Art of 'criminal' tribe: Women bootleggers & their fight for self-respect

A foundation that is providing the tribal women in Gujarat vocational training to help them come out of making illicit liquor and attain self-respect

Making country liquor is not that difficult. Ask any woman from the Chhara tribe living in the bylanes of Chharanagar, a settlement just outside Ahmedabad. One part jaggery combined with pepper, garam masala, salt and yeast is dissolved in water, put in a clay pot and buried underground to ferment. 24 hours later, the revolting mixture is heated to produce vapours, which are cooled rapidly as they pass through a tube immersed in cold water. And there you have it — droplets of a liquid that is worth its weight in gold in dry Gujarat.

And it is precious precisely because it is illegal. It is mostly women, who are engaged in the brewing and trade of this hooch — that’s the only name that can be given to this — occasionally highly poisonous brew that had become the bane of the Ahmedabad police until Superintendent of Police (SP) Shamsher Singh decided a different approach was needed.

The Chhara are a nomadic tribe of Gujarat, classified as a ‘criminal tribe’ by the British. Little was done for their rehabilitation and partly because of poverty and for cultural reasons, the women of the tribe have emerged as natural leaders — as bootleggers and sellers of hooch, a trade which helps them make a living but also leaves them prey to sexual exploitation. Over the years, this has become a massive underground industry with a symbiotic relationship between the community and the lower ranks of the police — one paying bribes to continue brewing the illicit liquor and the other accepting the bribe until there is an occasional disaster and deaths caused by a bad batch.

Instructor explains to one participant how to place the sanitary pads under the machine

As SP, Singh figured that prison terms and the heavy hand of the law was going to resolve nothing. The women were engaged in the trade because poverty and lack of education prevented them from any other work. But they were sharp, intelligent and resourceful. He arranged for the police to partner with an NGO to train Chhara women in different occupations to offer them a way out of the life they were living. “We could sense that these people, especially women, in this field, were not in this trade out of choice, but because they don’t have other economic options. Additionally, many of them are widows, who have to make a living out of this activity. When we asked them, they said they didn’t want to remain in bootlegging and were willing to change their ways. This inspired us” Singh told local newspapers.

Arpita Vyas founded Wings2Fly (www.wings2fly.org) in 2011 and through a new programme called Sakhi Sahay, Ahmedabad Police deputed an officer, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Manjeeta Vanzara to work with Wings2Fly to train the Chhara women in new occupations. While these were traditional vocations like tailoring, the beauty business and hospitality, Vyas found the women receptive and quick to learn. Rehabilitation centres were opened in several places and the women were trained in cottage industries like candle-making and paper products. As word about the efforts spread, Godrej partnered to provide wellness training, the women found place in Diva salons with the help of the Tata Trust, a sanitary pad manufacturing unit was established and training was made more sophisticated — tailoring and fashion design, as well.

Women preparing sanitary pads

Initially, what they earned was a fraction of their earlier income — which could be as much as Rs 250-300 a day. But it was business that was legitimate, safe and enabled them to be independent. “We counsel them. But most of all, we listen to them and try and solve their problems. They are mostly woman-headed households — most of the men are dead, claimed by illicit liquor and problems of alcoholism. So these women are responsible and brave — and lonely” Vyas said. “What we have tried is to provide them self-respect” says Vanzara.

Three hundred women have stopped making hooch and instead have been trained in other occupations. As a result, the liquor they used to make is off the shelves. But this is just a drop in the ocean. Chhara women are a living example of innate leadership gone wrong — and how easy it is to change and channelise it into a life-giving force.

Arpita Vyas, the founder of Wings2Fly along with ACP Manjeeta Vanzara and the trainee women at the Wings2Fly training programme