BOOK 14#

Title – ‘I Will Save My Land’

Publisher, Year - Tulika Publishers, 2017

Grade- 4^th grade

Genre- Picture Book

Theme- Environment, Caste

Author - Rinchin

Brief Biography

Rinchin, who goes only by her first name, is an activist who lives in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. She is known for working with people’s movements in the same areas. Her books usually debate complex social issues such as caste, class or gender.

For the past few years, she has been documenting untold stories of the people of Raigarh, the coal district of Chhattisgarh, about 250 km northeast of State capital Raipur. Her other works include ‘The Gular Flower’, ‘The Trickster Bird’ and ‘Sabri’s Colours’.

Synopsis

‘I Will Save My Land’ is the story of a little girl named ‘Mati’, who lives in a village in Chhattisgarh. Mati keeps asking her grandmother and father to give her a plot of land in the big field. After she gets it, she works very hard to take care of it.

But then she hears that a company wants to make a coal mine in their village. What do you Mati will do know?

 

Reading - Writing Strategies

This story deals with a very sensitive theme of farmer struggles. And it could be used as a part of EVS classrooms.

Pre- reading

• You can start by asking the students to predict the story by reading the ‘Title’ itself.
• Have you ever seen farming being done? Have you ever been to a village?

 

During reading

• Have you ever wanted something so badly like Mati?
• What did you once you got it? Did you take good care of it?
• Why did Mati's father said that she cannot own land being a girl? Have you ever heard someone say something like this before?
  
• Are there other things that girls cannot do ?
  
• What is caste? have you ever heard an adult talk about caste to you?
• Who are low caste or high caste people?
  
• Can you think how Ajji felt when people said she cant own the land being a low caste woman?
  
• How do you think the villagers would feel about losing their land to the coal company?

 

Post reading

• What do you think Mati and the villagers will do?
• You can ask the students to put themselves into the shoes of the villagers and write what they would do if they were in the same position as the villagers and 'Mati'.
  
• You can use persuasion map, a type of graphic organiser. And ask the students to write their arguments for and against the idea of big companies taking land from farmers.

Argument Villagers shouldn’t sell their land.

Reason They share a deeper relationship with the land than the coal company. If they sell the land, they will be displaced from their home.

Facts News articles about migrant families across India.

Conclusion The company and the government cannot force them out of their land.

 

Reflection

‘I Will Save My Land’ is a very sensitively written story. The story depicts what it means to have ownership over one’s source of livelihood. ‘Mati’ associates a sense of independence and dignity with the idea of keeping and taking care of her plot of land. When she sees the villagers getting ready to spend a night guarding their land from the bulldozers, she too feels responsible for her little patch, and goes out to try and guard it.

The story also portrays issues like caste and gender, and how they play a part in determining ownership. Mati’s father tries to tell her that she is a girl and therefore doesn’t need to own land. Similarly, Mati’s grandmother has to go through some legal travails to wrangle her land out of the clutches of an upper-caste family.

The story also provides an insight into the struggles of peasants and farmers against large companies and that ‘development’ always comes at a cost.

The illustrations and bilingual dialogues provide a very authentic feel to the book.

Sources-

https://www.tulikabooks.com/search?search_query=Rinchin