Against odds, Kausar built a paradise

Warangal-based Kausar Shaheen went viral across the country after she spoke to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a video conference and became the cynosure of all eyes. However, the awe-inspiring fight she put up against all odds is what makes the 32-year-old Kausar, mother of two children, the beacon to those who feel inferior and less fortunate in life. Incidentally, Kausar means a lake in paradise.

Velair in Warangal Urban district, 140 kms northeast of Hyderabad, is not a non-descript village from where Kausar hails. The ZPHS in which she studied had a great alumnus - former Prime Minister P V Narasinha Rao, who studied for a brief period here decades ago, in its ranks.

Born into a traditional Muslim family, Kausar couldn’t go further after SSC as finances of her father didn’t permit her to make academic progress. As if that was not enough, her life had seen everything that a woman dreads to experience in the next few years.

At 17, Kausar got married and by 20, she had two kids. After experiencing a turbulent marital life for another five years, circumstances forced her to live separately with her kids. By then she lost her mother, her aged father was her only support.

At this juncture, she joined the Kanakadurga Self-help Group (SHG), in her village. While working as a labourer to make a living, she availed loan from the SHG to get good education for her children. She also bought a sewing machine and worked hard to raise her income.

Although she is a Muslim, she speaks Telugu proficiently in addition to her fluentness in Hindi. With this, she was selected as the community resource person (CRP) to spread awareness about the importance of SHGs among the rural folk in 2011.

Her responsibility was to motivate women living in remotest parts. She used to cover two villages in a month. In 2014, the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) made Kausar the Trainer to CRPs. A year later, she was elevated to State-level trainer by the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR).

Kausar, who never stepped out of the State had all of a sudden got opportunity to motivate women across the country. Since then she toured eight States to spread awareness about the SHGs. In all, she motivated women belonging to 15 States in the country. As she became busy and had no one to look after her son Md. Fareed and daughter Muskaan, she got them admitted to residential schools.

Against this backdrop, the authorities selected Kausar as one among the six women, who achieved phenomenal success through SHGs, to directly to speak to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 12. The authorities in Delhi finally selected Kausar and the rest was history.

In the three-minute timeframe that was given to Kausar, she precisely unfolded her life journey – her family backdrop, childhood, marriage and separation from spouse, entry into SHG, and experience as CRP.

After her incisive life story, Modi told her in the video conference: “A lesson learnt by one’s own experience is bigger than that of teachings of many great personalities.” Kausar’s traumatic life experience showcases the importance of women empowerment and it easily reaches the lowest strata of the society. And it’s awe-inspiring, Modi said.

Referring to the list of States visited by Kausar as the CRP, Modi asked why she had not visited Gujarat. Kausar answered, ‘Sure Sir if given an opportunity, I will campaign for SHGs in Gujarat.”

Speaking to The Hans India, Kausar said: “I feel proud. And all the credit goes to my village, my SHGs and the officials, especially Thakkallapally Ravinder Rao Sir, who encouraged me right through my short journey.” Ravinder Rao who worked in Warangal earlier is now the Mission Manager, NRLM (RC), NIRD&PR in Hyderabad.