‘Jobs, water crisis, NREGA wages’: What’s on the mind of Rajasthan’s tribal women voters?

In Banswara, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that the Congress manifesto talks about taking stock of “the gold of mothers and sisters” and distributing it among “infiltrators”. But the Congress has denied his claims, called his remarks “hate speech”, and added that the party’s manifesto only talks about social justice. 

While a war of words ensues, what are the real issues on the ground for women in Rajasthan? Newslaundry spoke to voters in Banswara and Dungarpur.

Suryakantha, 18, a first-time voter, will keep rozgaar, or employment, in mind when Rajasthan’s backward tribal district of Banswara, along with 88 other constituencies, votes in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections on April 26.

The first-year BA student’s parents haul bricks in Gujarat, while she takes care of her two siblings and a small piece of agricultural land, singularly responsible for walking long distances to fetch water. But Suryakantha’s family is only one of the many facing this predicament. 

Without adequate employment opportunities in Banswara and its neighbouring Dungarpur, locals – including thousands of women – are forced to migrate to Gujarat for work. The two districts record some of the highest rates of female workforce participation in the state. Several of them asked Newslaundry why the government isn’t setting up industries here. 

Since governments depend on their high voter turn-out, the women asserted that they matter in the ongoing elections.

But making their votes count was a long drawn-out quest. 

In 1951-52, around 28 lakh women voters registered themselves by their relationship with their patriarch, and not by their names. In 1962, the gender gap was huge at 16.7 percentage points. Cut to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, female voter turnout of 67.18 percent, for the first time, exceeded that of male voters at 67.02 percent. The trend is likely to continue with more than 47.2 crore women registered as voters in the current Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP and Congress manifestos, cognizant of this data, tried to woo women voters by promising women-centric schemes – from the BJP’s vow to expand the Lakhpati Didi scheme and Congress’s Rs 1 lakh in cash for each poor family per year.

On April 15, about 50 first time voters – most of them women – gathered at Swami Mama Baleshwar Dayal Govt PG College in Banswara’s Kushalgarh tehsil for a poll awareness campaign. Members of civil society groups and college representatives asked the students to “make the right choice”, also emphasising on the greater role for women in elections.

Similar to Suryakantha, many of these voters emphasised on the need for skill development centres and employment opportunities. 

Her senior Kopila Yadav, whose parents also work in Gujarat, leaving her two younger siblings in her care, said, “There should be skill development training centres so that women could earn their livelihood here.”

Unemployment is the most pressing concern for at least 27 percent of the electorate, as per the pre-poll Lokniti-CSDS survey. This is followed by price rise at 23 percent, and development at 13 percent. 

The issue is especially dire among women, who account for less than 10 percent of total employment. The female unemployment rate dropped to a 16-month low of 11 percent in January this year from 14.9 percent in December last year, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.

Newslaundry also spoke to first-time women voters, NREGA workers and civil society groups in Banswara and Dungarpur to understand what’s on women voters’ minds.

Increase in NREGA wages, paper leaks 

At least 50 women NREGA workers at Dungarpur’s Malmatha village, about 150 km from Kushalgarh College, have been demanding an increase in their daily wage from Rs 255 to Rs 600.

Radha Devi, who is in her 50s, pointed out the disparity in wages. “A senior teacher works for four hours and gets paid between Rs 75,000 and Rs 1 lakh. A woman who works as a labourer gets only Rs 200. What can she do? How would she get his son married, run the household? Our wage should be at least Rs 600. Pension should be increased.”

She also noted that students with BEd degrees were jobless. “The government keeps saying ‘we will give jobs and get your children educated’.’ What’s the point of education when our children are going to be jobless and underpaid?” 

One of Devi’s nephews, Praveen Bharada, 36, had been preparing for government teachers’ jobs for the past six years. He attended a coaching institute in Udaipur for some time but left as he ran out of money. His wife Priyanka Katara, who is also pursuing her BEd, said he now works as a mason in Gujarat. 

“One of the teachers’ examination papers was leaked while in another he could not clear as he can’t afford to devote his time to studies. How can we with coaching of only one month compete with students from urban areas?” Priyanka asked.

A BEd student, Teena, also said she is tired of paper leaks. “I am unemployed even after BEd. Papers get leaked. I am tired of preparing for government jobs. I was in Udaipur and Jaipur for exam preparation. I had to return because I ran out of money.”  As per the Lokniti-CSDS survey, 62 percent  in India believe it is “difficult” to land a job.   In Kushalgarh, a collective of 10 women from the unorganised sector wanted jobs in their district. When asked to rate the Narendra Modi government on a scale of 1-10, none gave it more than 4. “If factories are set up in this bloc, we can work here. The wages should be increased so that young women don’t have to go to Gujarat. Even if we don’t migrate, what are we going to eat here?” said Anita Masar, who works with the Pravasi Mahila Mazdoor Sangh. Other women in Malmatha raised concerns about safety, especially enroute to Gujarat. They alleged kidnapping and molestation at work sites are common.

Low tap water connections

In most families, women solely shoulder the burden of household work. Hence they are also the most-affected due to the water crisis in Rajasthan – the second worst performing state in providing tap water connections under the Modi government’s Jal Jeevan Mission, 

So far, only 48.12 percent households have benefited under the scheme despite the union jal shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat hailing from the state. The Rajput leader is contesting for the Jodhpur Lok Sabha constituency, which he has represented twice.

Banswara and Dungarpur are among the worst affected areas in Rajasthan with little over 20 percent of households having tap water supply. Barmer is at the bottom with around 11 percent penetration, as per the Jal Jeevan Mission dashboard. In these regions, it is commonplace for women to source water from neighbours, or walk long distances to fetch it from a well. 

Three of the bottom four states in tap water supply are governed by the opposition parties. Notably, Rajasthan saw a change in government after assembly polls in November last year. As per percentage of total tap water connections in the state, West Bengal has the least at 47.22 percent, followed by Jharkhand at 52.49 percent and Kerala at 52.53 percent.

Jaysudha of Malmatha village told Newslaundry about her daily struggle for water. “Water is required for cattle, bathing and drinking. It is needed. I have to make 10-12 trips a day to either my neighbour’s house or a well about half a kilometre away to get water.” 

The widow, in her 40s, with three school-going children said she is yet to get enrolled as a NREGA worker and is on the waitlist to receive the payment for a pucca house under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana. The construction of her house was stopped soon after it began, with only a few bricks loosely stacked one on top of the other, as the payment stopped after her mother-in-law passed away.

An employee at the village’s eMitra kiosk said, “We are trying to get the payment processed by changing the bank account.” 

Free ration a hit for Modi  

Renu Dhindor, 19, a BA second year student at Kushalgarh College, trusts Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“I want the country to progress. I will vote for Modiji. He got Ram temple and Ujjain corridor built. He is promoting India in foreign countries. He supports everyone. But there are some who have been left behind,” she said, also praising the central government’s Swachh Bharat Mission and Covid vaccination efforts.

As per the Lokniti-CSDS survey, the Ram temple is the most admired work of Modi for eight percent of voters. Among people from all age groups, younger voters have shown high approval for the BJP.

In 2019, 41 percent youth in the 18-22 age group voted for the BJP against 20 percent for the Congress. This was four percentage points more than the BJP’s national vote share. The saffron party’s vote share among women increased from 29 percent in 2014 to 36 percent in 2019, according to Lokniti. However, at 39 percent, a larger percentage of men voted for the party in the previous Lok Sabha polls.

The grand old party’s fortunes, meanwhile, did not improve between the last two general elections – its women voter count increasing by only one percentage point in the previous polls.

Dhindor said safety remains a big concern among women. “I can’t step out after dark due to rogue elements. The police are not strict. Even if someone goes to report a crime, nothing happens. I have witnessed this.” 

Manisha Katara, who teaches sewing at a skill development training centre in Banswara’s Kushalgarh, said she has to walk long distances even to fetch water, but the pipes “have been laid in her village and soon there will be piped water supply”. 

She said her family has been voting for the BJP for several years. “So, I too will vote for the BJP.” 

Katara listed a series of schemes of the central government, from which her “extended family” has benefited, including the PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana. Under the scheme, the government provides five kg of free food grain to BPL families. It remains one of the most popular schemes of the Modi government across groups, from first-time voters to NREGA workers.

The ration scheme was extended for another five years last year. 

Anita Masar, a member of the Parvasi Mahila Mazdoor Sangh in Banswara’s Dandi Chhoti, also lauded the free ration scheme. “But only wheat can’t fill your stomach,” she said, demanding that more edibles be provided under the scheme.

In tribal areas, however, women are more sceptical. Nidhi Jain, a Lokniti-CSDS fellow who runs skill development centre Pratidhwani Sansthan in Kushalgarh, said the biggest concern for tribal women is employment, while the talk about Ram temple is “mostly limited  to the forward castes”. 

Women’s electoral participation vs political awareness

A total of 23 states have held assembly elections since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. At least 18 registered a higher female voter turnout.

Political parties and state leaders have aggressively reached out to the female vote bank over the years such as the BJP through its Ladli Behna scheme in Madhya Pradesh and freebies in Rajasthan,  Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s implementation of liquor ban on women voters’ demand, and the Odisha government’s women-driven self-help groups. 

PM Modi too exhorts “nari shakti”, or women’s power, in his speeches, subsequently listing the central government schemes for women.

The higher female voter turnout reflects growing political awareness, said Sanjay Lodha, coordinator at Lokniti-CSDS Rajasthan. “So one is the cause and another is the consequence… It’s a very happy phenomenon, especially as earlier there used to be a huge [gender] gap of 20 percent [in voter turnout].”

Lodha explained that the 73rd and 74nd amendments to the Constitution in 1992 – which gave one-third reservation to women in local bodies – led to a new set of female leadership. “Since then, there has been some level of continuity. Some of them who performed well in their local bodies contested the assembly and Lok Sabha elections.” 

He said another reason for higher women voter turnout was women leaders in top posts, such as the position of chief minister. 

The 2019 Lok Sabha polls sent 78 women to the parliament, making up 14 percent of total MPs. This was India’s highest tally, significantly higher than the 4.4 percent women MPs elected in the first-ever Lok Sabha polls in 1952, but still much lower than the other countries. 

It is worth noting that even ahead of the big polls in India, women mostly remain absent from non-electoral political activities, including public meetings and campaigning. 

Madhulika, a member of the Dungarpur district committee of Rajasthan Asangathit Mazdoor Union, told Newslaundry, “The rise in female vote turnout is not proportional to political awareness.”  

She said the voter turnout was a result of the election commission’s efforts for voter registrations. “But in south Rajasthan where I work, there have been identity movements and assertion, which have contributed to political awareness.”   

Pratidhwani Sansthan’s Jain also said the level of political awareness among women has not increased as much as their turnout.

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