from the computer revolution.

Aspirations of the poor boys and girls

The TV media in particular has created awareness amongst the lower income group about the advancements and opportunities in the computer technology.

The sense of disappointment and feeling of vacuum among such boys and girls can be clearly seen during the interaction with them, as they realize that without computer knowledge, they are not part of the modern world.

Lack of Adequate Knowledge of English

The boys and girls from poor families lack opportunities to converse in English language in their family circles. Most of them cannot afford to buy any newspapers or journals to improve their knowledge level or spoken English capability.

This deficiency has made it difficult for them to go for jobs outside the state or abroad in many cases. Also, many of the employers who insist on good spoken English capability, refuse to provide jobs in the computer field to such persons.

Job Placements

Even those of the poor boys who manage to get training in basic computer operations find it difficult to get jobs in established companies due to their poor communication skills.

Several small organizations recruit such poor boys and girls on temporary basis as data entry operators and pay them paltry salary, without providing long term benefits.

Further, most of such jobs are available only in big cities like Chennai. The large number of poor boys and girls live in rural areas and they find it extremely difficult to stay and work in cities like Chennai with the paltry salary they get and the prevailing high cost of living. The job opportunities even for the computer literate students in rural areas looking for positions as data entry operators have become extremely difficult due to lack of opportunities in the nearby places.

Desperate Efforts

While it would be enough to get basic computer knowledge to get positions as data entry operators, many boys and girls from lower income group have taken loans often at exorbitant interest to join expensive computer courses as Java SAP etc. run by private institutions with the hope that it would land them in high paid jobs.

However, many of such poor students who hail from families with little educational background and lack adequate English knowledge later on find that they do not get any suitable jobs, perhaps due to their own inadequacies .

Their economic conditions become worse after completing such courses, as they take loans for pursuing the course and do not get commensurate jobs later on.

Disabled persons

Positions as data entry operators are ideal job opportunities for orthopaedically disabled persons, 90% of whom belong to lower income group. Most of such disabled persons live in small towns and` rural areas.

Many of them desperately look for computer education, but cannot afford to get them due to their physical immobility and money constraints.

Government’s Efforts

While some state Governments like Government of Tamil Nadu have taken some steps to provide computer education with `stipendiary support to the poor students, the course if of very short duration, the student intake is low and the feedback from the students studying in such institutions are disappointing.

Efforts of NGOs

A few well-meaning NGOs run free computer schools for the benefit of the lower income group. However, such institutions are very few in number and are mostly located in big cities and towns. They are able to meet very little of the demand, considering the requirements , particularly in smaller towns and rural areas.

The ideal arrangement would be for the Governments to encourage NGOs to set up such institutions all over the country and provide necessary support.

The Governments should also take some efforts to standardize the computer education at basic level and conduct qualifying examinations just as in the case of typewriting and shorthand. This would enable the employers to recognize such students passing out of these institutions to provide them jobs.

Opening up of the computer job opportunities even at low skill level to the underprivileged section of the society would go a long way in promoting employment and alleviating poverty conditions in the country.

Introduction:

As a part of its ongoing efforts to ascertain and highlight the problems of the deprived citizens, Nandini Voice for the Deprived, a non profit trust, has been taking up subjects relating to the deprived persons for detailed study, in a methodical and systematic way.

In recent times, Nandini Voice for the Deprived, has carried out exhaustive survey and study on subjects such as “The Drinking habits amongst men in the lower income group and its impact on the women” and “The problems of the poor boys and girls from lower income group in getting computer education”.

As Nandini Voice for the Deprived is constantly interacting with the deprived citizens of all sorts, several deprived persons often approach the institution to confide their problems and seek solutions. While Nandini Voice for the Deprived tries its level best to help such persons, what it can do in actual terms is very little compared to the demands and requirements of the downtrodden.

Under the circumstances, Nandini Voice for the Deprived felt that it should study and analyse such problems and publicize the findings, so that the society at large would be sensitized and individual citizens would be convinced of the need to help those in distress.

In the line of such thoughts, Nandini Voice for the Deprived took up the subject relating to the problems of the visually impaired women and have now brought out the findings.

Persons who conducted the study:

The study was conducted by Sri. N. S. Venkataraman, Trustee, Nandini Voice for the Deprived, who is a Chemical Engineer and a Management professional. He was assisted by Mrs. V. Annapoorni and Ms. V Nandini in conducting the study.

Methodology of study:

The study was conducted amongst seventy five visually impaired women, some of whom have visited Nandini Voice for the Deprived, during the last few months with various problems and others were contacted by Nandini Voice.

The sample of names and background of such visually impaired women who gave inputs for the study are given below.

1. Mrs. Anjali – Age 30 – lost her eyesight at the age of three – married to a visually impaired man, named Sri. Subramani – has a baby boy – unemployed – husband makes earnings by participating in music troupe – live in difficult economic conditions.
   
2. Ms. Syed Ali Bagh Age 22 – passed Plus Two examination and got training in tailoring and book binding – unemployed – nobody in the family to help her - living with a girl friend – facing very anxious times
   
3. Mrs. Kuppan Age 30 – passed Plus Two examination – husband also visually impaired – has one son who studies well in Kalakshetra School in Thiruvanmiyur in 6 th standard – has a small petty shop in Besant Nagar.
   
4. Ms. Tulasi – Age 30 – Passed MA and undergone teacher training course – presently unemployed – nobody to look after her in the family – living in a women's hostel for the visually impaired persons and unable to pay the hostel fees – desperately searching for a job
   
5. Ms. Sudha – Age 28 – Passed MA and teacher training course – both visually impaired and orthopaedically disabled – belongs to a family living near Nagercoil – three of her sisters also visually impaired – after waiting for a long time, got a job in Government school as teacher – now working in the school near Poonamallee and living with a visually impaired couple.
   
6. Ms. Radha – Age 27 – Visually impaired – belongs to middle income group – passed postgraduate course – talented in Music – has no economic problems and well supported by family.
   
7. Mrs. Papathy – Age 32 – Has one son – visually impaired husband left her – son left in a hostel – living in difficult conditions – virtually at the mercy of others.
   
8. Visually impaired couple - woman aged 40 – husband visually impaired – one son of age 20 years who is normal – the visually impaired couple were running a telephone booth in Tambaram station – the husband met with an accident and could not pay the dues to the telephone department and have now lost the business – facing difficult conditions as the telephone line has been disconnected by the telephone department.
   
9. Ms. Sheela- Age 28 – working in a small office, attending telephone calls in Nagercoil – Salary is just Rs. 1,000 per month – the employer is now threatening to remove her from the job and wants to replace her by a normal person.
   
10. Ms. Gunasundari - Age 45 – Visually impaired - husband no more – one normal daughter, working as unskilled labour in a textile shop in Mylapore at a salary level of Rs.25/- per day – had a small petty shop in Foreshore Estate, which was uprooted by the recent tsunami – well talented in art work – no recognition and not knowing how to move further.
    
11. Mrs. Meenakshi – Age 40 – Husband also visually impaired – Husband working as a teacher in a school – Has a son studying – Though visually impaired, the family is living in reasonable economic conditions.
    
12. Mrs. Gowri – Age 50 – Husband Sri. Arumugam is a normal person. Sri. Arumugam married Mrs. Gowri in spite of her being a visually impaired person from very young age - Sri. Arumugam, now 60 years has worked as a small trader and is unable to work anymore due to age and poor health - The couple have a son, who is an unskilled worker and a grandson(3 years old), who is suffering from Cancer - The couple are highly attached to each other, though they have serious economic and health problems.

Poverty conditions and poor treatment: Ninety percent of the visually impaired women belong to lower income group. Most of them are not born as visually impaired, but have lost their eyesight in the young formative age, due to sickness. The parents could not attend to the problem as they were poor, ignorant and lived in areas where modern medical facilities were not available. In a number of such cases, quacks have been approached, who have made the problem worse.

Family support: Most of the visually impaired women do not get any family support in substantive manner. The problem becomes particularly difficult after the death of their parents. Their brothers and sisters, most of whom themselves belong to lower income group, ignore the visually impaired women in the family to a large extent (perhaps due to helplessness) and leave them to their fate. Most of the single visually impaired women live alone or with friends, in difficult conditions.

Desperate educational efforts: The visually impaired women are generally found to be very sensitive and have constant concern about their physical safety conditions. They realize before too long that they have to get economic independence to lead a decent life.

Therefore, many of them try to get education and acquire skill. The Government run and Government aided educational institutions are set up to help the visually impaired persons and are doing a good job and the Government provides free hostel accommodation during the education period.

A number of visually impaired women have graduate and post graduate degrees and have also obtained training in teaching profession. Many non-graduate visually impaired women have also acquired some sort of skill in jobs such as candle making, tailoring, agarbathi making etc. A number of them travel long distances away from their home to big towns and cities to acquire skill and educational qualification.

Severe Unemployment Problem: In spite of getting some sort of qualification and skill, most visually impaired women do not get any jobs and are desperately seeking one.

The Government provide jobs in schools in teaching position, but the number of candidates far outweigh the job vacancies. Many have been waiting for several years hoping to get job in Government schools. At present, it is reported that more than 600 visually impaired women, who are qualified in teaching, are waiting for teaching jobs in Government schools.

Though reservations do exist in Government departments and public sector organizations for job placements, the reservation for visually impaired persons is only 1% of the total reserved jobs. Again in this 1% quota, both the men and women have to face competition. In several jobs, the employers would choose men to women, due to nature of the functions. In practical terms, most of the visually impaired women are not benefited by such schemes.

Jobs in Private Sector: Providing jobs for visually impaired women in private sector, whether schools, offices or factories are extremely rare. Private sector show no consideration for visually impaired women at all in providing jobs.

Marriage as a way out? To seek social protection and some sort of economic support, many visually impaired women find marriage as a way out. However, more than ninety percent of the visually impaired women could marry only visually impaired men, as normal men do not prefer visually impaired women as wives. Quite a number of such marriages between visually impaired men and visually impaired women have also failed in the past, as the men leave the women after giving birth to one or two children in several cases.

Such failed marriages really add to the problems of visually impaired women as they not only have to take care of themselves, but also the children.

In most cases, the children born to the visually impaired couple are found to be normal and healthy, without any eye problem.

Unfortunately, due to poor economic and living conditions, such children could not be given proper education and most of them do not look after their visually impaired parents adequately later on.

How do they live? The visually impaired women can be divided into two categories, namely, as those who live with their husband(mostly visually impaired men) and those who live alone(either unmarried or husband left them).

Quite a few of them have developed some sort of talent for singing and earn(interrupted income) by joining one music troupe or the other. Some others run telephone booths or help their husband in their work, such as selling assorted items.

However, a number of visually impaired women do not have such earning opportunities and they live on the basis of some donation or food provided by voluntary bodies, in temple premises or even by begging.

What do they think? The visually impaired women, as a whole, are a frustrated lot. Many of them are disgusted with their own lives and feel helpless and sad.

They often ask about the Government schemes that are available to help them out and enquire with considerable interest about the announcements made by the Ministers and officials from time to time, regarding the welfare measures.

Though the Government has taken some steps, the visually impaired women remain thoroughly disappointed and think that they have been left to themselves with their problems.

What does the Government do? Government has a number of schemes to help the visually impaired persons, but only very little for visually impaired women exclusively. Most of the Government schemes are for providing educational and skill acquisition opportunities, but not for providing jobs.

The Government provides pension amount to the visually impaired persons of around Rs. 200 per month, but this is totally inadequate for unemployed and helpless visually impaired women.

What can be done? Living Accommodation : The unmarried visually impaired women or the visually impaired women discarded by their husbands should be given a protected place to live. The Government should construct a number of hostels exclusively for visually impaired women all over the state, so that they can live in safe conditions.

The children of visually impaired women who live alone, should be provided free education atleast upto 12 th standard in Government schools. While Government schools do provide free education now, there are other expenses such as purchase of notebooks, uniforms, special fees etc. even which the visually impaired women cannot afford to pay. Some special schemes have to be introduced to support them in these circumstances.

Job openings have to be made in a very big way in appropriate fields for visually impaired women. For example, functions such as announcers in railway and bus stations, telephone operators can be reserved exclusively for visually impaired women both in government and non government sectors.

The Government should open some exclusive shops where the products made by visually impaired women should be bought, kept and sold, which would open self employment avenue for visually impaired women to some extent.

The private sector organizations should be persuaded to show some consideration to visually impaired women and provide jobs wherever possible.

Society's responsibility : By and large, the general public are unaware of the intensity of the problems faced by the visually impaired women and are unresponsive to their needs. A strong public sensitization campaign about the problems of the visually impaired women is very necessary. The proactive role amongst the better placed citizens can go a long way in providing confidence to visually impaired women and bring some light amongst the darkness.