Waiting In The Wings : Tadoba Women Breaching The Glass Ceiling
“A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform” -Diane Marie child.’
By Colonel Satish Singh Lalotra
Deep in the forested environs of eastern part of the Vidharbha region of Maharashtra, a silent revolution is brewing up that has the potential of carrying the so called ‘Standard bearer’ of female emancipation in terms of financial independence, equality, self-respect and surely transformation of the centuries old patriarchal outlook.
Traditionally the region of `Vidharbha’ has always been the underdog dating back to the British times. A geographical region in the east of the state of Maharashtra comprising mainly of Amravati and Nagpur’ divisions it occupies roughly 31.6% of the total area and holds about 22% of total population of Maharashtra.
Throughout its history, Vidharbha has always been much calmer than the rest ofIndia even during times of national crisis. The land though in vast swathes, is bereft of any viable irrigation systems leading to rampant poverty and malnutrition since agriculture is the mainstay of the masses over here. The majority of population of this region is tribal consisting a disparate group of `Gonds’, Korkus, Baiga, Santhals etc.
India in order to offset the inherent disadvantages owing to the terrain, natural resources, trained and educated human capital in the area set up large scale ordnance factories viz Ordnance factory Chandrapur, Bhandara, Ambhajhari etc to name a few. These defence public sector behemoths employed a sizable portion of local populace.
In addition the region also boasts of one of the most vibrant and prized ‘Tiger reserves & wild life sanctuaries’ in the country. Going by the name `Tadoba Andharf wildlife sanctuary cum tiger reserve this iconic wild life preserve has been a tiger lover’s cynosure for decades to no end.
Way back in 2007 and again in 2011 while posted in DGQA I have had the privilege to visit these various ordnance factories as part of my official assignments that took me from place to place in Vidharbha region.
One such ordnance factory up on the itinerary for my travel consumption was the ordnance factory ‘Chanda aka Chandrapur. Since I had lot of time on my hands during those days at OFCH ( Ordnance factory Chanda), I had a quick visit at the famous `Tadoba Andhari’ tiger reserve cum wildlife sanctuary which is just about 40 km plus from the ordnance factory. It is still considered as one of the best ‘Tiger siting’ sanctuaries in the Indian subcontinent.
Though the winter months are considered as the best ones for these tiger sightings, when the king of the jungle saunters in its full regal splendour for an eager visitor. Tiger reserves have been one of the best nurturing places for the famous ‘Tiger safaris’ that not only add to the overall USP to the sanctuary but also provide an ideal ecosystem for the allied employments and businesses which is the sine quo non for the overall development of the area as such.
These tiger safaris employ a host of guides, drivers, guards and such like people who are the backbone of such an adrenaline pumping ecosport. Jungle safari as stated is a male dominated, testosterone driven bastion one where the women have been deliberately kept out of this ecosport citing their biological frailty coming in the way of their taking on the job.
A recent news item with the caption—”Tadoba village women denied driving tourists’ caught my eye which took me back 17 years when in 2007 I too had gone for such a short afternoon tiger safari on my first visit to ordnance factory Chanda. That time most of the vehicles were gypsies driven by the local men folk hailing from the nearby villages of Chandrapur.
As per the forest department’s rules, residents are part of the tourism industry with guides, drivers, souvenir shopkeepers and even guards at various check posts.
Now for a reader it will be worth mentioning that there are 22 gates of the tiger reserve which are operated by the surrounding villages.
Only the villagers from a particular forest range are allowed to become safari drivers and guides for the gate in their range.
Reason for the same? But naturally the local factor of the area and its profound knowledge plays a leading role in landing a particular job to an individual.
Even decade and a half back during my sojourn with the Tadoba tiger reserve there were no gender —specific rule for denial of a job to a female gender.
There were a fair amount of tribal Gonds belonging to the fairer sex having clinched a job in the reserve. But the problem is the inner circle of men in every village that denies the job of a specific nature —that of gypsy drivers to the female lot.
The STR (Satpura tiger reserve) in Madhya Pradesh is perhaps the only reserve in India to have two female drivers as part of a programme started in 2023.
When I had ventured to `Madhai or the STR near Hoshangabad way back in 2011 from CPE Itarsi while still in service, there were no female gypsy drivers for the tiger safari.
Many of the jobs of such nature were bagged by the `Korkutribal’ population under a special employment drive undertaken by the MP government. The CTR(Corbett tiger reserve) in Uttrakhand too had introduced an initiative to train women to conduct tiger safaris in 2022.
I believe despite having trained about 70 odd women drivers, none have got a job as yet. The problem is that of non-availability of the gypsies that were stopped production by Maruti gypsy few years back. The seemingly non-availability of vehicles for safari drivers particularly the female lot reflects a deep rooted gender bias towards them.
Nevertheless in the recent past a special drive to empower the women had been started around the villages around `TadobaAndharf tiger reserve as part of forest department’s Tharari scheme’ that entailed a month long free driver training sessions.
Accordingly about 70 odd female drivers have been trained in that general area. For the men folk it is quite easy to either hire a SUV or buy a vehicle by taking loans from the banks or their relatives and get the required permissions for the jungle safari.
But for the women the going seems tough. They are held back by societal pressures as also the financial constraints which get compounded further by their own fears founded or unfounded thus stopping them from accelerating towards progress.
The seemingly insurmountable task of becoming a women safari driver exists on Indian roads as well. Of the 10.5 million driving licenses issued in the country in 2020, only 14.9 % were for women. In Maharashtra, the forest department is keen on women working as jungle safari drivers.
Quite a few tourists are all women groups who respond quite enthusiastically to the female guides and with female drivers too taking the lead, these women tourists will have a quantum jump leading them from a typical `tourist satisfaction to tourist delight’.
In fact the area now boasts of about 60 odd female guides too which is quite a heartening development.
It would do well for these female guides and drivers to note that nothing succeeds like success more so when seen in the light of the fact that one amongst them, Suraj Bai Meena the intrepid female guide from `RANTHAMBORE TIGER RESERVE’ has been scripting success like never heard before. From being a brand ambassador of `Google’ on woman’s day, to being the best female guide labeled by the former Maharaja of Jaipur there is nothing holding back this tribal lady from the desert state of Rajasthan to achieve her glory under the sun.
With the present Modi government putting its entire might behind the `NariShakti’ campaign that was all too evident from a near 100% women lady officers led contingents in the recent Republic Day parade, is it not worth the effort to get this campaign gather momentum in the hinterlands of the country.
With a resource paucity driven region like Vidharbha already ages behind the rest of the country in all matters concerning human development indices, it would be the test of times before such campaigns make deep inroads thereby touching the hapless lives of 50% of human population i.e. the women folks.
