THE two day conference of Janwadi Istri Sabha, Punjab was held on September 29-30, 2016 at the historical town of Nurmahal in Jalandhar district of Punjab. Sudha Sundararaman, all India vice president of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) said that the atrocities against women are on the rise as is evident from the news of rapes, eve teasing, dowry, burning of women appearing in each and every newspaper of the country day in and day out. She said that commoditisation of women’s bodies is rising as can be seen in advertisements on television and the programmes shown on TV. She demanded that there should be no cut in the MNREGA budget as it provides employment to poor rural women. She claimed that women are competing with men in every field and she proudly said that the two medals won at Rio Olympics are the achievement of women. Earlier the Janwadi Istri Sabha members marched through the bazaars of Nurmahal in a procession.  A presidium consisting of  Subhash Mattoo, chairperson Janwadi Istri Sabha, Sunita Noorpuri and Surinder Kochar  presided over the rally. Surinder  Kochhar, chairperson of the reception committee and Krishna Kumari, general secretary of   Istri sabha addressed the rally. 

The conference was attended by 88 delegates from all over Punjab. Krishna Kumari, general secretary presented the report of activities. More than a dozen delegates participated in the discussion on the report. The conference passed 14 resolutions which included 33 percent reservation for women in all fields, control on price rise, stopping atrocities against women and instant action against perpetrators of  crime against women, Rs 3000 as widow/old age pension, raise emoluments of ASHA and Mid-day Meal Workers, regularise services of Anganwadi workers, round the year work to MNREGA workers etc. 

The conference unanimously elected a 37 member state committee which elected Subhash Mattoo as chairperson and Krishna Kumari as general secretary for the next term.