Jharkhand: 50 thousand ‘queen masons’ raised the flag in the male-dominated profession, PM Modi has also encouraged

Ranchi:People are stunned to see the speed of his work when his hands do the masonry of the walls. In the time it takes a mason to build a wall, she has built two walls. My name is Sunita Devi. Rani Mistry, a resident of Udaipura village in Latehar district of Jharkhand and famous in her area. She has been awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar, the highest honor given to working women by the Government of India, at the hands of the President of India in the year 2019. In fact, men have generally dominated the work of adding brick-concrete and plastering. He is known as Raj Mistry. But in Jharkhand there are about 50 thousand such women who have not only established themselves in the profession of masons, but have also amazed everyone with their efficiency.

PM Modi has also encouraged Rani Mistri

She is known as Rani Mistry. Their success stories have also reached Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he has encouraged some Rani Mistris of Khunti district by talking to them through video conferencing. Sunita says that four years ago, a self-help group working in her village Udaipura was entrusted with the task of constructing 100 toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission, but due to non-availability of masons or their refusal to do this small work, they themselves could not find the tools. Took over She was given minor training by the district administration and then herself became a mechanic. After this, we 20-25 women got the toilets constructed. After this, money started being earned in it and happiness also started coming.

Urmila Devi of Hazaribagh built over 1,000 toilets

The World Bank has recently published a report on these Queen Egyptians. The report mentions Urmila Devi, a woman from Hazaribagh, who has built more than 1,000 toilets so far. Urmila has gone to Champaran in Bihar to work as a mason for the construction of toilets. Poonam Devi, who is working with him, has also worked as a mason in the construction of 900 toilets in the last one year.

Increase in wages due to the work of Rani Mistry instead of Reza-labourer

Mistry Nishat Jahan, a queen of Hazaribagh itself, says that women are in no way inferior to men. What men can do, women can also do and sometimes can do better than men. Women have been working in the construction work for a long time in the form of reza-labourers. Now that she has got a chance to work as Rani Mistry, she is showing her skills and abilities here too. Usha, who works with Nishat, said that the job of a mason is not much different from Reza’s, and with a little training any woman can do the job. The time has to be given in this, but the income is more as compared to Raza. The work of Rani Mistry is a bit specialized as compared to Reza but it is not at all that women cannot do this work.

​Women came forward when the scheme for construction of toilets started

In India, there has been a perception that the work of mason is generally considered to be men’s. They are called masons. Traditionally women have been in the role of helpers in construction activities. She has been seen carrying bricks, preparing mortar, and doing other works under the instructions of the masons. But, women laborers in Jharkhand have broken the male supremacy in the work of mason. According to the World Bank report, for the first time these women joined the work of masons when the construction of toilets started in large numbers under the Swachh Bharat Mission. However, most of the masons had migrated to the big cities or those who survived found work for the toilets being built in the cities. Most of the masons found the wages for this work too low. In Jharkhand, more than 50 thousand skilled women masons have contributed in the campaign to make the state free from open defecation.

​Women played a big role in Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

Jharkhand is one of the states that received technical assistance from the World Bank for planning and implementing the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. As part of this technical assistance, the World Bank ran training programs to train masons to build toilets, and women workers participated in many of those programs. However, initially the people of the village, especially the women themselves, were reluctant to take up this work. The families of many queen masons stood against them for learning this work. But after struggling, these queen Egyptians achieved their destination.

Women of Muslim community also took training

These women have broken another taboo. Even while working as laborers earlier, these women could not even think of going out of their village or going out to work. These women either did their household chores or worked as laborers in the fields. But now the scenario has changed. Nishat Jahan belongs to the Muslim community and in such a situation, it was a big challenge for him to come out of the purdah. But she got trained by going to Ranchi along with other women. In this week-long program of the World Bank, he learned the technical know-how of making toilets. Apart from this, he also learned the techniques of making soak pit and twin pit. After a week they were given practical training to work under a senior mason. Now the earnings of these women have doubled from the daily wages they used to get during construction.