All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA)
13th National Conference
6-9 January 2023, Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala)
PRESS RELEASE
On the second day of the 13th National Conference of the All-India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), General Secretary Mariam Dhawale and Vice President P.K. Sreemathi briefed the media about the conference at M.C. Josephine Nagar (Tagore Theatre), Thiruvananthapuram. She informed those present that 35 delegates from 25 states and union territories participated in the discussion on national and international developments. Among others, the issues highlighted in the deliberation are price rise, destruction of Public Distribution System, unemployment, rising indebtedness and Microfinance Institutions, disappearance of gas subsidy, rising violence against women and public spaces and nights becoming unsafe for women. It was observed that the menace of the drug nexus of police, politicians, ruling party and drug agents needs to be addressed.
The laws constituted for the protection of women, including the anti-dowry, rape, domestic violence, and workplace harassment laws are being watered down and scarcely implemented, noted the conference. People in the ruling party support the accused in cases of atrocities against women, in the name of caste or party or familial connections. In many cases like Kathua and U.P. gangrape and the the remission of sentence in the Bilkis Bano case, the RSS-BJP and its associates have been able to derail criminal proceedings and provided political support for the accused. This shows how the Modi government is targeting the most oppressed sections of the society, in violation of Constitutional values and principles.
Some of these issues were the focus of the resolutions. The resolutions placed today are: ‘Stop this Corporate Loot of Common Property and Natural Resources’; ‘Struggle for Fostering Scientific Temper and Counter Superstition’; ‘Guarantee Right to Work: Expand MGNREGS, Enact Urban Employment Guarantee Act’; ‘Oppose Deregulation of Microfinance, Ensure Low Interest Loans to Women’; ‘Join the Fight Against Drug Abuse, Take Action Against Drug Mafia’; ‘Resist Attacks on Federalism, Protect Rights of States’; ‘Stop Targeted Attacks Against Scholars, Activists and Journalists’; ‘Revoke the Remission of the Sentence – Expedite Justice for Victims of Gujrat Riots’; and ‘On the Kerala Model of Development’.
The conference was greeted by A. Vijayaraghavan, President All India Agricultural Workers’ Union, Vijoo Krishnan, General Secretary All India Kisan Sabha, and Mayukh Biswas, General Secretary Students’ Federation of India. Vijayaraghavan noted that more than half the membership of AIAWU comprise of women and there was a need to intensify joint actions to build an alternative. Vijoo Krishnan gave the slogan of Mahila-Kisan-Ekta (Women-Farmer Unity) and noted that the Kisan Sabha had taken up many issues related to women farmers’, particularly, land rights for landless families. He congratulated women for their massive participation in contemporary famers’ movements like the Maharashtra Long March and the historic farmers’ struggle. Mayukh Biswas noted that SFI and AIDWA have done several programmes together. He said that women and girl students were facing several challenges in the wake of the National Education Policy being implemented by the Modi Government. The SFI was taking several steps to counter this and he hoped that there would be several joint agitations and actions planned by the two organization. He ended with the slogan ‘SFI-AIDWA Zindabad’.
The AIDWA released five booklets and one diary on the occasion of the All India Conference. The booklets are ‘An All India Women’s Organisation Takes Shape: Proceedings of the First and the Second Conferences of AIDWA’, ‘Gumnam Virangnye (Unknown Women Fighters)’, ‘Early Struggles for Law Reform: Dowry and Rape’, ‘Women Torchbearers of Kerala’, and the book by M.C. Josephine. The AIDWA diary for 2023 was also released.
The work and organisation report was placed by the General Secretary Mariam Dhawale and will be discussed tomorrow.
Sd/-
Malini Bhattacharya (President) Mariam Dhawale (General Secretary)
