Rising with each step forward – JAGRITI – Women Development Cell ,Bharati College,DU

Time has changed and so has we! Women today still searching for an Identity and trying to live a life without any fear, living with all high hopes and aspirations and searching to seek Liberation!!!

Delhi-The capital city of India has today become the “Crime Capital”! Molestations, abuses-physical, mental and verbal, Rapes, Prostitution and what not females here face all kinds of brutalities…Keeping all this in mind and to make an effort to walk an extra mile to make a difference Bharati college students and professors came up with a Women Development Cell-JAGRITI (means to create awareness)…

The society takes its mandate from the Women’s Studies and Development Centre (WSDC), University of Delhi, and aims to: Address “women’s issues in higher education.” encourage “women’s and gender studies in the University.” And place through its activities “women and gender at the centre of its inquiry focusing mostly on multidisciplinary perspectives of class, caste, race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, age. It also addresses several other contemporary socio-political issues concerning women.” The society came into existence in 2013 and now it’s growing yearly.

Keeping the following aims in mind The Jagriti team remains active throughout the year holding inter college and intra college meetings, workshops, film screenings, discussions on gender issues, safety of women in the public, domestic and private domains and much more! Since we live in India, and though we promote English but Hindi still remains our mother tongue and so the discussions and all activities and events conducted are bi-lingual. Jagriti comprise faculty coordinators and student coordinators from across sections and disciplines. Our student coordinators are expected to actively engage with issues of gender mainstreaming, and to realize its politics in their day-to-day life. Since we don’t believe in hierarchy so we have no posts…

It organizes various activities, debates, discussions, film screenings and much more to help understand what sexual harassment is, educate students and staff on how to prevent and address harassment. The society talks on tackling the various Gender issues and Patriarchy to prevent spread of any discrimination which a part of daily issues.

What constitutes an integral part of the curriculum of the cell is the annual fest called “AWAKENING”.

Jagriti further took on “Kahi Ankahi Batein”,A collaborated project between CREA, TARSHI, Gurgaon ki Awaaz and Gram Vaani on disseminating information on sexual and reproductive health through interactive voice recording systems.(2014- 2015)The “Kahi Ankahi Batein” was a very new and innovative project involving a voice input and output system just like the mobile helplines.All needed was to give a miss call. The person would receive a call from the team and the caller could put forward any question or query regarding the sexual health, relationships, emotional or mental pressure and they would be answered back within 3-4 days. The best thing of this effort was to impart knowledge in a way and the identity of the person won’t be revealed. Furthermore to have a better and more engagement some contests and weekly recharges were also there on the helpline no- 09266292662!! 24*7 available for information the helpline had weekly discussions too on different topics to create more awareness-Menstruation, Sex, AIDS, PCOS, Domestic violence and so on!!

Gender justice is not only a debatable issue concerning a particular section of the society, it is a responsibility that has now, more than ever before, assumed an unmatched level of importance and thereby setting up of Women’s Development Cells is no longer just an option but a necessity and more than that a need! I had a great experience working with the Women Development Cell and I myself being a woman, thoroughly support the young, enthusiastic team.

[author image=”http://www.aapkatimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Pallavi-Rohatgi.jpg” ]Pallavi Rohatgi is a student of Bharati college,University of Delhi pursuing English Honours. She has been awarded ‘The student of the year’ by The Times Of India.She writes as an author on blogs and has done a Certified course in Writing under the US Embassy.She likes to take up on Social issues and Women empowerment.[/author]

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