The 7th AIPWA Bihar State Conference will be held on 19 September 2017 in Com. Srilata Swaminathan Nagar (Siwan) at the Kaushal ya Devi Manch (Town Hall) with the fight against hatred, against violence on women and for equality and justice as the main themes.
In preparation for the 7th State Conference, so far 17 district conferences were held across Bihar. The conferences were remarkable for the extensive campaigning and mobilization, including block and zone level conferences in almost every district. The representatives at the conferences included ASHA, Rasoiya, Anganwadi, Sewak-Sahayika workers as well as women from the middle class. Around 5000 women and activists participated actively in all the district conferences, indicating the acceleration of activity at the ground level. The participating women freely expressed their views and stressed on the need to strengthen the organization. Women students and active new groups also emerged. If we succeed in maintaining this momentum the women’s movement in the State will surely see a new surge.
In most districts, rallies were taken out prior to the conference. At Siwan, Arwal, Bhabhua, Vaishali, Bhagalpur and Nalanda the demand was made to arrest of Gauri Lankesh’s killers, declare the murder a terrorist act, and institute a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe into the incident.
The series of conferences started with Darbhanga district on 20 August where a 29 member district council was constituted with Shanichari Devi as Secretary and Sadhana Sharma as President. This was followed by conferences in Bhojpur (27 August), Jehanabad (28 August), Patna rural (3 September), Gaya (4 September), Nawada (6 September), Arwal (8 Septembr), Siwan (9 September), Patna City (10 September), Vaishali (10 September), Gopalganj (11 September), Samastipur, Bhagalpur and Aurangabad (15 September), Muzaffarpur and Nalanda (16 September). District councils were constituted at the conferences and issues of local, State, and national importance were raised and discussed, such as impinging on women’s rights by relaxing and lightening 498A, the role of Muslim women in the triple talaq verdict, and the need for a decisive women’s movement for the dignity and rights of women.
