Text from SPARROW:
Ima Thokchom Ramani Devi is seventy-five years old. She is currently the General Secretary of All Manipur Women’s Reformation and Development Samaj. The Samaj was registered in 1978. There was no office as such. It kept shifting from one place to another. The last office the Samaj occupied was demolished and currently the Samaj is temporarily located in the green room of an amphitheatre in Imphal. The Samaj has taken up several issues like banning of alcohol, rape, individual cases of women, and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
Ima Thokchom Ramani Devi belongs to the Meitei community and has studied only up to the primary level. In her growing up years she learnt to weave, dance and sing. She has taken part in cultural activities. She got married at the age of seventeen and life, as a woman was difficult. She had to weave, pound rice and does all the household chores and brings up her children and also takes care of the elders. 27th August 1965, which is still observed as the Hunger Marchers’ Day, was her first initiation into action to demand rights. She has come a long way since then and is currently known for the struggles she has waged with her group for the cause of women and for the cause of peace in the region.