Dance With Hands Held Tight

Nearly 86% of rural women are engaged in agriculture. In 92% of rural households energy need is met by firewood. The landless and the poor, mostly women, procure 90% of this firewood from the forest commons. The sea supports the livelihoods of 400,000 women just along the short 300 kms coast of Karnataka in South-western India.

This intense relationship of women and natural resources across the country throws up a whole range of issues and questions. Does the policy recognise this intensity? Do we all value the knowledge systems which may have developed among these women? How have women coped with coercion from the state in their accessing of natural resources?

This film tries to explore these questions through four focussed engagements. The fisherwomen off the coast of Karnataka are today distraught and distressed. The fish catch upon which they and their families have lived has gone down. Foreign boats have looted the sea.

The Apatani women of Ziro, in the North-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh have controlled their unique fish-paddy agriculture for many years. Their knowledge and commitment towards work in their fields is complete. But the future of this agriculture is unsure. The adivasi (indigenous people) and dalit (lower castes) women of Kashipur, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa took their fight right into the courtyard of the state. And won! They fought with the forest department for the access and control of the wild hill broom they collected from their forests, and got that control after five years. And the women of Sonebhadra, in central Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have braved bullets and physical abuse of the state to protect their land from being taken over.

This film was supported by UNDP and worked on for one-and-a-half years. It was completed in May 2005.

A film by
Krishnendu Bose
Kavita Das Gupta

Camerar
Krishnendu Bose

Production
EarthCare Films

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