Ela Bhatt Quotes

[SEWA] have been doing many different things, leading the SEWA movement which is about economic freedom for the poor, women, and self employed.

SEWA is now the largest union in India, with a membership of around 1.2 million women.

Microfinance is the best example of success in the kinds of systemic institutional areas.

realities of our own countries rather than catching up with the western economic models, [Bhatt urged] the people to follow a principle which ensures six basic necessities- food, shelter, clothing, primary education, primary healthcare and primary banking- are available within a 100 mile distance. If these necessities are locally produced and consumed, we will have the growth of a new holistic economy.

[So], in 1972, we started SEWA, the Self Employed Women’s Association. SEWA in many respects is a microcosm of the general picture of the informal sector, in India and worldwide.

Every human being has something, a spiritual element, that makes them want to do better, to reach higher.

Injustice happens at many levels, from the grass roots to the top. And one of the keys of SEWA’s vision and action is linking them.

I grew up in the time around India’s independence, in the aura of a country fighting for its freedom. It was a heady and idealistic time, and we were all infected with a spirit of optimism, and the spirit of Gandhiji.

...tribute to her unflinching zeal towards the betterment of women in society.

Women predominate in the lower strata of employment.

SEWA is about political action, and that has always been at the heart of what we have done. It is about changing the balance of power in favor of the poor. That has meant constant tension, with big farmers, moneylenders, contractors, big traders, government, local panchayats, and so on.

What we really are looking for is self reliance and that is how we should measure success. I don’t much like the word empowerment, but self-reliance is the foundation of SEWA’s approach,.

Systems are needed, for example for management, accounting, skill development and MIS to serve the needs of the working poor.

Teachers do not care…It is not because teachers are badly paid and the teachers are organized but they do not teach. If we don’t respect them it is because we see them doing other business than teaching.

I am Hindu, and my activism is very much framed within that context, of karma as meaning action.