Disaster Studies by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789813293397
Publisher: Springer Singapore

2 Gender and Post-disaster Reconstruction Programs in India

The following five major reconstruction programs were undertaken in India in the last three decades: post-earthquake reconstruction program in Maharashtra after the Marathwada earthquake in 1993, post-earthquake reconstruction in Gujarat following the 2001 earthquake, and post-tsunami reconstruction undertaken in Tamil Nadu in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004. The governments responsible for reconstruction have also imbibed the notion of social transformation (Bradshaw 2004). The policies of these programs to address gender issues were influenced by lessons learnt from previous reconstruction programs, as well as from the discourses, research findings, and advocacy brought in by external players such as advocacy groups, international and national NGOs, funding organizations such as World Bank, women’s movement/agencies/organisations working on women’s rights, and academia.

The houses reconstructed were registered in the joint names of husband and wife in all the programs. Widows who were otherwise not eligible for houses as land titles were not in their names were also provided houses, and the land and the houses were registered in their names. The Tamil Nadu program went one step further and introduced a condition preventing any transfer of wife’s share in the name of the husband (GoM 1994; GoG 2001; GoTN 2008; GoB n.d.; GoU n.d.) Since the conventional reconstruction programs miss out on the opportunity to change the property rights for gender empowerment (Bradshaw 2004), these government initiatives should be considered as an important step. Owner-driven reconstruction (ODR) facilitated by the Gujarat government (GOG) became a truly empowering process for women. ODR leads to participation of women in the reconstruction of their houses, and they could have houses designed according to their needs (Thiruppugazh 2016). Influenced by the success of ODR in Gujarat (Hidellage and Usoof 2010), many reconstruction programs, including Bihar and Uttarakhand (Uttarakhand 2016), adopted the policy of ODR.

In addition to providing property rights and participation in construction, all the programs aimed at empowering women through social security measures and income generation activities. Cash assistance and monthly pension were provided to the widows in all the programs. Women self-help groups were formed for livelihood opportunities. The affected areas in Maharashtra lacked women SHGs; the government and NGOs introduced the SHG movement in these areas, and government provided US $ 24 million as revolving fund (GoM 2009). GOG also launched many schemes targeting livelihood opportunities for women. Special livelihood programs launched to cover more than 20,000 women by providing assets, skills, and marketing facilities by government, formation of SHGs, and provision of revolving fund are some of the activities initiated by the government for economic empowerment of women. Going beyond traditional income-generating activities like pickle making and tailoring, many innovative income-generating activities such as goat cheese production and operation of water tankers were introduced (Alex Jorgensen 2008). In Gujarat, special programs were launched to enhance skills and to create employment and leadership to enable women to take up jobs such as anganwadi (childcare centers) workers, social facilitators, nurses, masons, and carpenters (KPMG 2007). The innovative

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