Kasthuri Chandrasekhar: An Icon for Rural Women

Sze Chun (JC) Chan, New York City
For Madurai Messenger, March 2010


Sze Chun Chan (JC) meets Kasthuri Chandrasekhar of Perungudi and traces this rural woman’s journey from a girl who battled gender prejudices in a male dominated society to her current role as a grassroots leader who has organised over 16,000 women from 800 villages and spearheads several innovative community development programmes

In a dimly lit room in the modest village of Perungudi, near Madurai, Kasthuri Chandrasekhar, 48, meticulously arranged her room before sitting down to talk. She traversed in the footsteps of Nelson Mandela, one of the prominent anti-apartheid activists of the 20th century and stood where he stood to receive the Equator Prize in 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The prize was for her self help groups (a village level association of women for socio economic purposes) contributions to improve the standard of living in communities through sustainable use of local resources.

She Shows the Way

She spoke of her achievements modestly, chuckling gleefully between words of Tamil, with her hands gesturing fl uently. She had mobilised Angayarkanni kalasam, a rural women’s self-help group programme through the use of local resources and ideas that to date has drawn over 16,000 women from 800 villages. Her journey had been long and arduous, one that had transformed her perception of what’s truly possible with persistence from a small village in Tamil Nadu.

Born 1961 in Kulamangalam, Kasthuri remembers being affected by age-old mentalities in a male dominated society. At 13, her father had sold his property and the family came to settle in Perungudi, a little village just outside Madurai in Tamil Nadu. Affected by these suppressive habits, she felt a desire to eradicate them and to encourage women to go out and sell local herbal plants as a means to support the family.

“In our culture we never allowed our women to go out and study,” she recalls. “But we have to work ourselves and depend on ourselves,” she explains.

In 1991, around the age of 19, she gathered a number of village women to start a self-help group called the Bharathi Woman’s Development Group. In the same year, sisters from the nearby Arnice Convent became interested in teaching Kasthuri’s group to learn to read and write. They soon were attending literacy classes once a week to learn to read newspapers, balance their own fi nance accounts, and offi cially register their group with the government.

A Compelling Idea

Empowerment is diffi cult without a bit of help. A newly established herbal company called the Grama Mooligai Company Limited (GMCL) seemed to fi t the bill perfectly. GMCL is a public company owned by a cluster of self-help groups of medicinal herb gatherers and cultivators. One of GMCL’s goal was to create a sustainable way for small rural communities to earn a better living through cultivating local herbs. These local herbs and ancient medicinal techniques have invaluable uses in the growing Indian pharmaceutical industry.

Kitchen Herbal Gardens

With local herbs from villages numbering into the hundreds, Kasthuri was compelled by an idea that rural people should be self-dependent in curing simple ailments like headaches and minor injuries. This can save rural communities a lot of time and money without being dependent on local hospitals. With hard manual labor under the sweltering Tamil Nadu heat, communities are spending money on medical care that could be avoided in a community-based medical collective. She was an enthusiastic supporter of the concept of Kitchen Herbal Gardens to help rural people with healthcare concerns.

“If we grew the herbs at home, we don’t have to run to hospitals for simple ailments,” Kasthuri said. “For poor people in rural areas this saves time and money.”

“We have to learn about life, to extend our knowledge through this kind of experience. Money earning is not the main thing. Trying to help other people is”.

Seeds of Change

Chandrasekhar felt more confi dent than ever before. Ideas that were once mere desires began to materialise and affect people’s lives. Building on the same concept, if rural communities could get together to consolidate their traditional herbs and techniques to help themselves then why not market it to the public and improve their standard of living through decent wages? At her community meetings, plants that villagers hitherto regarded as weeds are becoming indispensable medicines and sources of income. As Kasthuri continued to expand her group, community herbal medicinal knowledge began to grow.

The communities also exchanged seedlings, so that each village could plant them and earn a profi t. A farmer with banyan, banana, and coconut trees could easily plant the herbs in gaps between their main cash crops.

Addressing Doubts and Fears

Kasthuri Chandrasekhar, like most people, had her doubts when she fi rst started. The sisters from the Arnice convent gave her encouragement. She never expected the group, which started only as a deep desire at the grassroots level for change, would grow into the big organisation it is today, improving many lives in over 800 villages.

“Some people refused to participate at fi rst. It was so diffi - cult to gather the people.” She said. “They were scared after they received money from my self help group because they felt they couldn’t refund the money.”

But Chandrasekhar led them slowly but surely.

“You can pay later,” she recalls telling them. “Just come, sit, listen, and observe at our meetings what we’re going to do.”

Initially, women spearheaded Kasthuri’s efforts, but after the 2006 South Asian Tsunami, men who lost their sources of farming income became part of her circle. Also supportive is her husband, who is currently employed as a rickshaw driver, and her four daughters and son, two of whom are married.

Women’s Strengths

In addition to her efforts in India, Chandrasekhar had the chance to travel to Bangladesh, Nepal, and New York to participate in the United Nations Development Program meetings. On her travels, she has noticed a universal theme among women activists across the world.

“In the conferences, women coming from each country all have the same problems,” She said. “They suffer from HIV and AIDS problem, their fathers in prison, mothers dying of AIDS, adopting children affected by AIDS. I’m really impressed by the strength of these women.”

Kasthuri feels lucky to be an Indian when she sees some of the problems that women face the world over. She feels she should share with other women the experiences and wisdom imparted from her humble village.

“Most of the women are curious to earn more money. They’re only focusing on money, but it’s a bad thing,” She said. “We have to learn about life, to extend our knowledge through this kind of experience. Money earning is not the main thing. Trying to help other people is.”