Page:Sharad Joshi - Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage.pdf/254

 The next big step taken by the Aghadi was Laxmi Mukti movement. That in fact was a major milestone in the history of SS. It meant that every farmer would transfer some portion of his land in the name of his wife. For Joshi, this movement was the natural extension of farmers’ movement. Joshi essentially wanted freedom through his movement for the oppressed farmer who was bound by the shackles of poverty and the same principle of freedom was involved in Laxmi Mukti movement because a farmer’s wife was also bound by the clutches of helplessness. It is important to clarify that for Joshi Laxmi Mukti did not just mean the emancipation and empowerment of the farmer’s wife; it also meant the emancipation of the man from the burden of debt he owed to his wife in terms of unpaid work she did all her life for him and the family. A farmer’s wife worked alongside her husband in every stage of cultivation apart from all the domestic work she took care of. ‘If hundred drops of sweat fell on your field, at least sixty to seventy drops were from your wife’s body’, Joshi would remind the men. He would say, ‘Observe one day all that your wife does from the time she gets up in the morning. Make a note of all her work of gathering wood for fuel, fetching of water, washing clothes and pots, cooking meals, looking after the children, attending to the needs of your old parents, cleaning the house, attending to repairs, washing, feeding and milking the cows, collecting cow dung, sending children to school, helping them with their study, bringing your own lunch to the farm, slog alongside you in tilling or cropping or anything you are involved in at the moment. For the time being, leave aside the way she looks after you and your family in case of illness, all the love and affection she adds to your life. But for actual manual work she does, what wage she should be paid? Even if you paid her less than the minimum wage defined by the law, you will have to pay her at least Rs. 30 a day. Women Power - New Expression

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