Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sangathan

Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sangathan (English: Revolutionary Adivasi Women's Organisation)[3] is a banned[4] women's organisation based in India. The Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sangathan (KAMS) is a successor of the Adivasi Mahila Sanghathana (AMS).[5] The foundation of the AMS was laid by the Maoists in 1986.[6]

Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sangathan

Abbreviation	KAMS
Predecessor	Adivasi Mahila Sangathan
Founder	Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War
Extinction	n/a
Type	Voluntary association
Legal status	Banned
Purpose	To fight against the exploitation, oppression and atrocities faced by women
Parent organization	Communist Party of India (Maoist)[1][2]
Volunteers	90,000 – 100,000

Aims and objectives

The count of the KAMS's registered members is about 90,000,[7] which ranks it amongst the top-most women's organisations in India when it comes to numbers of registered members.[6] But, Rahul Pandita, in 2011, claimed that the members of the KAMS are estimated to number around 100,000.[3]

The KAMS concentrates on addressing various social issues faced by the women. The members of the KAMS crusades against the evil practises against women in the society like abducting the women and forcing them to marry against their will, polygyny, etc. The organisation's members have also campaigned against the adivasi tradition of forcing women to stay away from the village and take shelter in the forest during her menstruation period.[6] The members also take a stand against the patriarchal mentality within their communities.[8] In Dandakaranya, the adivasi men did not permit the women to sow seeds in the fields, but when the members of the KAMS approached the Communist Party of India (Maoist), the party held meetings (with the adivasis) to address the issue. While during the meets, the adivasi men have accepted their mistake and decided to refrain for such activities, they are yet to bring their resolution to practise. However, the CPI (Maoist) have ensured that the women are allowed to sow seed, raise vegetables, and construct check dams "on common lands, which belongs to the Jantana Sarkar"[6] (people's government).[9]

In Bastar, the KAMS members have rallied with hundreds in numbers to highlight the atrocities by the police, and a few times the attendance figure have been in thousands to "physically confront" the police.[6]

Arundhati Roy writes,

"The very fact that the KAMS exists has radically changed traditional attitudes and eased many of the traditional forms of discrimination against women."[6]

The organisation's members also addresses problems like forced migration and other political issues as well.[10] Roy says that the KAMS has also been opposing mining in the Dandakaranya region.[8]

Alleged atrocities by Salwa Judum

A senior worker from the KAMS told Arundhati Roy that after facing "bestial sexual mutilation" and getting raped by the Salwa Judum members, several of the organisation's members have left the KAMS and joined the CPI (Maoist). A number of girls, who were not the members of the KAMS but witnessed the atrocities upon the KAMS members by the Salwa Judum members, have also joined the Maoists.[6]

Legal status

The KAMS was reported to be a frontal organisation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War, and was thus banned.[11] Arundhati Roy says that the Government of India can "wipe out" all the 90,000 members of the organisation, any time.[10] She writes,

"I went with a very firm prejudice. That in an armed struggle, women were at the receiving end of violence. But I was disabused. I saw 48 percent of the guerrillas were women. They had come after watching their mothers and sisters being raped, houses burnt down, or to escape the patriarchy of their own society. The Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sangathan (a women’s organization in Chhattisgarh state) has 90,000 members and is probably the biggest feminist movement in India. But they are all called terrorists and are liable to be shot on sight."[12]

See also

• Chetna Natya Manch
• Mahila Atma Raksha Samiti
• Nari Mukti Sangh
• National Federation of Indian Women

References

1. Sundar, Nandini. "The Immoral Economy of Counter Insurgency in India" (PDF). Yale University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 January 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
2. "Subalterns and Sovereigns" (PDF). University of California, Berkeley. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
3. Pandita, Rahul (2011). Hello, Bastar – The Untold Story of India's Maoist Movement. Westland (Tranquebar Press). p. 96. ISBN 978-93-80658-34-6. OCLC 754482226.
4. Sen, Shoma (3 November 2010). "Contemporary anti-displacement struggles and women's resistance: a commentary". Sanhati. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
5. Roy, Arundhati (2013). Broken Republic. Penguin Books. p. 87. ISBN 978-8184754841.
6. Roy, Arundhati (27 March 2010). "Gandhi, but with guns: Part Four". The Guardian — Books. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
7. Maheshwari, Arpan (24 April 2011). "Understanding Well-Being of the Tribals in Naxalite Region" (PDF). Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
8. Roy, Arundhati (26 March 2012). "Capitalism: A Ghost Story". Outlook. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
9. Roy, Arundhati (27 March 2010). "Gandhi, but with guns: Part Two". The Guardian — Books. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
10. "Institutions of democracy weak". The Hindu. Kochi. 5 February 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
11. "New guerrilla squad emerges in Madhya Pradesh". The Hindu. Bhopal. 18 August 2005. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
12. Sarkar, Sudeshna (2011). "Girl who kicked the hornet's nest". China Daily (Asia Weekly). Retrieved 9 September 2013.