AIDWA to Hold Rally on Oct 5 against ‘Modi Sarkar, Anti-Women Sarkar’
Mariam Dhawale
THE first central executive committee (CEC) meeting of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) after the 13thall India conference at Thiruvananthapuram was held onApril 7-9, in Jaipur. It was well attended, with 86 out of 100 CEC members and three out of three invitees from 23 states being present. A central secretariat meeting was held prior to the CEC on April 7which was attended by 30 out of 34 members. The meeting was presided over by AIDWA president P K Sreemathi.
AIDWA Patron Brinda Karat, while briefly addressing the CEC, explained the challenges before our country and before women, especially in the background of the attacks of the pro-corporate and communal RSS-BJP regime in power. All progressive values and traditions are sought to be overturned. She called upon AIDWA activists to reach out to the women from the minority, dalit and adivasi sections who are under severe attack from the Manuwadi forces and draw larger numbers of women into struggles.
She stressed that we must radically change our style of functioning. The live contact between our leaders and the masses is the most critical issue that must be addressed. All efforts must be made for strengthening the state centres, for consolidating and expanding our organisation and for increasing our political influence.
The report on current developments was placed by the general secretary Mariam Dhawale. The report, with inputs and suggestions from the states, was unanimously adopted after a rich discussion.This report contains information which will help our activists in the states to understand the international situation as well as expose the anti-women face of the central government.
FUTURE TASKS
The CEC discussed that the years 2023 and 2024 will be very crucial and challenging for our country. Being the largest mass organiSation of women, AIDWA will make every effort to mobilise and raise women’s voices through a nationwide campaign focusing on ‘Modi Sarkar, Anti-Women Sarkar’.
Local struggles
There is a massive reduction of 31 per cent in the food subsidy bill from Rs 2,87,194 crores to Rs 1,97,350 crores. The subsidy for decentralised procurement under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) has been cut by 17 per cent, the allocation for midday meals by 9.4 per cent and nutrient based subsidy by 38 per cent.
The 5 kg ‘free’ ration for nearly 2/3rds (81.35 crore) of our people will be provided for the year 2023, but they will now be denied 5 kg of food grains at subsidised rate of Rs 3/kg for rice, 2/kg for wheat that was existing. This means that women will have to go and buy the additional grains from the open market where wheat is selling at around Rs 30+/kg and rice at Rs 40+/kg. Also, the prices of cooking gas cylinders are continuously rising. All this is a cruel blow to crores of households struggling to survive.
It was reported from some states that women are actually getting less than 5 kg of the free grains. Lakhs of ration cards are also being cancelled. State committees will organise agitations according to the concrete situation regarding rations in their states.
AIDWA has been reaching out to the MNREGA, SHG-MFI and rural women for the past few years. It is a welcome development that some states have taken up these issues seriously.
The government has introduced the National Mobile Monitoring System App for recording the attendance of the MNREGA workers. This mandatory system of attendance has resulted in workers losing their wages. This app functions only with internet connections which are absent in most of the rural areas where MNREGA work is carried out. Along with the slashing of budgetary allocation and long pendency of wage payments the introduction of the app is rendering the MNREGA ineffective.
While taking up the issues of MNREGA women, AIDWA will also initiate the discussion on the urban employment guarantee scheme among women in the urban areas.
OBSERVANCES
Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti programmes have been organised from April 14-16. A note on ‘Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Contribution for Women’s Rights’ was circulated to help activists to popularise Dr Ambedkar’s role in the struggle for women’s and dalit rights.
Ahilya Rangnekar Death Anniversary Day will be observed all over the country onApril 19; AIDWA will actively participate in the International Workers’ Day rallies throughout the country on May 1; multifarious children’s programmes will be held independently and with Bal Sangham wherever possible on International Children’s Day on June 1; Captain Lakshmi Sehgal Memorial Day on July 23 will be observed to popularise the “Role of Left Women in the Freedom Struggle”. The AIDWA centre will send a short film made by Shaad Ali on Capt Lakshmi and the digital video of 10 freedom fighters from the AIDWA exhibition on communist women freedom fighters. This exhibition will be put up during these programmes.
OTHER PROGRAMMES
Around 25 AIDWA leaders from around 20 states will participate in the joint national convention, ‘Save Education, Save Nation’ on April 30 in Delhi. Bindu, higher education minister of Kerala gave information about the pro-student policies of the LDF state government.
AIDWA will hold a national workshop for training state treasurers on the maintenance of accounts at Hyderabad in July. The total income and expenditure account from April 1, 2022 to February 28, 2023 was placed before the CEC. AIDWA has formed the internal audit committee for the regular check-up of its accounts.
The CEC has decided to hold a 1000-strong national symposium titled‘Modi Sarkar, Anti-Women Sarkar’ in Delhi on August 5, 2023. It is also the week of the Quit India Movement. Women speakers from various states who have been directly affected by the policies of the BJP-RSS central government and women who have been victims of violence based on caste, religion and gender will be invited. These women will be as follows – women whose ration card has been cancelled or has not received free grains; MNREGA workers whose attendance is not recorded due to the newly introduced app or has not received wages or work; girl children whose education ended due to non-payment of fees or whose scholarships have stopped; MFI women who are now caught in a debt trap or who had to take loans for health; rural/tribal women who have been evicted from their land or harassed by forest officials, dalit women who have been victims of caste violence; Muslim and Christian women who have been targeted because of their religion; states will organiseconventions along similar lines after the national symposium and before the all India rally.
All India Rally
AIDWA had organised its national rally nearly five years ago on September 4, 2018. The CECenthusiastically decided that keeping in mind the challenges before women in our country,a national rally will be held in Delhi on October 5, 2023 against the anti-women Modi government. At least 10,000 women will be mobilised for this from all over the country.
While taking up all the issues mentioned above with much more vigour and intensity, AIDWA will stress on the unity of women. The growing violence on minorities and dalits will be raised in all the campaigns. Dangers of communalism and the politics of hatred, and attacks on democracy and secularism will also be raised.
AIDWA will bring out thousands of copies of a booklet, ‘Modi Sarkar, Anti-Women Sarkar’ inEnglish, Hindi and national languages priced at Rs 10 by October.
This being the first CEC meeting after the national conference, the distribution of responsibilities was finalised. The all India centre will comprise P K Sreemathi, Mariam Dhawale, Malini Bhattacharya, Subhashini Ali, S Punyavathi, Kirti Singh, Asha Sharma and Archana Prasad.
Sub-Committees for Muslim women’s issues, dalit women’s issues, tribal women’s issues, rural women’s issues, self-help groups, MNREGA and organisational education were formed. The sub-committees will thoroughly discuss the issues under their purview and suggest a draft plan of action to the CEC. This will help to strengthen sectoral work.
The editorial boards of AIDWA journals Equality and Samya were reconstituted. The responsibilities for the Indian School of Women Studies and Development (ISWSD) and the Susheela Gopalan Memorial Trust were also finalised.
The total membership of AIDWA for 2022 was finalised as 1,00,54,054. The CEC applauded the sterling performance of Kerala in membership enrolment. Telangana, Maharashtra, and Assam were congratulated for completing their membership targets. AIDWA had given a call for a day-long membership enrolment drive by all the AIDWA units in the states in March. It was heartening that the following states organised this campaign: West Bengal (1,70,302), Telangana (49,200), Andhra Pradesh (48,000), Assam (25,250), Maharashtra (15,000), Karnataka (12,000), Bihar (6,000), Odisha (5,000), Delhi (2,700), Jharkhand (2,000), Uttar Pradesh (1,850), Madhya Pradesh (1,200), Punjab (800), Puducherry (724) and Himachal Pradesh (500). Tamilnaduhas planned their one-day membership drive and aim to enrol 1,00,000 members.
The Kerala State Women’s Commission chairperson, Sathi Devi explained the various initiatives taken by the SWC. A detailed note regarding these initiatives has been circulated to the CEC members.
A resolution demanding a fresh and fair enquiry into the sexual harassment complaints in Kalakshetra Educational Institution’was passed in this meeting.
The next meeting of the CEC will be held on July 7-9, 2023 at Hyderabad, Telangana after the workshop with
