AIPWA Foundation Day Observed In Bihar

AIPWA Bihar State committee had decided to observe its 22nd Foundation Day with dharnas, protests, and symposiums to demand curbing of violence against women, passing women’s reservation bill, total prohibition in Bihar, opening sub-health centres in every panchayat and appointing women doctors, declaring honorarium workers as government employees and making their honorarium Rs 15,000, payment of honorarium arrears, and other issues.

A symposium was organized in Patna on 11 February at the IMA Hall on the subject ‘Growing Fanaticism in the Name of Culture vs. Women’s Freedom’ where AIPWA General Secretary Com. Meena Tiwari was the main speaker. The symposium was addressed by Prof. Bharti S. Kumar, Dr Gogi Kumar, Alka Verma, Madhu, Anuradha, Nivedita and others. Anita Sinha conducted the proceedings. In her talk Com. Meena Tiwari said that today in the name of culture, it is being decided what women shall eat, what they shall wear, and when and where they shall go. This is the same anti-women culture being that is being foisted on dalits by patriarchal and brahminwadi ideas. This is what led to the death of Rohith Vemula. We must step up our fight against this culture.

On the same day in Fatuha block AIPWA and Bihar State Vidyalaya Rasoiya Sangh jointly organized a dharna in the block office complex. The dharna was addressed by AIPWA leader and State President of Rasoiya Sangh, Saroj Choube. Block officials and mid-day meal officials accepted the memorandum and announced that there will be total prohibition in Fatuha from April. They said that there is a shortage of not only woman doctors but also of male doctors in the sub-health centre and that they have been writing about this to the civil surgeon continuously for the past one year. Questions of ration-kerosene were also raised on this occasion. ADM in-charge gave his clarifications. Over 150 women took part in the dharna.

In Bihata a protest was held at the block office on 10 February. The BDO was conspicuous by his absence. A delegation submitted a memorandum to the SDO. A convention was organized on 10 February in Dulhin Bazaar.

Tributes were paid to martyrs and flag hoisting was done in Siwan on 12 February. In Darbhanga AIPWA, Rasoiya and ASHA workers met on 10-12 February and decided that ASHA would take out a march in front of the CM on 14 February and Rasoiya Sangh and AIPWA would hold a protest on 18 February.

Protests were held in Bhojpur at Piro, Jagdishpur, and Sandesh on 15, 16, and 17 February. The delegation comprising comrades Indu Singh, Shobha Mandal, Sita Devi and Sangeeta Devi was met by the Zonal Officer in Piro.

Earlier, on 3 February an AIPWA delegation met Social Welfare Minister Manju Verma and submitted a charter of demands. The delegation included comrades Saroj Choube, Shashi Yadav, Anita Sinha, Madhuri Gupta and Anuradha Singh. The delegation was astounded by the Minister’s statement that liquor was necessary for stress relief! The attitude of the Minister on the other issues was indifferent. The Minister expressed support to the demand of including rasoiyas in the standing committee report on regularizing samvida workers.

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