Samta Mahila Mandal
Located far away in a corner of Bandra East in Mumbai, Kherwadi area is just like any other slum area. Overcrowded markets, overloaded houses and people everywhere make up the essence of this place. The bylanes are so narrow that no two people can pass by at the same time. Situated in such a place is a self-help group run by two strong-headed women, Sandhya and Kalpana. They run ‘Samta,’ a canteen, where about seven to eight women work to sustain their livelihood, all of them hailing from lower socio-economic background.
But why are we talking about Samta? The reason, they just updated themselves about the growing issue of Genetically Modified food crops in India India
“Language was a big barrier for us,” said one of the volunteers present, “and to bridge the communication divide, we played a light-hearted documentary which demystifies the difficulties in understanding gene technology and its potential ill-effects.”
“This is a very serious issue,” said one of the women in the local language, “people like you and me have to do something about it.” Following this concern were written letters and signed petitions stating that they do not support GM food crops and want it to be banned in India
They expressed their thanks to the young volunteers and bid farewell, wishing them good luck for their journey towards the cause.
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