In the ten Gram Panchayats of Katerniaghat, institutional employment had been disappearing one source at a time.
Four of the five institutional livelihood sources in the area had already closed. In April 2010 the State Farms Corporation moved to shut the fifth - the 3,882-hectare Central State Farm at Girijapuri.
Mahila Adhikar Manch did not treat that as a decision made elsewhere. It built an alliance of local community organisations to make the case for keeping the farm in operation, and it made the case in public.
On May Day, five thousand labourers assembled peacefully at the farm. Three thousand of them were women.
The assembly was the visible part. What followed was six weeks of sustained representation to the Corporation, carried by 122 leaders who kept it peaceful throughout and funded it themselves.
Munni Devi, a Manch leader from Jungal Gulariha, died of heat stroke on 20 May.
On 12 June the State Farms Corporation of India headquarters cancelled the closure orders and sanctioned Kharif cropping on 5,590 acres. The livelihoods of 1,500 families were retained.
No external organisation financed this and no external organisation led it. The alliance was local, the leadership was local, and the six weeks were the community’s own.
Five thousand labourers at the gate. Three thousand of them women.
Community Organising Has No Procurement Line
What kept the farm open was 122 people who could sustain a case for six weeks. That capacity is built long before the closure notice arrives.