Forward to AIDWA National Rally on Oct 5: BJP-RSS Hatao, Mahila Bachao, Desh Bachao!
Mariam Dhawale
UNDER the banner of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), thousands of women from 25 states will hold a massive public meeting at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on October 5, 2023. Preparations for ‘Chalo Delhi’ are going on in full swing all over the country. Thousands of women are participating in the hundreds of jathas and padayatras going on throughout the month of September in villages and bastis in all states. Five years ago on September 4, 2018, another massive AIDWA national rally and public meeting of thousands of women was held in Delhi, braving drenching rain.
The 10,000-strong state level march held in Mumbai and 10,000-strong state level public meeting in Kolkata gave enthusiastic calls for the success of the national rally. A black badge day was observed and district rallies are also being held in West Bengal. Thousands of women with flags, placards and mega mikes are participating in the campaign in hundreds of villages in all the 14 districts of Kerala. A statewide massive campaign with tens of thousands of leaflets and hundreds of street corner meetings in all the units is going on in Tamilnadu.
A women’s bike and tractor rally was organised in Mandya district in Karnataka. A protest demonstration against price rise and for rations was held in Puducherry and a meeting in Andaman. A jeep jatha was held in Nalgonda and other districts of Telangana. People eagerly participated in the signature campaign on ‘Modi Hatao’ in Andhra Pradesh. Meetings and pamphlet distribution is going on in the districts of Uttar Pradesh. Determined propaganda by women is going on in Himachal Pradesh despite the adverse weather conditions. Door-to-door campaign, protests, meetings, discussions, etc are being organised in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Tripura, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and also in the strife-torn Manipur.
The AIDWA social media team is releasing numerous posters, stickers, videos with the demands and issues of women, namely food security, employment, crimes against women, education, health, etc. The AIDWA at the national level is now on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp channel, and YouTube.
The October 5 Delhi action is focussing on the burning issues facing women in India.
FOOD SECURITY COMPROMISED
India has the largest number of hungry people in the world, with India sliding down to the 107th rank out of 121 countries in the World Hunger Index in 2023. Yet the central government support for PDS has come down by more than 40 per cent in the last five years. The opening up of food markets and the massive increase in diesel and petrol prices is leading to tremendous price rise; food inflation is to the tune of 7 per cent; and LPG prices have gone up by more than 140 per cent since 2014. The government started giving 5 kg free grains during the pandemic. But it has stopped the distribution of subsidised grains under the PDS system. More than four crore ration cards have been cancelled between 2013 and 2021. This is leading to an increase in malnutrition and starvation. The Modi government in its attempt to hide this fact has decided to stop giving anaemia figures in the National Family Health Survey.
Instead, it has announced that poor families would be given rice fortified with iron and vitamins through the public distribution system (PDS), the school midday meal scheme and other government programmes to reduce malnutrition and anaemia. The investigative articles of the Reporters Collective showed that this scheme which was going to affect about 80 crore Indians was started without evidence and preparation. There is lack of evidence that fortified rice will iron out anaemia and malnutrition. A cartel of six companies will get a bonanza of Rs 1,800 crore annual business due to this decision.
MGNREGA IN DOLDRUMS
The central government has decided to kill MGNREGA with drastic cuts in the budgetary allocation for the scheme even though demand is going up. The centre owes 18 states more than Rs 6000 crore for pending wages, and 30 states another Rs 6000 crore as material costs. This has adversely impacted the implementation of the scheme in the states. A majority of the MGNREGA workers are women who are not getting work; they do not get wages on time and the online attendance system works to their disadvantage.
MGNREGA is a lifeline for crores of households despite the low wages and insufficient number of days of work. The meagre earnings are precious because there are hardly any job opportunities in the country. Shrinking livelihood opportunities are pushing women into the most insecure and exploitative jobs. Cases of forced labour and human trafficking have also increased.
Increasing loss of livelihoods and rising cost of living have forced women into taking high interest loans from MFIs, whose extortion and malpractices are going unpunished. Many of the central government schemes that require the formation of SHGs have been penetrated by private finance banks and micro-finance companies. The policy changes brought about by the RBI have only facilitated this. Rising debts and inability to repay loans is leading to suicides. This is the new system of loot sanctioned by the BJP-RSS regime.
INCREASING VIOLENCE AND DISCRIMINATION
The insensitive and arrogant BJP-RSS government has created an extremely insecure atmosphere for women in the country. The politics of hatred has resulted in increasing brutality and violence against minorities, dalits, adivasis and women. Crimes against women have reached alarming proportions since the advent of the Modi government.They have increased by 26.35 per cent from 2016 to 2021. One in three women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. According to the NCRB, a crime against women is committed every three minutes. Women are raped every 29 minutes and dowry deaths occur every 77 minutes. In every 10 rape cases, 6 are girls under 18. The accused go unpunished. The deafening silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Manipur atrocities and many other crimes against women means tacit support for the criminals. There is no improvement in the schemes addressing violence such as the Nirbhaya Scheme and the One Stop Crisis Centres for rape victims. The Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao slogan has remained just a ‘jumla’.
The brazenness with which the leaders of the ruling regime propagate the anti-women ‘Manusmriti’ has strengthened the hands of the communal and casteist forces. This has led to a severe setback to the struggle for women’s emancipation.
UNITE TO DEFEND SECULAR AND DEMOCRATIC INDIA
Our freedom fighters fought for independence with dreams of building a democratic, secular and socialist nation. Women played heroic roles sacrificing their lives for a country where women would be free of hunger, unemployment and violence. Women raised the demand for equal rights along with all the other demands of the independence struggle. But the aspirations of the people, especially women, have been crushed to the ground.
We are at the threshold where all Indians, especially women have a lot at stake. Attempts to change our secular, democratic republic into a Hindutva rashtra by the ruling BJP-RSS combine are a dangerous portent. The attempt to replace our constitution by the Manusmriti must be resisted. The authoritarian Modi government’s use of religion and hate politics to polarise society must be unitedly opposed.
A Hindu rashtra by its very nature is based on hierarchies and exclusion. It strengthens upper caste hegemony and patriarchy. As Bharat Ratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar stated, “If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will no doubt be the greatest calamity for this country”, and warned that “It (Hindu Raj) is incompatible with democracy”.
AIDWA calls upon women from all sections to participate in thousands in the nationwide ‘Chalo Delhi’ Rally on October 5, 2023, to strengthen our struggle in defence of our rights and the constitution of India.
