Punita Kumari Mahara
Punita Kumari, born in Chamar Tol of Kalyanpur Municipality in Siraha, is a newsreader. Punita has a high school diploma in Education, is affiliated with various organizations, and is also interested in arts and sports. She participated in drama and dance, and also secured a second place Her marital home is in Red Cross Tol of Shivanagar, in Ward 8 of Sonama Rural Municipality in Mahottari. She looks after her family of 12, including her two young children. Her husband works in a micro-finance cooperative while her father-in-law sews shoes and is also active in politics. Her family, which used to be dependent upon the ancestral trade of sewing and repairing shoes, along with the agricultural produce of 4 katthas of land, is now supported by her husband’s job as well.
Punita is aware that the greater majority of Dalits in her neighbourhood is landless and that they must work
Punita says that it is important to work in such a way that the poor Dalits of the society can progress, and that all issues are solved. She is eager to put in all the effort required to make that happen. Her dream is to avoid letting the hardships endured by her ancestors burden the generations that will follow. Punita, says that she has been trying to understand the condition of Madheshi Dalit women in depth in order to ensure this.
Punita Kumari, born in Chamar Tol of Kalyanpur Municipality in Siraha, is a newsreader. Punita has a high school diploma in Education, is affiliated with various organizations, and is also interested in arts and sports. She participated in drama and dance, and also secured a second place Her marital home is in Red Cross Tol of Shivanagar, in Ward 8 of Sonama Rural Municipality in Mahottari. She looks after her family of 12, including her two young children. Her husband works in a micro-finance cooperative while her father-in-law sews shoes and is also active in politics. Her family, which used to be dependent upon the ancestral trade of sewing and repairing shoes, along with the agricultural produce of 4 katthas of land, is now supported by her husband’s job as well.
Punita is aware that the greater majority of Dalits in her neighbourhood is landless and that they must work on the lands of non-Dalit landowners in order to eke out a living. The Dalits are oppressed because of the rule of the landowners, and therefore they are also forced to drop out of school in their adolescent years. Punita, who is concerned at watching their oppressed life, thinks that it is hugely problematic that only the so-called upper castes own any land. She says that she has been encouraging Dalit children to acquire an education and advance in life. She insists that she tries to bring Dalits who have no education at all into the enlightening bask of education.
Punita says that it is important to work in such a way that the poor Dalits of the society can progress, and that all issues are solved. She is eager to put in all the effort required to make that happen. Her dream is to avoid letting the hardships endured by her ancestors burden the generations that will follow. Punita, says that she has been trying to understand the condition of Madheshi Dalit women in depth in order to ensure this.
She was denied proper education because of her gender, and because of her caste she endured discrimination in terms of living a dignified life in rented rooms. She has examined, through the prism of her own experience, discrimination and division on the basis of gender in the prevalent attitude of keeping women suppressed, dictating what a woman may or may not wear, telling women they should not laugh or behave like men. Currently, she is studying about who created the caste system and patriarchy, how they did it, and why. She is learning to write about her life based on these experiences and studies, and is learning to analyse every issue, ask critical questions, and think deeply.
