Gujarat women's groups demand immediate implementation of the demands for justice and security

Women representatives in Gujarat Sachivalaya premises

By Our Representative
More than 50 representatives of the women’s organizations from 13 districts of Gujarat have submitted a letter of demand to minister for woman and child development, Gujarat government, Ganpatbhai Vasava, asking for taking “immediate steps for upholding the Constitutional Rights and security of women and girls in Gujarat.” Signed by more than 38,500 women and aware citizens of Gujarat, the representatives particularly pressed on the minister to implement 10 basic demands immediately, with a time bound action plan for the remaining ones. “Government of Gujarat should immediately make announcement for budget to implement the Gujarat high court order dated February 22 for the proper implementation of Domestic Violence Act”, a joint statement issued after the meeting said. “A charter of demands prepared by them was sent to the Government of Gujarat on January 24, 2013 for taking concrete steps for the security of the women and implementation of constitutional guarantees for women and girls”, the statement said, adding, “Recently, following the Delhi gang rape as well as growing incidence of violence against women in Gujarat, women groups across the state prepared a list of 34 demands pointing out need for structural reforms in police, judiciary and the administration. Yet, the state government’s latest state budget failed to give adequate response to the demands.”
As a result, the statement said, across Gujarat, in several villages, cities and tribal areas, a signature campaign has been undertaken to get support from thousands of women and progressive men for the charter of demand seeking time bound concrete action on the part of the state government. Copy of the demands has been sent to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and the state law department for perusal and further action.
Major demands needing immediate implementation, put forward by the representatives, are:
1. Sexual harassment committees be formed in all government, public offices as well as the educational institutes as per the guidelines provided in the Vishakha judgment.
2. Police should take all cases of sexual harassment, sexual violence and assault with due seriousness and any apathy/negligence on part of the police force should be punished with strict action against the errant.
3. CCTVs should be installed in all police stations so as to record that police are functioning properly.
4. Instead of imposing bans, restricting movement of girls and women in public places, the government should ensure safety for them at all times.
5. Fast track courts should be established separately to handle cases of violence against women.
6. Rape victims should be provided the interim relief and rehabilitation expense within three weeks and the rest of the money should be provided without delay to facilitate the victim in her legal fight.
7. Round-the-clock service connected with the police stations to ensure all possible support to women/girl victims of all kinds of violence on the lines of 108 ambulance service should be provided. The facility should ensure all kinds of medical, legal, psychological and financial support.
8. A woman victim of violence should get priority in availing mental and physical medical help in all government hospitals irrespective of the fact whether police complaint has been lodged or not.
9. Police force in all ranks should be gender sensitized and given regular training to ensure proper response to woman victims of violence.
10 To ensure transparency as well as accountability in police services across the state, women's group should be made party to the regular review process.
The statement carries following details, suggesting gross gender discrimination prevailing in Gujarat:
· As per Census 2011, of the 74,94,176 total number of children in age group 0-6 years in Gujarat, 39,74,286 were boy and 35,19,890 were girls.
· In 2001 4,45,964 less girls and in 2011, there are 4,54,396 less girls compared to boys in Gujarat.
· In the year 2011, in Gujarat 8815 cases of violence against women reported.
· From these 8815 cases, 439 cases of rape, 1442 abduction, 30 dowry deaths, 6052 cases of physical and mental cruelty by in-laws (Sec. 498-A), 685 cases of Criminal assault or criminal force to outrage the modesty of women (Sec 354), 93 cases of word, gesture or act to insult the modesty of a women (sec. 509), 28 cases of Immoral Traffic Act, 46 cases of prohibition of dowry Act. The cases which never reach the police station may be many fold.
The statement was prepared by following organizations: Anandi (Ahmedabad), Safar (Ahmedabad), Sahrwaru (Ahmedabad), Utthan (Ahmedabad), Centre for Equity Studies (Sabarkantha), Nirmal Samaj Kendra (Vadodara), Mahila Swaraj Manch (Bhavnagar), Centre for Social Justice (Bharuch), Vidyadeep Community College (Bharuch), Sewa Rural (Jhagadia), Sahiyar Stree Sangathan (Vadodara), Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan (Bhuj), Swati (Surendranagar), Olakh (Vadodara), Unnati (Ahmedabad),
and Behavioral Science Centre (Ahmedabad).

Comments

Modi govt distancing from Adanis? MoEFCC 'defers' 1500 MW project in Western Ghats

By Rajiv Shah Is the Narendra Modi government, in its third but what would appear to be a weaker avatar, seeking to show that it would keep a distance, albeit temporarily, from its most favorite business house, the Adanis? It would seem so if the latest move of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) latest to "defer" the Adani Energy’s application for 1500 MW Warasgaon-Warangi Pump Storage Project is any indication.

US govt funding 'dubious PR firm' to discredit anti-GM, anti-pesticide activists

By Our Representative The Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) has vocally condemned the financial support provided by the US Government to questionable public relations firms aimed at undermining the efforts of activists opposed to pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in India.

Bayer's business model: 'Monopoly control over chemicals, seeds'

By Bharat Dogra* The Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) has rendered a great public service by very recently publishing a report titled ‘Bayer’s Toxic Trails’ which reveals how the German agrochemical giant Bayer has been lobbying hard to promote glyphosate and GMOs, or trying to “capture public policy to pursue its private interests.” This report, written by Joao Camargo and Hans Van Scharen, follows Bayer’s toxic trail as “it maintains monopolistic control of the seed and pesticides markets, fights off regulatory challenges to its toxic products, tries to limit legal liability, and exercises political influence.”

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded reaction in the form of a link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

105,000 sign protest petition, allege Nestlé’s 'double standard' over added sugar in baby food

By Kritischer Konsum* 105,000 people have signed a petition calling on Nestlé to stop adding sugar to its baby food products marketed in lower-income countries. It was handed over today at the multinational’s headquarters in Vevey, where the NGOs Public Eye, IBFAN and EKO dumped the symbolic equivalent of 10 million sugar cubes, representing the added sugar consumed each day by babies fed with Cerelac cereals. In Switzerland, such products are sold with no added sugar. The leading baby food corporation must put an end to this harmful double standard.

Militants, with ten times number of arms compared to those in J&K, 'roaming freely' in Manipur

By Sandeep Pandey* The violence which shows no sign of abating in the ongoing Meitei-Kuki conflict in Manipur is a matter of concern. The alienation of the two communities and hatred generated for each other is unprecedented. The Meiteis cannot leave Manipur by road because the next district North on the way to Kohima in Nagaland is Kangpokpi, a Kuki dominated area where the young Kuki men and women are guarding the district borders and would not let any Meitei pass through the national highway.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah* The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

UNEP report on how climate crisis is impacting displacement, global conflicts, declining health

By Shankar Sharma* A recent report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), titled "A Global Foresight Report on Planetary Health and Human Wellbeing," warrants urgent attention from our country’s developmental perspective. The findings, detailed in the report, should be a source of significant concern not only globally but especially for our nation, which has a vast population and limited natural resources.

Search This Blog