By Deepti Priya Mehrotra
The women's market in Manipur — a traditional institution spanning generations — now finds itself in danger of being uprooted and displaced..
These stalls are traditionally passed on from mothers to daughters or daughters-in-law.
Her trading space: The all-women market, Khwairamband Nupi Keithel, in Imphal.
Bilasini Devi, 62, has been selling fruit for 40 years, on the roadside at the Khwairamband Nupi Keithel (Women's Market). The market, situated in the heart of Imphal, Manipur, is a unique, age-old institution, run exclusively by women. Today, these women are facing threats. Bilasini explains, “I began selling fruit at the age of 22, and brought up my children on my earnings. But now, the police are chasing us, and we do not know where to sit to sell our goods.”
As a member of the Roadside Vendors Welfare Association, Khwairamband Keithel (RVWAK), Bilasini is struggling to retain a space for herself and for the 5,000 or so vendors who work in and around Khwairamband Bazaar. Kshetri Tama Devi, 30, President of RVWAK, says, “Roadside vendors work in very unhealthy conditions. They have no stalls or places to sit and are used to sitting on the roadside with no objection raised in the past. However, due to the beautification drive launched by Manipur government, they are being harassed.”
Right to trade
Members of RVWAK are mostly working-class women who bring up families with their hard earnings, sometimes spending 12 hours at the market. Bilasini adds, “The authorities collect tax from us — Rs 10 per person every month, yet the police chase us from one place to another like cattle. As a taxpayer, I demand my space and my right to ply my trade.”
Apart from roadside vendors, another 4,000 women traders have held stalls at designated spots within Khwairamband Nupi Keithel. These stalls are traditionally passed on from mothers to daughters or daughters-in-law. The traders deal in textiles, jewellery, food and other items. Trade is brisk, with gorgeous hand-woven garments and cloth produced by women, who work like a cottage industry. This market is the major shopping centre of Manipur, and a must-see for all visitors. Initially, women traders welcomed the drive to modernise the market, which was launched by the Manipur government in 2005, hoping it would improve the ramshackle conditions.
Laishram Mema Devi, 55, has been selling jewellery from her stall in Khwairamband Bazaar since 1980. As President of the Khwairamband Nupi Keithel Vendors Welfare Association, (KNKVWA), Manipur, she says, “All of us — 4,000 women — were licence-holders, with permanent stalls in the market. Modernisation and reconstruction was meant to take two years, and we signed an MoU in 2005, under which the Government agreed to provide space in the new market to old licence-holders. But the reconstruction work has dragged on for over five years and we have worked out of temporary sheds. There is a lot of corruption, mismanagement and bribery. The new market building is nearly complete, but 500 women traders who held permanent licences are being denied stalls. Their licences were taken away and have not been returned.”
KNKVWA members have been petitioning local authorities to hold a dialogue with them, but to no avail. In late August, Mema and Tama Devi and three of their colleagues, came to New Delhi to alert the Central Government about the issue. They submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister's Office alleging “a reign of corruption, bribery, favouritism and mismanagement”, and requesting the Government to intervene.
They point out while licences are issued to non-vendors, hundreds of genuine vendors are denied this right. In other parts of Imphal, some markets that were reserved for women, such as the Heingan Yonfam and the Langthabal Potfam, have been de-reserved. This threatens the future of the Khwairamband Women's Market. The number of women who need to earn their livelihood in the informal sector is swelling by the day, due to rampant unemployment worsened by widespread conflict. Most of these women, including widows, are their family's breadwinner. “Women have traditionally held a high place in Manipur. They have been carrying on trading and business since times immemorial. We are proud of our heritage. But today the Manipur government is threatening the survival of this great heritage,” says Malem Ningthouja, member of the Campaign for Peace and Democracy. He estimates the number of women traders and vendors in Imphal city at 10,000 to 15,000. While Khwairamband is Manipur's biggest market, there are others run by women scattered across the State, at Nambol, Thoubal, Moirang, Moreh, Ningthoukhong, Kakching and several other places.
These stalls are traditionally passed on from mothers to daughters or daughtersin-law.
Injustice in the past
Tama, Bilasini, Mema and their colleagues are living up to Manipur's glorious tradition of women's collective struggles against injustice. In 1904, women traders of Khwairamband Bazaar were among the leaders of the First Nupilan (Women's War) against the British policy of forced labour, and they were also at the forefront of the Second Nupilan in 1939, against the colonial policy of hoarding and exporting rice in times of scarcity.
Such activism paid high dividends for the local community. Women here believe they need to take a page from the book of their grandmothers and great-grandmothers to stem the excesses of the State. Irom Sharmila, a citizen of Imphal, is well known for her unprecedented ten-year-long hunger strike against State violence.
Contents of memorandum
In its memorandum to the Prime Minister, KNKVWA points out that the government of Manipur has not fulfilled its promises made to the vendors and that non-transferable permanent licences have been arbitrarily cancelled. They also mention that the blueprint of the construction project and allocation of seats, amenities and other plans have not been made public and the pleas of women traders for a meaningful dialogue have fallen on deaf ears. There has been no announcement of the list of original licence-holders and the memorandum demands that the economic interests of thousands of women traders be respected and that seats must be allocated to each of the original licence-holders. They also want the temporary sheds to be allotted to roadside vendors, after they are vacated.
Women vendors in Imphal are struggling not only for their survival, but for justice, peace and gender equity. In a country where informal sector workers are being increasingly marginalised, prime land being acquired by big business interests, and women workers rapidly losing their traditional sources of livelihood, such a struggle needs popular support and expressions of solidarity, they point out.
via Women's Feature Service
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