Shameema Raina launched Nari Nyay Campaign

Jammu , Feb. 06^th  2024 :  On the directions of National President Mahila Congress Smt. Alka Lamba, the Jammu and Kashmir Mahila Congress led by Smt. Shameema Raina launched Nari Nyay Campaign here today at PCC HQ Shaheedi Chowk Jammu.

On the Occasion  PCC President Shri Vikar Rasool Wani, General Secretaries Narinder Gupta(Org), Sr. Vice President JK Mahila Congress Bhanu Mahajan, Vice President Santosh Manhas, General Secretaries Shilpa Gupta, Parveen Akhtar, Sonika Sharma & Kamla Hans, Dist. Presidents Harneet Kour & Tehseen Bukhari,  Secretaries Muni Devi, Dimly, Ashu Verma, Bandu, Naseem, Asha, Babita, Ritu  Gupta, Shalu Verma were  present.

While addressing Smt. Shameema Raina said that our leader Shri Rahul Gandhi ji is currently on the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, where he is meeting scores of people from all backgrounds. We at All India Mahila Congress are consistently reaching out to the women to hear their views. We have received different suggestions and we are hereby outlining our demands in the form of ‘Nari Nyay’.

Here are our main demands :-

 Economic Empowerment

Price Rise – It has become difficult for women to run their homes due to consistent price-rise and the failure of the government to regulate the same, including failure to regulate the prices of essential commodities such as LPG gas, edible oils, food grains, groceries, milk etc. severely affecting the nutrition of the entire family. Therefore the price of all these commodities need to be regulated and control on emergency basis, providing substantial subsidies on the same.

Equal Pay for Equal Work – As per the World Inequality Report 2022, in India, men earn 82 per cent of the labour income, whereas women earn 18 per cent of it. Also women engaged in agriculture and in the salaried class make almost 20 per cent lesser than men. Therefore we demand that the government needs to bring in regulations to ensure that the gender-gap parity is bridged at the earliest.

 Social Empowerment

Healthcare / Primary Delivery Centers – During Congress rule, most primary health centers opened in villages are now either disfunctional or operating without any medical staff. The basic healthcare infrastructure for women is completely lacking with most 57 % women aged 15 to 49 years in India suffering from anemia. Also lack of delivery centers in villages means that women have to travel a long distance for deliveries increasing the risk and posing serious health hazard to women in their most critical stage. Government needs to come up with a comprehensive health package along with ensuring basic health infrastructure across India, especially in rural areas.

Education – Congress helped usher in free primary education for all and set up several institutions of eminence including the IITs and IIMs. The education system in India is collapsing with BJP government continuously decreasing the budgetary allotment towards education. The primary and middle schools in India lack teachers and these posts are not being filled by the government deliberately opting instead for guest  2 teachers as it is easy to keep them on lesser remuneration with easy to remove terms of service. Also girls going to school do not feel safe and there are multiple news from across the country of girls being harassed while enroute to school. Education needs to be the top priority of the government along with ensuring basic safety to protect young girls from violence – physical, mental and cyber.

Sanitation / Toilets – Most women in India are unable to participate in public spaces and suffer from acute hygiene related issues due to lack of toilets and sanitation facilities. Inspite of the ‘Swachha Bharat Abhiyan’ by the government, most villages lack basic toilets and sanitation facilties with especial discrimination in bastis belonging to the lower castes. We demand that free public toilets for women be set up across cities and villages, at a distance of every 5 kms.

 Political Empowerment

Political Representation – Congress brought in the Panchayati Raj Act providing reservation for women at Panchayat level, giving representation to lakhs of women at grass roots level. We are also committed and demanded immediate implementation of the Women Reservation Act. However BJP is committing a huge fraud against the women of India by briging in the Women Representation Act but keeping its implementation in suspension for an indefinite period. This is one of the many jumlas of the present day government which is trying to woo the Indian women’s votes without offering adequate representation. We call for the immediate implementation of the Women Reservation Act and the government’s unflinching commitment to ensure its effective implementation during the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections.

 Protection Against Violence And Need For Justice – The BJP government has shown a diabolic stand on women’s fight for justice, by protecting those who commit the most heinouos crimes against women – with releasing the perpetraors in the Bilkis Bano case, deafening silence in the Manipur case, protection of BJP MP in the women wrestlers case being the latest case in point. We demand the government, including the women leaders of BJP to take a strong stand against continuous injustice taking place against women, including taking effective steps against the derogatory language used against women, and the unabated troll culture on streets and online.

 Dignity Of Women – During BJP’s rule, we have seen continuous violation of women’s dignity with BJP leaders taking stern illegal action against women speaking their minds in consonance with their constitutional rights. We condemn this in strongest words and call for ensuring that women like all citizens are ensured their constitutional protection and respect in all aspects of their private lives. We at All India Mahila Congress are committed to the constitutional values of this country and to fight for the rights of women who constitute half the population of this country but whose issues affect the entire nation.