Farming Gives Hope, Opportunity To Widowed Muslim Women Of Tamil Nadu Village

By R Sivakumar

Pudukkottai: The Covid-19 pandemic claimed thousands of lives across the globe. Among those are the Muslim women of Kattu Bava Pallivasal, located on Tirupattur highway in Thirumayam taluk of Pudukkottai district, who lost their husbands to the pandemic.

But the women never gave up and rebuilt their lives and that of their families by taking up agriculture. Kattu Bava Pallivasal is inhabited by 200 Muslim families. The Chettinad tradition is somewhat intertwined in the village's heritage where the Kattu Bava Sahib Pallivasal was built in 1516 AD.

Kattu Bava Sahib Pallivasal is the burial place of the great saint, Bava Fakhruddin. The village welcomes people of all faiths including Hindus who participate in various events including the Sandalwood Festival held here. Similarly, Christians residing in large numbers in Thirumeiyapuram, close to the village, have close ties with the Masjid Jamaat. The Kattu Bava Masjid Jamaat, which is an example of religious harmony, recently launched a revolutionary initiative for the women of the community.

Kattu Bava Masjid at Kattu Bava Pallivasal (ETV Bharat)

There are two important water bodies in the village named Pudukkanmai and Pattu Kanmai. The ponds, which had been lying in a dilapidated state for more than 30 years, have been renovated by the Jamaat. In particular, the Pudukkanmai, which is about 750 square metre in area, was completely covered with bushes and was restored by 52 women of the village, who lost their husbands to Covid-19, at a cost of Rs 3 lakhs.

A Delhi-based company, Pradhan, is providing technical advice, financial assistance and guidance to the women. who perform traditional agricultural works using the water from Kanmai.

The Jamaat’s president, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, said, “The decision to drain the new Kanmai in the village as taken for the welfare of the 52 women of our village who have lost their husbands. When this idea was put forward in the Jamaat, the women welcomed it".

The Kanmai has been deepened, the banks have been raised and the dams repaired. Kanmai will provide irrigation to 50 acres of land. The Jamaat's share in it is one-third. "At present, only paddy is cultivated. If necessary, more crops can be cultivated in the future," he said.

Members of the Jamaat (ETV Bharat)

While several men from the village work abroad, the women work in the neighbouring villages to sustain their families. However, agriculture has emerged as a source of sustainable and long-term income generation opportunity for the village's women.

A local named Zarina said, "We have dug and cleaned the Kanmai. Due to absence of rain, the Kanmai is not even full. We will start cultivating the land whenever it gets filled with water".

Thirunirai, an agricultural engineer working in the Thirumayam area on behalf of Pradhan, said, “There are a total of 32 panchayats in Thirumayam taluka. We are carrying out water body development work here. When we approached the Kattubava Palli Masjid Jamaat, we came to know that two Kanmais here have not been renovated for 30-40 years. The plots for the new Kanmais were lying fallow without being cultivated, so we have renovated them first".

Kanakavalli, an agricultural engineer who is the team leader for the water resources development work of Pradhan said, “Usually, men are more involved in water resources and agricultural development work. But on the contrary, it is welcome that the Jamaat in Kattubava Palli Masjid village has given priority to women, especially widows."

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