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Rasheeda Bhagat

One has heard of all kinds of loans... housing loan, agricultural loan, jewellery loan, crop loan, and the like. But have you heard of a marriage loan? Not of the variety a parent borrows to get his/her child married. But the kind where a girl pledges her labour for three years or so, at the end of which she is given a lump sum of Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000.

Well, this is exactly what is happening in the southern belt of Tamil Nadu, particularly the Madurai/Tirunelvelli area. The Madurai/Usilampatti belt is infamous for the heinous practice of female infanticide and female foeticide. Madurai city has over 120 ultra sound clinics, where the equipment is getting more modern, says Phalavam, Project Co-ordinator of the Society for Integrated Rural Development (SIRD) that has been fighting the battle to save the girl child. "First you had 2D, then came 3D and now we have 4D scanners that can tell the sex of the foetus as early as the 10th week of pregnancy," she says.

Of course the real villain behind this evil is the dowry system, and stark poverty further reduces the worth of the girl child. Add to this the four years of relentless drought and you have a devastated farming community struggling to keep body and soul together in the backdrop of mounting debts. So, in the last couple of years the textile mills of Coimbatore, the hosiery industry of Tirupur and related industries have been scouting for teenaged girls from southern Tamil Nadu villages to work at their factories. They have a fertile recruiting ground in rural families for whom even one meal a day is a struggle.

It is heart rending to hear in village after village, from hardy and extremely orthodox men who can't even tolerate their young daughters going to films with friends, admitting that they have sent their girls away to these mills to earn some money. Mookaiah, a farmer in a village in Usilampatti district, says his sister's 15-year-old daughter went to a mill in Coimbatore four months ago. "She gets very good food three times a day, something we couldn't give her. She has to work from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. after which it is a one-hour break for lunch. After a 2 to 6 p.m. shift, there is dinner at 7 p.m. after which the girls are allowed to watch TV for some time." After boarding and lodging, she is paid a monthly wage of Rs 400, and will get a lump sum figure of Rs 35,000 on completing the three-year `contract'.

The girls are usually allowed to come home every six months and the parents or relatives can visit them every six months. It depends entirely on the recruiting agent what kind of organisation a girl gets recruited to. While some villagers complain that the "food is not good and they make the girls slog till midnight, so many girls from our village have come back in a couple of months," some parents have a more positive story to relate.

Take the case of 19-year-old Selvi from Usilampatti town. Her father works as a lorry driver, and her elder sister Ochammal faced a demand for more dowry from her greedy in-laws on the third day of marriage. When Selvi passed her class X examination, "we got a call from a recruiting agent for an interview with a leading textile mill in Coimbatore. As the times were tough — I have a younger daughter too — we decided to send her after making inquiries with the families of other girls working there," says Chellammal, Selvi's mother. Of course, she admits, the birth certificate had to be "modified", as 18 was the mandatory age.

Selvi is back after a three-year stint, and even though she says the "food was very good", she looks emaciated. But going by her narrative, her experience was positive. "It was a very big mill, and we had to reach it a little before 6 a.m.," she says, going into minute details of every "coffee, meal and tiffin break".

Work was over by 4 p.m. after which the girls were taken to a hall where they could watch TV. Those interested in enhancing their skills could join computer or typewriting classes at a minimal fee or opt for tailoring classes, which were free. She opted for the last and is today working for a garments company in Usilampatti. She says there was no scope for sexual exploitation as the rooms where they were put up had wardens "who were very strict. All our letters were first read by them, and any girl who was even seen talking to a man, was immediately sent back home. Our instructions were clear — we are not to talk to any men or go out with anybody. It was just work, TV time and extra classes. When anybody fell sick, we were taken to the doctor at the cost of the company. It was a good experience, and apart from food and accommodation, we were paid Rs 400 a month."

Selvi returned home a few months ago bringing back Rs 44,000. So what have her parents done with the money? "We bought some jewels for her and deposited Rs 30,000 in the bank. After all, soon she will get married and the money will come in handy, because we will have to spend at least Rs one lakh on the marriage," says Chellammal.

The dowry will require a "minimum of 10 sovereigns, apart from cash, vessels, etc." Meanwhile, Selvi is quite happy working for a salary of Rs 1,000 at the garment company. "They wanted me to renew the contract for another three years, but I had enough of staying away from home," says the teenager.

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