People's Democracy

DYFI Organises All India Young Women Convention

Subir Banerjee

THE Democratic Youth Federation of India central committee organised a three-day All India young women convention at Lucknow on November 7-9, 2006. The convention began with an open session that was organised at Gandhi Bhavan. DYFI general secretary Tapas Sinha inaugurated the convention. Nearly 150 young women delegates attended the convention from all over the country.

Addressing a massive public meeting, Tapas Sinha said that the promises of the prime minister regarding employment remained in paper instead of getting translated into action. Even after 60 years of independence, 21 crore people of our country about one fifth of the total, do not get two square meals a day. Out of 20 crore children, 15 crores have no access to any educational institution. Shamefully 36 crore people are recorded to be illiterate and more than 16 crores are unemployed he said. The policies pursued by the Congress who ruled for a long stretch at the centre are largely responsible for this he said. He urged upon the youth to carry on the struggle in the days to come.

Subhashini Ali, AIDWA All India president, addressed the girls in the open session. She said that it is high time we identify the role of girls and ensure that their issues are brought to the forefront. “Look at these girls who have come here. While those from Tripura and Assam have fought against terrorism in their states, the girls from Punjab are fighting against foeticide and those from UP are fighting against domestic violence. All of them have managed to emerge victorious, which is a big achievement for them. And organisation like DYFI should identify their contribution” said Ali.

Youth Stream editor Pushpendra Tyagi said, “Neo-imperial agenda of America is a threat to the sovereignty of the third world nations. America is forcing the rest of the world to bow to its dictates American imperialism is more subtle and harmful than the British colonialism. Genocide in Afghanistan and Iraq was termed by Bush regime as “War Against Terrorism.”

Reception committee chairman Arjun Prasad, CPI(M) UP state secretary A P Kashyap also addressed the public meeting which was presided over by DYFI UP state president Pradeep Sharma.

DELEGATE SESSION

The delegate session began at Radhey Shyam –Sanjai Manch, Begum Hazarat Mahal Hall in Lucknow. Tapas Sinha presented the draft report of the convention. He said that since the last convention that took place in Kolkata the federation has fought consistently for the rights and welfare of the young women. Women have been victims of communalism, imperialism and orthodox thinking is forcing women to stay indoors and not come out to voice their opinions, he said.

On the second day of the convention, the participants unanimously passed the resolution demanding reservation for women in Parliament and state legislatures. Voicing their opinion the young women said that even after almost 60 years of independence, only 8 per cent of women are parliamentarians. During the discussion on report, 26 delegates participated. Delegates had been discussing with a clear organisational-political objective of evaluating and reviewing their activities and initiatives undertaken in the period between the two conventions in order to formulate the future tasks in the background of present political situation and challenges. They also discussed the evil practice of dowry and decided to wage a struggle against it.

All the delegates were divided into four groups for group discussion The convention passed four resolutions on the burning issues of the young women: on gender inequality-ideology and practice, impact of communalism and castiesm over women, importance of organising young women and empowerment of women- perspective of DYFI.

On the last day, national president K N Balagopal called upon the youth to draw inspiration from the struggles of their counterparts in Latin America against American imperialism and for their own future. He called upon the youth to fight against the policies of the ruling classes which are restricting employment opportunities for young people.

NEW SUB COMMITTEE

The second all India young women convention unanimously elected a new committee with 21 members with P Sajitha of Kerala as the new convenor. The convention raised the following main demands:

1) Right to work should be incorporated as a fundamental right in the constitution. Lift ban on recruitment.

2) Ensure 33 per cent reservation for women in parliament and state legislatures. Pass women’s reservation bill immediately.

3) The commercialisation and privatisation of education should be stopped. Spend 6 per cent of GDP on education.

4) Stop liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, reverse anti-people economic policies

5) Rural employment guarantee should be extended to all districts including urban areas.