People's Democracy

SECOND ALL INDIA GIRL STUDENTS' CONVENTION CALL

Fight Against Gender Discrimination 
In Society & Education

Vanitha

THE second All India Girl Students’ Convention was held from August 3-5 at Comrade Darshan Koda Nagar, Sriganganagar, Rajasthan. The convention started after a rally on August 3 at the Public Park . The rally converted itself into a procession which marched through the main roads of the city. When it reached Comrade Darshan Koda Chowk, the participants paid tributes to the martyrs and vowed to fulfil their dreams by working for the cause of the humanity and the upliftment of the poor.

The revolutionary slogans shouted by the students conveyed the message to the people that the Students Federation of India (SFI) would step up its agitation to achieve a society and an education free of gender discrimination and inequality.

While Rajya Sabha member Sarala Maheshwari was the main speaker at the rally, others who addressed it included the Reception Committee president and former Lok Sabha member Sheopat Singh, co-convener of All India Girls Sub-Committee, Albeena Shakeel, secretary of Rajashan state committee, Sanjay Madhav, all India general secretary of SFI, Kallol Roy, and convener of Rajastan Girls’ Committee, Anjana Swami.

Sheopat Singh recalled in his address that he had participated in the freedom struggle in the hope that all countrymen would enjoy equal rights after Independence but regretted that while the working class was leading a life full of hardships and poverty, the capitalists were getting richer.

Sarala Maheswari stressed that girl students would have to work hard to bring an end to the insecurity of women. Denouncing media for playing a negative role by depicting women as a sex symbol, she said it had trivialised women as a commodity.

Lashing out at the communal reactionary forces for thwarting the progress of women, she drew attention to attempts like removal of Munshi Premchand’s ‘Nirmala’ from Class 12 syllabus and its replacement by ‘Jyom Mehandi Ke Rang’ by Mridula Sinha.. “This is because these forces want to see women only as Sita and favour the dowry system, sati, child marriage and all other obnoxious practices. They not only support but also celebrate such evil practices”, she said. 

INAUGURAL SESSION

The convention started with the hoisting of the SFI flag by the all India president K K Ragesh. The president then moved the condolence resolution and silence was observed for two minutes in memory of all those who had died while leading and participating in the democratic movement, 81 innocent school children who had died in the Kumbakonam fire tragedy in Tamil Nadu and other victims of national calamities. 

Sheopat Singh welcomed the delegates who had come from all over the country. It was ironical, he said, that even in the present scientific era, women had to face inequality. He congratulated all the girls of SFI who are braving all forms of oppression and taking a leading part in the organisation.

Inaugurating the convention, Sarala Maheshwari, in her inspiring address, called upon the girl students to wage an agitation against dowry, sati, child marriage and gender discrimination. She said women have always been exploited right from the days of the slave society, in the feudal age and even in the present capitalist society. “Even after Independence, the condition of women in the society has not improved. The reactionary forces have directly and indirectly opposed the 33 per cent reservation for women in the Parliament. Courses in women’s studies are being closed. The education system is dominated by patriarchal values”.

GENERAL SECRETARY’S REPORT

In the delegate session, the all-India general secretary of SFI placed the political and organisational report on behalf of the CEC. All the delegates were then divided into three groups and group discussions took place for four hours. The delegates shared their experiences in the organisation and also their problems. The discussions sometimes became very emotional when the delegates talked about their personal hardships and obstacles they had to overcome. The personal life experiences, shared in the discussions, enthused the delegates and further steeled their resolve to carry on the struggle against the unjust and unequal world order.

They unanimously opined that the patriarchal ideas prevalent in the society were obstructing them in their work in the organization and pledged to carry on their work despite all difficulties.

In all, 28 delegates from different states took part in the discussions on the report. Revealing facts came to light during the discussions like increasing expenses of education deter parents from educating their daughters and in turn give preference to sons. Incidents of misbehaviour and sexual harassment in buses, rape and various other forms of violence, and ragging in educational institutions was preventing girls from continuing higher studies and also taking part in politics.

STATE REPORTS

In Kerala, girl-comrades were building the movement braving many physical attacks like lathi charges, kicks by male policemen and imprisonment for days together. The police are threatening the parents of the girl activists and are forcing the parents to dissuade their girls from playing an active role in politics. The very recent examples of police brutality was seen when the students were protesting against the apathy of the state government towards the problems of students in the wake of suicide by an engineering student Rajani, who was not able to pay the hostel fees. In Tripura, terrorism is threatening the activists of the organisation.

Many incidents of assault on girl students were also mentioned in the discussions along with the activities conducted by the respective state committees. In Andhra Pradesh, a boy murdered a girl as she refused to love him. SFI activists held protest demonstrations and demanded the imprisonment of the culprit which forced the state government to act fast and nab him.

In UP, some lumpen elements threw acid on a 15-year-old college student. The police and administration failed to arrest the culprits. SFI launched struggle and forced the police to arrest them. In Tamil Nadu, the principal of a college forced some girls to ‘please’ the members of the NAAC team and there was a powerful statewide movement to protest this sexual abuse.. SFI Delhi state committee has launched many campaigns against harassment and demanded the formation of Gender Sensitisation Committees. Girls in West Bengal, Kerala, also face the problem of dowry and harassment but to a lesser extent compared to the situation in other states. The situation in West Bengal is relatively safer for girls to come out in public and participate in public life. 

The all India general secretary concluded the discussion emphasising on the formation of girl students’ sub-committees at all levels of organisation. These committees will identify the issues of girl students and work hard to create an environment free from sexual harassment and ragging in education institutions. 

RESOLUTIONS

The convention passed the following resolutions-‘For collection of flood relief material to the flood affected areas’, ‘For the elimination of the dowry system’, ‘Demanding the enactment of a central legislation empowering the state governments to control the private institutions’, Demanding the declaration of the flood in Assam and Bihar as a national calamity. 

The convention ended after the formation of a 29-member ‘All India Girls Sub Committee’. G Mamatha is the new convener and Albeena Shakeel, Gargi Chattarjee and Sindhu Joy are the co-convenors.

The conference concluded on an enthusiastic note after the singing of the song “We Shall Overcome.”