Mukti Datta - how it all began

Mukti Datta is half Belgian and half Indian and, with a great deal of perseverance and diplomacy, has managed to change a social structure that has been dominated by men for generations and to give women from an entire region work, dignity and the courage to take control of their own lives.

Her story begins in 1986 in a place called Binsar, which is in the heart of Kumaon.

Raging forest fires, uncontrolled tree cutting and poaching in Binsar forest, an area of unique bio-diversity, motivated Mukti, at the time a young woman of 23 to write a letter to the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. She asked for the area to be made into an animal protection zone. When the Prime Minister answered her letter personally and encouraged her, her optimism knew no bounds and she started a campaign to radically improve the situation in Binsar. This difficult project was supported from the beginning by the inhabitants of the region who own lives were controlled by the dubious practices of local politicians. They supported Mukti´s efforts and founded the organisation, Jan Jagaran Samiti (Society for the Empowerment of the Population). Thanks to a small financial grant from the ministry of forestry, the inhabitants of some of the villages around Binsar were able to plant trees on uncultivated land in the region and to slowly raise the environmental consciousness of the population. Finally, the relentless pressure from Jan Jagaran Samiti lead to Binsar being declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1988.

The Binsar project made it clear that women in the Indian mountain region bore the entire responsibility for livestock, agriculture and housework. They walked for miles in the forest to cut firewood, collect animal food and to bring the animals to pasture. The women were usually rewarded with abuse and scant respect for this exhausting work. It was time to find a different way for women to earn a living that not only protected the forest, but also improved the womenÕs situation.

In 1990, a solution came from an unexpected direction. While Mukti was camping on the border to Tibet with some nomadic shepherd friends during the festival of Nanda Devi, she met Kunthi Martiola, a remarkable woman from the Sauka Bhotia tribe. The Bhotias are unique Trans-Himalayan traders who, until the closure of the trading routes by China in 1965, had undertaken numerous expeditions in the wild Ngari region of Tibet: they travelled to the famous trading fairs of Gyanima, Gartok and Purang in Tibet on pony and goat caravans, laden with spices, jaggery (raw brown sugar), tea and textiles. They travelled back over the high passes bringing rock salt, borax, sheep wool, pashmina wool and gold dust.

Kunthi was one of the few female master weavers of exclusive pashmina shawls, which the Johar region had previously been famous for. Mukti spoke of the conditions of the village women and how wonderful it would be if they could learn the lost arts of spinning and weaving. The idea of the women weavers was born.

Unfortunately, the discontinuation of trade with Tibet meant that pashmina wool was no longer available and they had to start the training programme using coarse local sheep wool. The project received a small amount of financial support from the ministry for women and children. About 100 women from the area took part in the training programme. However, without pashmina wool, which would turn everyday products into luxury products, the project seemed to have reached a dead end.

In 1995, thanks to the improving relations between India and China, the Lipu Lekh pass between Kumaon and Tibet was re-opened for trading purposes. Kunthi and the master weavers, who were now too old for a month-long trek of more 450 km over high passes of 21,000 feet, asked Mukti, to apply for a Trans-Himalayan trade licence. Which she did, and in August 1995, Mukti and two other young women undertook the journey to Tibet.

After many adventures, the women managed to buy 500 kilogrammes of pashmina wool from the Chapka nomads of the Kailasch Mansarovar plateau. And so, for the first time in many years, trade contacts, which still exist today, were re-established. Pashmina dramatically changed the work of the women weavers of the Johar region: from producing run-of-the-mill goods to exclusive products of high quality.