People's Democracy

 WEST BENGAL

Fervour & Enthusiasm Mark AIDWA State Conference

 B Prasant

HELD at Jadavpur Stadium in the southern suburbs of Kolkata over December 18-22, the 23rd state conference of the West Bengal unit of All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) was marked by a great deal of dedication and zest. Before electing a new leadership, the conference deliberated long and hard on issues concerning women as well as issues concerning the toiling masses as a whole. The conference stressed that women’s issues must be brought out of the cocoon of emotions where some quarters would like them to be confined, and should be made to conform to the imperatives of class struggle. The labour and intellect of women must be properly utilised in the social and the production sectors.

The conference was conducted by a presidium that comprised Shyamali Gupta, Manjari Gupta, Biva Ghosh Goswami, Mumtaz Begum, Madhuri Dasgupta, Mitali Kumar, Shweta Chandra, Kamal Basu Sengupta, Banani Biswas, Jayanti Goswami and Malati Baskey.

AN INSTRUMENT FOR EMANCIPATION

Inaugurating the conference, veteran AIDWA leader Kanak Mukherjee said the AIDWA was not a feminist organisation but an instrument forged to struggle for the emancipation of women. In a society where the mass of the people remained bereft of the taste of emancipation, Mukherjee said, all talk of women’s emancipation without the concept of social change is meaningless.

Supporting the need for the reservation of seats for women in parliament and state legislatures, Kanak Mukherjee said that despite the precept of the Indian constitution about the equality of genders, the reality was that such equality did not exist. Outrage of the body and the mind of women, noted the speaker, continued unabated. Thus, it becomes imperative that a reservation of seats for women is ensured, just as there is a reservation of seats for the socially backward groups like the SCs, the STs and the OBCs.

Kanak Mukherjee also spoke about the urgent need to conduct struggles and movements to fight against such mores and superstitions as child marriage, dowry and molestation of women. She said the BJP-led union government was keen to clamp down on society sets of medieval and draconian laws.  The AIDWA, said the speaker, must fight against both imperialism and communalism, and help widen the base of the democratic movements and struggles. Mukherjee also commended the Bengal Left Front government for its initiative in strengthening the roots of participatory democracy in the state.

In her address, Bengal AIDWA president Shyamali Gupta said that, under the BJP dispensation, very many women had had to lose their jobs. The deepening economic crisis has added to the burdens of the women across the country. The very social base of the nation is fast eroding as the BJP led regime is allowing a degenerate culture to spread its tentacles. Women are not only the targets of socio-economic exploitation but are also made to suffer because of their gender. The BJP and its cohorts are engaged in the task of seeking to organise women along lines of religion and caste.  Superstitions and blind faith are being encouraged. What is essential is that we strengthen the democratic movement to fight these evils, said Gupta.

IMPORTANT TASKS AHEAD

Placing the secretary’s report, Rekha Goswami said the Bengal state unit of the AIDWA would undertake an intense drive to find out the ground level reality regarding the social and economic conditions of women. Based on the findings, a charter of demands will be drawn up for women to organise themselves and launch movements and struggles. To make the women socially more active, Gram Sansad based workshops will be conducted across the state. Movements will be launched against such social evils as superstition, dowry and child marriage, as well as against molestation of women. These struggles will be conducted in association with the students and youth of Bengal.

In her address to the conference, the AIDWA’s all-India general secretary Brinda Karat said that the AIDWA must get involved in struggles to protect and advance women’s rights along with struggling against superstitions and other social evils. If necessary, the AIDWA will launch movements in conjunction with the CITU, AIAWU and Kisan Sabha to wrest the legitimate demands of women. All this must be done while maintaining the independent role of the AIDWA. More young women must be brought within the fold of the AIDWA since they are often placed first in the line of fire of the forays of imperialism and communalism. Brinda Karat also stressed on the need to strengthen the booth level units of the AIDWA.

Among the issues that were thrown up during the discussion session were literacy, mass health, economic self-dependence, self-help groups, problems of women working in industries, issues affecting the khet mazdoors, organising the unorganised, and the nature of exploitation of women.

Addressing the delegates session of the conference, Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya said the AIDWA must have to intervene and launch movements whenever and wherever torture and exploitation of women takes place. Bhattacharya said that while the general crime curve was dipping perceptively, there seemed to be an increase in crimes against women. He urged upon the AIDWA to be vocal in its protests against all crimes against women. He also asked the delegates to attach importance to the issue of economic freedom, and that the self-help groups across the state should be further strengthened and widened.

PROCEEDINGS & DECISIONS

The conference organised three commissions which met separately, presented their papers after deliberations and these papers were then debated. These papers were on ‘Industry and Women,’ Agriculture and Women,’ and ‘Social Erosion, Violence and Women.’ Delegates from all the 19 districts of West Bengal participated in these commission deliberations. The commission papers called for exemplary punishments to those who exploit women in one form or another. They also dealt with domestic violence and the attack on women within the households.

In all, 44 delegates took part in the discussion of the general secretary’s report, which was subsequently passed unanimously. As many as 76 delegates took part in the commissions’ sessions. Several important decisions were taken at the conference. These were as below.

• District-wise evaluation must be made of cases involving crimes against women, with the aim to provide required legal aid.

• A note will be prepared for the education and training of women members of panchayats.

• It will also be ensured that there is no diversion of funds earmarked for tribal welfare and development.

• The issue of the crisis overwhelming the tea industry in north Bengal will be suitably taken up.

• The issue of river erosion will be taken up.

• On some specific issues, the AIDWA will organise movements in cooperation with NGOs.

• A great deal of importance will be attached to the task of raising the political consciousness of AIDWA workers right from the primary level.

Other issues taken up by the conference were

--- building up local resistance to sexual harassment;

--- fixation of the minimum wages for working women in the unorganised sector;

--- ensuring safety and security of women during night shifts;

--- joint movements with the Kisan Sabha;

--- formation of working women’s cells in the districts;

--- opposing consumer culture through enhancement of the political consciousness of women; and

--- formation of cells at the police stations to prevent crimes against women.

The conference also passed a resolution on ‘Panchayats and Our Tasks.’

CREDENTIALS REPORT

The credentials committee report noted the following break-up of the age of the delegates: below 30: 30, between 31 and 50: 450, between 51 and 60: 235, between 60 and 75: 66, and above 75: 7. As for the professional status of delegates, 40 were political activists, 35 were workers, 227 were teachers, 129 were employees, 190 were involved in household work, 2 were businesswomen, 14 were peasants, and other professions included 143.

The report also revealed that of the minority communities represented among the delegates: 64 were Muslims, 8 were Christians, and one was a Sikh. There were 566 married women, 122 unmarried women, 30 divorcees, and 62 widows. Of the delegates, 181 had one child each, 227 had two children each, 164 had 3 to 5 children each, and 16 had more than 5 children each. The oldest delegate was Jyoti Devi (88 years) and the youngest was Phulu Subodh (19 years).

The conference unanimously elected the following office bearers --- president: Shyamali Gupta; working president: Banani Biswas; general secretary: Rekha Goswami; vice-presidents: Manjari Gupta, Madhuri Dasgupta, Kamal Sengupta, Mitali Kumar, Jayanti Goswami, Shweta Chandra, Biva Ghosh Goswami and Mumtaz Begum. The secretaries are: Tania Chakravarty, Usha Mishra, Sadhana Mullick and Minati Ghosh. The conference elected a 32 member state secretariat and a 256 member state council which, in turn, elected a 101 member working committee.

The conference ended with a massive open rally held at the Baishnabghata-Patuli ground at Jadavpur. Those addressing the rally included Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Kanak Mukherjee, Shyamali Gupta, Rekha Goswami, Brinda Karat, all-India AIDWA president Subhashini Ali, and the AIDWA South 24 Parganas district secretary Chandana Bhowmick.