THE 12th state conference of DYFI Himachal Pradesh was held on January 8-9, 2022 at Shimla. The main slogan of the conference was “stop hate and drugs, provide employment”.

The conference was held at a time when there was heavy snowing in Shimla and most of the roads leading to the state capital were blocked. Still, the delegates, some of whom had to walk to the town from miles away reached and attended this conference.

INAUGURAL SESSION

 The 12th state conference was inaugurated by Kushal Bhardwaj, former state president and secretary of DYFI. In his speech, he said, “Lakhs of people have lost their lives in this pandemic. Corona has gripped the country as well and still this pandemic is hitting all of us badly”.

He pointed out that vaccination is at a slow pace in the country, with the first two doses of vaccines reaching more than 70 per cent of the population in the country and the number of people who have got both doses crossing just over 40 per cent. This shows that the government of the country has failed to reach every person.

The BJP government, which is sitting in power is constantly bent on selling the public sector units that are a bedrock of development in India, he said. Railway stations, airports are being sold, banks are being merged. Due to which employment in the government sector is also declining. The nature of employment is also being changed. Outsourcing of work or contract system is being encouraged by eliminating government jobs. The unemployment rate in the country is increasing at the rate of 7.9 per cent.

 The unemployment rate in Himachal Pradesh is also increasing at the rate of 14 per cent. When the question was asked to the government in the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly that how many unemployed are there, the government replied that the number of registered unemployed is around 10 lakhs. Due to unemployment in the state, youth are going towards drugs and other crimes. Due to unemployment and wrong policies of the government in the state, cases of suicide among youth are also increasing day by day.

He said the historic farmers' movement, which was fought by the farmers in the country against the three agricultural laws, taught everyone that without fighting you cannot achieve your rights. This peasant movement has emerged as a source of inspiration for the whole world. The history of DYFI has been the history of freedom movements in the country. Ever since the formation of the DYFI, it has fought decisive struggles in the country on the issue of education for all, employment for all and other issues. DYFI has also fought in different corners of the country against the divisive forces in the country. Hundreds of DYFI workers have given their lives and attained martyrdom to save the unity and integrity of the country.

After this, at the 12th conference of DYFI, the leadership of other democratic organisations expressed solidarity and conveyed their best wishes to the conference.

DELEGATE SESSION

At the beginning of the delegate session, various committees were formed to conduct the conference. A total of 76 delegates from nine districts participated in the conference. The draft political and organisational report for the last two years was presented before the conference for discussion by the secretary of the state committee, Chandrakant Verma.

The report highlighted the situation the organisation is going through in the state in the last two years. Due to the Covid pandemic, the organisation was confined to a few districts in the state. Some district committees played an important role in relief work even during the time of Covid.

During this time, the organisation has tried to organise youth in different districts regarding inflation, unemployment and other basic facilities in the state. The report placed by the secretary was discussed openly by the delegates. On the report, eight district committees kept the report of their respective districts. And representatives of three groups took part in the discussion. Along with this, five resolutions were also placed in the conference; resolutions were passed against unemployment, against drug addiction, against the commission on upper castes and against the attack on democracy.

The conference elected a 23-member state committee unanimously. The committee then elected a secretariat of eight members and Suresh Sarwal and Chandrakant Verma as president and secretary respectively. Other members of the secretariat include: Mahendra Rana and Hemraj, vice president, Sanjay Jamwal, Sabeer Khan and Rakesh Kumar as joint secretary, and Kapil Sharma was elected as the treasurer. At the end of the conference, all the delegates and the new state committee took a vow that in the coming time, the DYFI state committee would take up the issues of every youth prominently and take the organisation to new heights.