Structural Inequality
It was the day after international women’s day (IWD). These women were shifting soil from a kilometer away to clean their small village. Because the nearby land owner would not allow them to touch their land! To fill up the water puddles and make the village more hygienic. They have been doing it for a few days, on IWD too. Why were they doing it? They had lost all livelihood opportunities over the last two years. Men had come back from the various cities they were in, because of lock down. Men had returned back to their cities but not much money was coming in. They had to survive. A well-meaning civil society organization came up with this plan. Clean up your village for 8 hours a day, Rs 300/- will be paid for those 8 hours. Cash for work, a well-known program. Listening to their stories were disturbing. 4-5 generations back they had migrated from a nearby district to this location. 5 or 6 families in the periphery of a jungle and beside a river, setting up their huts in an undev