TWO months of untold hardships and suffering, total dislocation of life and livelihoods, hunger and starvation staring in the face and absolutely no money in hand, forced to reside with the abuser with no means of escape – all this and more led to women responding massively despite the lockdown to the call of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) to hold countrywide protests against the BJP central government on June 1, 2020.

MARCH 8 International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated all over the world to reiterate the struggle for equality, justice and a violence free life for women. The German revolutionary Clara Zetkin proposed in the International Socialist Women’s Conference held in Copenhagen, Denmark in August 1910 that March 8 be celebrated as International Women’s Day. 100 women delegates from 17 countries agreed with the idea as a strategy to promote equal rights including suffrage for women. Women demanded that they be given the right to vote and to hold public office.

THE All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) has, in a statement issued on February 10, expressed shock and strongly condemned the harassment of girl students by a group of pro-CAA supporters inside Gargi College on February 6. The incident took place during the three day Gargi Women's College Festival 'Reverie' was being celebrated. A group of pro-CAA protestors passed by and broke into the premises. They scaled the walls of the college to enter it. They were drunk and shouted Jai Shri Ram slogans. They molested and manhandled the girls.

 THE state of Tamil Nadu stands first as far as the revenue from sale of liquor is concerned. Even during the festival of Deepavali, the state government fixed a target for sale of liquor through the state owned TASMAC shops and ‘achieved’ it. Alcoholism is prevalent even among school students and the number of young widows is increasing in the state. The fact that in many instances of violence, whether it is domestic violence or sexual violence, the culprits were found to be drunk proves the connection between violence and high consumption of liquor.

EVEN as India can lay claim to having more progressive and comprehensive laws against sexual assault than many other countries, the subversion of these laws by VIP rapists with the patronage of governments, police and sadly even a section of the judiciary, raise serious questions regarding the denial of justice for victims of sexual assault.The case against Chinmayanand a three time MP of the BJP and a former union minister and “guru” to many leading the present UP regime is the most recent example. The details of the case are well known and need not be repeated here.