Aspirations, Access & Agency: Women transforming lives with technology, a book by the Reliance Foundation and Observer Research Foundation, tells the stories of Indian women leaders from across the nation who have emerged as agents of technological change and socio-economic inclusion and are using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to help their communities build pathways to better futures. Written by Noyontara Gupta, this excerpt shares the story of Seetu Yadav.
Deep in Madhya Pradesh lies a quiet and unassuming village called Changera in Balaghatdistrict, with a population of less than 2,000. It is here that we meet 35-year-old Seetu Yadav.
Seetu is bright and amicable. As one of seven siblings—six sisters and a brother—she grew up in a lively home. “We just studied and lived happily. We used to love playing games. Kabaddi was my favourite,” she recalls fondly.
Seetu’s education ended after Class 10 because, even though her father believed all the childrenshould study, there were simply too many to educate. She got married at the age of 18, and in 2005 moved to Changera, where she now lives with her husband, two children, and in-laws. It was after her marriage that Seetu got her first phone—a small prepaid cellular device with a keypad, that she would use to check the time and make calls.
In the years that followed, Seetu noticed cracks in Changera’s warm and welcoming environment. People, she said, considered women lesser than men, at home and outside. This skewed treatment of men and women in her village drove her to action.
In 2014, she joined hands with Reliance Foundation and began her work in community welfare. As part of Reliance Foundation’s Saksham programme (an initiative that aims to generate awareness and health literacy in communities), Seetu worked as a swaasth sangini (healthcare volunteer) and would go from door to door to learn about how women in the village would spend their days.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it immense devastation and distress, and new challenges, including issues related to educating children. With the virus spreading quickly, strict lockdowns and social distancing was enforced all over the country. Children were pulled out of real-life classrooms and integrated—sometimes successfully, sometimes not—into digital ones instead, to keep them safe from the virus and to ensure that their education did not suffer.
In Changera, a teacher from Seetu’s children’s school began to offer training on mobile technology and teaching children via e-learning. Intrigued, Seetu joined these sessions. Once she completed the training, she began teaching children in her own area using a mobile phone.
In a matter of months, she became the most sought-after person in her locality. With a background in teaching children and the digital world at her fingertips, she began to attract more opportunities. With the help of Reliance Foundation, she began to assist women in Changera on how to do bank-related work like apply for loans, and how to operate mobile phones. Indeed, teaching women, especially in India’s rural areas, to leverage mobile phones as a learning tool is a critical and necessary step to help transform powerlessness into empowerment.2 “We teach them how to progress. We teach them how to grow,” Seetu says solemnly.
Reliance Foundation also connected her to the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (farm science centre), a part of the National Agricultural Research System, which aims to assess location-specific technology modules in agriculture and allied enterprises through the assessment, refinement, and demonstration of technology. She introduced farmers in Changera to the centre, who then leveraged the opportunities offered by the facilities for their agricultural work.
Seetu also noticed that girls in her village often quit their studies after Class 8, in a telling trend on girls’ education across the country. The high dropout-rate of girls at the higher secondary level remains a concern for India to this day. At the elementary school level, 96 girls are enrolled for every 100 boys, but only 50 girls are enrolled per 100 boys at the high school level. Seetu was determined to make a change on this front in Changera. She went from home to home to convince parents to allow their daughters to study further. “I faced a lot of backlash,” she admits. “There was a lot of verbal abuse. But I never paid them any heed.”
Committed to the responsibility she had undertaken, she pursued each instance until the girls were able to continue their studies, often online.
The digital revolution in India has great potential to improve social and economic conditions for the poor, women, children, and the marginalised. However, it also poses the risk of exacerbating existing fissures. The move to e-learning caused many poor, young women to fall behind, exacerbating the digital divide in the country. But the work of community helpers like Seetu ensured that this was not the experience of every young girl. For instance, the parents of one girl were hesitant to allow her to study further despite being counseled by Seetu and the girl's teachers multiple times. It was only after Seetu shared her own story that the parents agreed to let their daughter continue her studies. Seetu herself went to get the girl enrolled.
Seetu also helped connect women in the village to the National Rural Livelihood Mission, a poverty alleviation scheme launched by the Ministry of Rural Development to enable skill development and help shape communities. “I knew how important it was that women build communities and earn through them, thereby helping them financially,” explained Seetu. The women completed their training via mobile technology, forming learning groups to ensure even those who did not have access to mobile phones could benefit from the training too.
With the growing knowledge of mobile technology in the community, the women in Changera were able to start small businesses, using their mobile phones to advertise products like pickles and papads, and soon saw a marked interest from customers. Farmers too used mobile phones to learn more about agricultural practices.
Multiple organisations have acknowledged Seetu’s accomplishments in the community and have even sought her assistance. Educate Girls,a Krishi Vigyan Kendra, the National Rural Livelihood Mission, Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan,b and several institutions and programmes have reached out to her to help their cause in Changera and the neighbouring villages. Indeed, Seetu is a sought-after community worker in nearly 40 surrounding villages.
India’s post-pandemic reality is one that exists both offline and online. With traditional professions evolving to adapt to the digital space, it is important to make the virtual workspace more inclusive and accessible for rural India to create greater access to opportunities. Mobile phones have helped bridge some gaps for the people of Changera, enabled by Seetu’s training.
Seetu’s sphere of influence looks even more impressive considering that she also oversees 50 self-help groups, comprising over 500 women. All the women in these groups now use mobile technology, with many even having their own personal handsets. Seetu says she has noticed an increased trust in technology among the community, and people in Changera and the other villages, particularly women, have seen their work become easier with the adoption of mobile technology.
She now feels she has an identity of her own, says Seetu. Scootyc-waali didi, as she is fondly called—she began her work on foot, walking 15 kilometres every day to help the women in her locality, and then bought a Scooty to enable her work—has in turn helped her community shape their identities. Her work as a community mobiliser who has fostered change in her village has drawn her much acclaim, be it for promoting digital literacy, training women to sew clothes and masks, and helping provide tap water connection in Changera (one of the few villages in the district with tap water supply).
Community-building is a collective undertaking. By introducing and engaging her community with mobile technology and the online world, Seetu is doing her bit to ensure that all are included. “Mobile technology has helped a lot. Nothing I do would have been possible without the mobile phone,” she says.
To read the inspiring stories of these women revolutionising ICT use across the length and breadth of India, click here.