Outlook: Guild of Service (by Sushma Ramachandran)
15th November 2009
Service to the community is the basis on which most present day NGOs have been established. The proliferation of NGOs in the country now cover a vast range of activities and this is, of course, all to the good. Even though there have been some complaints that some are misusing the grants and facilities being government to promote their growth. The Guild of Service, however, stands apart from all of these, as one which began at a time when the service meant giving to the community without any thought of gain either in personal terms or for the institution through governmental assistance.
The Guild has a long history. It was set up in 1923 by a group of British women in Chennai with the aim of helping the poor and dispossessed in this country. Its somewhat old fashioned name – very different from the cool contemporary sound of today’s NGOs - reflects the fact that it was started nearly a hundred years ago. The reins of the Chennai-based Guild were later handed to Indians led by well known social activist Mary Clubwallah Jadhav. The Guild’s activities have long been recognised in the southern part of the country but it emerged in the north in 1972 when the setting up of the north India chapter. The flag bearer of the Guild in Delhi has been Dr. Mohini Giri and her indefatigable band of sisters who have been doing work to empower women in north India for nearly 40 years now. On November 21 they celebrate several decades of service at a special function that will have all the key elements of Guild’s multifarious activities. It will include casteless and dowryless marriage ceremonies, helping widows suffering due to tradition or conflicts as well as the launch of a nurses training and caregivers programme.
In a special gesture, the Guild will honour senior women representing 13 distinct areas of work ranging from culture and dance to journalism, politics, law and business. Those being felicitated include Justice Leila Seth, Dr. Kapila Vatsayan, Mohsina Kidwai, Shanta Serbjeet Singh, Uma Sharma, Sushma Seth and Shahnaz Husain. The Guild’s homage to these women is in line with its nearly four decade old tradition of not only providing succour to women in distress but to push aggressively for policies that will protect women.
Ruminating over their initial struggles, Mohini Giri recalls they started off by adopting the villages of Khijarabad and Bakhtawarpur where they scripted their first success story by training groups of women to make candles and telephone components. Wives of top bureaucrats joined her in the mission and they were able to train illiterate women in housekeeping, giving them skills to work not only in India but abroad. Some are now earning thousands of dollars in foreign countries. The Guild also set up self help groups to give economic independence to women in areas like Najafgarh. It has gone a step further towards gender equality by creating a self help group for men in the same town.
In addition, the Guild has spread its wings into Rajasthan and Kashmir. It set up self help groups in Sawai Madhopur where it has provided succour to 1.5 million women of the area. In Kashmir it has set up a Raahat Ghar providing shelter as well as training facilities for widows created by the conflict in the state.
The most well known initiative of the Guild, however, has been in focusing the attention of India and the world on the destitute widows of Vrindavan. It commissioned studies on the status of these women which have been widely publicised, attracting not only Indian but foreign media attention. Then with the help of donations and government grants, it was able to set up the Amar Bari and Maa Dham, refuges where widows can live and take training to earn a livelihood. It is the Guild’s perseverance which has motivated many to go to Vrindavan and try to find solutions to the problems being faced by the abandoned women at this pilgrimage site.
Another facet of the Guild is its drive to carry out inter-caste, inter-religion and dowry-less marriages. Members say they must have carried out millions of such marriages over the last four decades. It has also been in the forefront of the efforts to tighten dowry laws which led to stricter legislation ultimately being passed by Parliament . It is now campaigning actively for 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures, though Dr. Giri is happy that at least 50 per cent reservation has been implemented at the panchayat level.
There are many NGOs in the country, as mentioned earlier, but the Guild’s long record of service to the community in north India is probably unparalleled and needs to be given greater recognition. Its annual celebration thus rightly has “Joy of Empowerment” as its theme as the group is looking forward to bringing even greater light in future to the lives of poor and dispossessed women and children.