People's Democracy

SHIMLA

SFI Organises Fourth All-India Girls’ Convention

Dr Vikram Singh

FROM July 10 to 12, the Students Federation of India (SFI) creditably organised the fourth all-India girls’ convention at Shimla, with the slogan “Fight Patriarchy,” a milestone in organising girl students to fight for gender justice in educational institutions and in the wider society. More than 210 girl delegates from 23 states took part in the convention along with members of the SFI’s central executive committee. The Himachal Pradesh state committee of the SFI did a great job in term of organising this mega event. More than ten lakh rupees came through mass collection. One could feel the results of hard work of SFI cadre in Himachal by listening to the positive discussions among the general public of Shimla.

Though the people of Himachal, particularly of Shimla, gave overwhelming support to the SFI, some obstacles were created by the Congress government regarding the rally’s venue and some other things. One cannot forget the brutal attack on SFI cadres in HP University and detention of leaders for days. But all this failed to break the cadres’ courage; their determination and hard work resulted in incredible organisation of the convention.

COLOURFUL STUDENT RALLY

The convention began with a colourful procession, with more than 3,000 students from all over the state taking part in it. This was one of the largest student processions in the state in recent times. To mobilise such a number of students is a very difficult and costly affair in a hilly and small state like Himachal. The procession started from the old bus stand of Shimla, with hundreds of white flags on which was inscribed “Independence, Democracy, Socialism.” The gathering was attractive and gave a feel of the state’s culture. Girls joined in their traditional dresses. Sweet melodies of a local traditional band echoed in the air. All through its route, the procession was warmly welcomed by different organisations in Shimla. Workers’ unions under the CITU greeted the rally with revolutionary slogans. Delegates felt enthused on being welcomed by the DYFI and AIDWA. Throughout the path of the procession, students raised slogans for gender equality and against privatisation and commercialisation of education.

The procession culminated in a public meeting at Sabzi Mandi ground.

Brinda Karat was the main speaker at the rally. Others to speak were Rakesh Singha (first elected president of student union of HPU), Madhuja Sen Rao (SFI vice president), Ritubrata Banerjee (general secretary, SFI), Kapil Bhardwaj (SFI state president), Khushi Ram Verma (SFI state secretary), and Priyanka Chauhan (vice president, HP student union). SFI joint secretary Vikram Singh presided.

Addressing the rally, Brinda Karat said gender justice was not at all the agenda of either of the leading political parties of our nation. The Congress and the BJP use this issue either for votes or under public pressure. This is the only reason women’s reservation bill has not been passed to date. Underlining the role of Left forces in the struggle for gender equality, she cited the example of West Bengal which was till recently considered one of the safest places for females. But things have dramatically changed and the condition of women in the state of West Bengal has worsened in two years of the Trinamul regime, with the latest NCRB data ranking the state at top in terms of anti-women crimes. These data show that in 2011 the registered cases of crime against women in the state numbered 29,133, which then increased to 30,942 in 2012, marking the state as numero uno once again. West Bengal accounted for 12.7 per cent of the total number of crimes against women in India. For Andhra Pradesh the figure is 28,171 and for UP, 23,579. True the incidence of rape in the state dropped to 2,046 in 2012 from 2,363 in 2011. However, cases of kidnapping and abduction increased to 4,168 in 2012 from 3,711 in 2011. “Assault on women with intent to outrage their modesty” also showed an increase to 3,345 in 2012 from 2,363 in 2011. Insult to modesty accounted for 556 registered cases in 2012.

On behalf of the democratic movement, Rakesh Singha extended greetings to the girls’ convention. He also explained how the path of neo-liberalisation adopted by the ruling classes has resulted in the unequal growth and miseries for the masses of India. People’s united struggles alone can change the scenario.

INAUGURAL SESSION AND CULTURAL EVENT

On July 10 evening, inauguration of the convention took place in the historic Gaiety Hall that was fully packed with dignitaries of the town along with the delegates --- a reflection of local support for the event. Sanjay Chauhan, mayor of the Shimla municipal corporation and reception committee chairman, welcomed the delegates. Addressing the delegates he underlined that there is a strong linkage between patriarchy and the problems women face today. Evolution of the capitalist production in India is a classic case where gender oppression comes handy to facilitate profit maximisation, as the patriarchal ideology with its oppressive elements makes women a workforce which is paid less and made to work more. Thus, under capitalist production patriarchy gets perpetuated as majority of women suffer double brunt --- as an underpaid and overworked workforce in production processes and as responsible for household work. India has the largest illiterate population in the world, with women outnumbering men. Girl children face the problems of dropout and non-retention most often because of patriarchal values. There is problem of girls’ access to secondary and tertiary education. The ongoing commodification of education can only mean denial of access to education to girls.

Brinda Karat inaugurated the convention. In her speech she outlined the sad plight of Indian women and the factors responsible for it. She said incidences of rape are increasing day by day while governments have failed to provide security to women. Though there is the demand of death sentence to the rape case accused after Delhi gang rape, she said the reality is that only 26 per cent culprits get punished.

After inauguration there was a cultural function which reflected the Himachali culture. The natty of Shimla and Kinnauri kayang was the main attractions while the play “Raja ka Baja” effectively raised the problems of education and unemployment.

DELEGATES SESSION

The convention started on July 11 morning with flag hosting by SFI vice president Nilanjana Roy. A four member presidium, comprising Nilanjana Roy, Priyanka Chauhan, Abid Hussain and Dhanya Vijayan, conducted the convention. After a steering committee, minutes committee, credentials committee and resolutions committee were constituted, Kapil Bhardwaj moved the condolence resolution.

Kopal placed a draft note for discussion by the delegates. The note started with a quotation from the UN report Status of Women: “Women are half the world’s population, do two third of the world’s work, receive one tenth of the world’s income and own less than one hundredth of the world’s property.”

While referring to the general status of women in India and need of intervention, the note underlined point made in the SFI programme. It states: “Students Federation of India is strongly opposed to all forms of gender discrimination and oppression in every sphere of life. The prevalence of age-old evil traditions like sati and dowry portray the deplorable condition of women in our country. It commits to fight all patriarchal values and practices which draw their basis both from the remnants of feudal relations, outmoded ways of thought, and from the commodification of women under capitalism. SFI shall fight for the emancipation of women and demands equality of access to education for girls. SFI stands and strives for a progressive and gender sensitive ethos and curriculum.”

Discussing the educational status of females in India, the note stated that out of 11 crore illiterate children in the 6-10 age group in the world, over four crore are in India. Girls constitute about two-third of these out-of-school children. Nearly 90 per cent females in our country in the relevant age group do not reach higher education. The overall female literacy rate in our country is only 53.7 per cent while the male literacy rate is 75.3 per cent. The urban male literacy rate in our country is 86 per cent and the urban female literacy rate is 73 per cent. The rural male literacy rate is 71 per cent while the rural female literacy rate is merely 46 per cent. According to government figures of 2002-03, the dropout rate of girls between Classes I to X is as high as 64.97 per cent. These rates are alarming. Enrolment figures in higher education are even worse. Females constitute about 40 per cent of all students in higher education. Moreover, their enrolment is concentrated mainly in the humanities and arts streams.

The note also discussed sexual harassment of women at workplaces and need to constitute anti-sexual harassment committees in campuses in view of the Supreme Court’s landmark judgement in Vishakha case (1997), laying down guidelines for the establishments in dealing with such complaints and the need of legislation to deal with the issue. The University Grants Commission has been issuing circulars since 1998, to all the universities, advising them to establish a permanent cell and a committee and to develop guidelines to combat sexual harassment, violence against women and ragging in the universities and colleges

WHAT THE FIGHT IS ALL ABOUT

The note emphasised the importance of women’s participation in politics. It underlined the special challenges and issues facing girl students, which are as follows:

1) Girls bear the brunt of privatisation and commercialisation of education and the resultant high fees in education, as their parents often prefer to invest in the education of sons.

2) Lack of accessible educational institutions in nearby areas lead to high dropout rate among girls.

3) Lack of cheap transport facilities, bus passes and safe modes of transport act as a hindrance to girls’ education.

4) Lack of hostels in educational institutions prevents girls from accessing quality education in different cities and towns.

5) Concerns over safety and security of girl students act as a continuing hindrance to their education. With the increased participation of women in the public realm, growing instances of crimes against women are a matter of great concern.

In this context, the note said the SFI should:

1) Fight for facilitating increased enrolment of girls in education at all levels.

2) Fight for gender sensitive course contents and curricula.

3) Ensure increased participation of girls in student politics.

After discussing all these issues, the convention adopted a demands charter, including the following demands:

1) Struggle against all forms of patriarchy must be intensified.

2) More schools and colleges for girls must be built.

3) Anti-sexual harassment committees should be formed at all institutional levels. Gender sensitisation must be promoted.

4) More government girls hostels should be constructed.

5) Proper and scientific sexual education should be provided at school level by properly trained teachers.

6) The government must take steps to increase female literacy.

7) School and colleges must provide clean toilets for girl students.

8) Colleges should have girls’ common rooms.

9) Verma committee recommendations must be adopted.

10) The bill for 33 per cent reservation for women in state assemblies and parliament must be passed.

11) Trafficking of girls must be severely curbed.

12) Female feticide and pre-natal diagnostic tests must be strictly stopped.

13) Anti-dowry laws must be strictly implemented.

FOR HALF THE EARTH AND HALF THE SKY

Delegates discussed the draft note at length for two hours in the next session. After discussion in groups, all the state units gave their suggestions; 31 delegates participated in the final discussion which lasted for more than 225 minutes.

On July 11 evening a special seminar was organised on the topic “For Half the Earth and Half the Sky; We shall Fight, We shall Win.” Sudha Sunderaman, general secretary of All India Democratic Women’s Association, was the main speaker at the seminar. After greeting the convention, she said almost all women want to have education but most of them cannot. When we interact with women, they generally say they were not able to complete education but would educate their daughters well. But in this era of neo-liberalisation higher education is becoming more and more difficult for women due to higher fee structures in private institutions. While women are used for glamour in most of the TV advertisements, feudal organisations like the RSS and khap panchayats put various types of limitations for women. Women should be economically empowered to fight for their status. In this respect, women’s right to property is very significant.

On the third day the convention unanimously adopted the note along with the charter of demands. The convention also adopted six resolutions. These are --- against honour killing; against commodification of women; on accessibility of health care for women; against discrimination against women at workplaces; against dowry; for a parliament march on September 10, 2013.

In the concluding session Ritabrata Banerjee pointed out how women enjoyed a better status in the nations having communist governments. He explained how the Soviet Union played a decisive role in giving voting rights to women. In 1917 the USSR gave voting right to women for the first time; only then were the USA and Great Britain compelled to do the same. Today we have to fight patriarchy both within and outside the organisation, as patriarchal thinking operates in our organisation too; we have girl in leadership in only a few state committees. He appreciated the efforts of Himachal Pradesh state committee for organising the convention very effectively. He concluded his presentation with a few lines from Pablo Neruda.

The convention formed an all-India sub-committee with 25 members. It has Madhuja Sen Roy as convener and Nilanjana Roy, Kopal and Dhanya Vijayan as co-conveners.

In his remarks on organisation, Vikram Singh said we cannot fight on gender issues without a strong organisational base. For this we have to make gender issues an integral part of our day-to-day activities. Issues related to girl students must be identified and a sustained struggle waged to achieve the demands, avoiding tokenism in struggles. Through these struggles girls can be brought to the organisation and their political consciousness raised.

In the valedictory session the Himachal Pradesh state committee felicitated the all-India secretariat. It also thanked all the volunteers and presented to them mementos for hard work and selfless service. The delegates reaffirmed their commitment to the struggle for equality through the inspirational “We shall Overcome!”