DIKTEL: The women affiliated with Aama Samuhas (mothers' groups) in Khotang district have been campaigning to develop their villages.

Somewhere they have declared the villages chemicals-free while at other places liquors have been banned. Some enthusiastic women have also been running health and sanitation programmes. In Martim, the women have been united to develop their village as a model having been affiliated with the Sayapatri Aama Samuha last year.

Agreeing that the situation of education, health and livelihood should be improved, the womenfolk have been organising campaigns. To begin with, they have made a toilet in every household by collecting money from all the families, according to Chandrakala Dhakal, president of the Aama Samuha. She said they had made the move since a large number of villagers regularly suffered from diarrhoea due to the open faeces.

Their husbands have been prohibited from drinking liquor and playing cards in a bid to control their expenditure, according to Yogmaya Dhakal, secretary of the women's group. They have managed for four beds at the local health post in view of needy patients. "We have been facilitated to treat patients with the new beds," said Gangadev Sah, Assistant Health Worker. The mothers' groups have also outlawed the use of Mana, Pathi and Tulo as units of measurement at markets in Manebhanjyang stating that the traditional measures were sub-standard.

For income generation, they have started producing incense sticks in the villages. "We set up this industry as it does not cost a lot," group president Dhakal said. The initiatives of the industrious women have greatly impressed the males. "Nobody took the women seriously at the beginning but everyone has changed their perception of them now," Shiva Dhakal, a local, said.

In Jalapa Puranogaon also, the mothers have banned the use of chemical fertilisers. A number of hoarding boards have been put up in Toles in a bid to imparting the message of using compost manure. Bins have been placed on ways and ditched dug to collect polythene bags. "Chemical fertilisers mar the fertility of soil, besides affecting our health," a local, Nirmala Rai said. Theirs is an 11-year-old committee. They have also been organising training for women with the help of Janasewa Samaj, a local NGO. Other popular campaigns in the villages are vegetable farming and use of smokeless oven.