by Sumit Kumar

NEW DELHI, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Pushpa Ram no longer has to clean utensils and wash clothes for the equivalent of $25 per month. Now, she can look after her youngest child in middle school and can hope to find husbands for her four daughters who stood by her during hard times brought on by domestic abuse.



Pushpa, now 40, had married Lalu Ram, a day laborer in New Delhi. After only six months of their marriage, Pushpa said, Lalu started abusing her physically and mentally. He left his family and would visit only once a year. After 22 long years of struggle, Pushpa learned about Mahila Panchayat -- Council of Women -- a program funded by the Delhi Commission for Women and run with the help of about 20 nongovernmental organizations in the capital.



Following the concept of community-based activism that was endorsed by Mahatma Gandhi, Mahila Panchayat focuses on domestic violence against women.



“After listening to Pushpa, we immediately notified her husband for a hearing in our office," said Chandrakanta, a paralegal working for Vikasini, one of the supporting NGOs. "After two or three such hearings, the case was solved. This is the general procedure we follow. In the second stage we visit the houses of affected and conduct the hearings there with all the (local council) members.”



As a result of the hearings, Pushpa now receives the equivalent of $110 per month from her estranged husband, four times her previous earnings as a domestic worker.



Pushpa’s story is just one among countless women in India suffering from domestic violence, which in Indian law is defined as “all forms of physical, sexual, verbal, emotional or economic abuse.”



Though the problem of domestic violence has been well documented globally, the council is one example of solutions being found locally.



“We started with only four panchayats and now the number has grown to 84 in Delhi itself," said Chitra Panchkaran, Vikasini senior coordinator who has worked with the program since it started in 2004. "It seems that our objective to sensitize women about their own exploitation and then making them aware of the available options for empowerment, has been achieved.”



“We have handled cases from Bihar, Rajasthan and (Uttar Pradesh). We have been successful in solving 80 to 90 percent the cases that we receive. This indicates how much the society needs NGOs and programs like these to battle social evils. Moreover, we do not involve the police or the judiciary in the proceedings.”



For Rajbala, another benefactor of the program, the benefits are tangible, and personal.



“It feels like a second home," she said. "I feel secure here in panchayat. We discuss gender issues, solve problems and visit the homes of women who face domestic problems in the locality. I feel stronger.”

The story has been published by United Press International.