Bareilly: In a country where low participation of women in the work force has always been lamented upon, the condition of Shakuntla Devi, 42, a resident of Kyara in Bareilly, was no less different.Her hopes of helping her husband, a farmer, in contributing to the family income were always dashed by patriarchal mindset and non-availability of job to women until a unique initiative by chief development officer (CDO) Satyendra Kumar came to the fore.Termed as ‘pink workers’, the scheme has helped many women like Shankutla to help get a job under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).Speaking about the scheme, Kumar said, “It is quite a common phenomenon across the west UP that women hesitate to work outside in fields where men of their acquaintance are already engaged in. We took this hindrance as a challenge and finally reached a solution to ensure more and more women are hired under the MNREGA Act. Now, we have defined almost 200-odd sites and works in which women labourers are being hired and the results are quite encouraging,” the CDO said.Devi said, “Initially it was difficult going out to field for work as every time get a job opportunity, I happen to meet wither my male family members. Since I practice Ghunghat (veil) in their presence, it was very difficult to work with them. But now, I am more than happy to get some work under the ‘Pink Workers’ drive. It has helped me to earn money.”Another woman labourer, Shaista Begum said, “I have worked with men on several projects but sometimes it becomes very difficult to share personal problem with someone on the site as only few women come to work under MNREGA. It is certainly great initiative by the administration.”The CDO said the condition in UP is equally bad compared to other northern states, as far as engagement of women labourers is concerned.“Here in west UP, the participation of women under MNREGA is less than 20%. However, the percentage on national level is quite high as 50%. Even in southern state like Tamilnadu, 54% women participation has been recorded under MNREGA this year.”In the district, the administration has identified 160 work sites in 11 blocks so far for engaging close to 1,000 women labourers.“We are hiring women in the work like digging compost pits, developing kitchen garden, construction of drains and pathways. Besides, we are erecting pink boards on completion of work indicating the asset created by women only,” Kumar added.

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