Karnataka - Bangalore

AIDWA to expose BPL ‘hoax’ in rally

Bangalore: All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) is holding a rally in Delhi on March 4 to expose what the organisation calls the “hoax of Below Poverty Line demarcation” that they believe is pushing the poor out of the umbrella of the public distribution system.

Speaking to presspersons after the two-day Central Executive Committee meeting of AIDWA here on Tuesday, general secretary of the organisation, Sudha Sundararaman, said that food security of the poor is threatened by the parameters used to decide the category of above and below poverty line. The financial allocation made for meeting individual food needs and the parameters on caloric needs for sustainability are “fraudulent”, she said, and called it an effort at “systematically dismantling the public distribution system”.

The executive committee meeting, said Ms. Sundararaman, passed a resolution condemning the petrol and diesel price hike, the seventh in the three-and-a-half-year-rule of the UPA Government. This will have a spiralling effect on prices of all essential commodities, she said.

While welcoming the extension of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) to cover all districts, she said that it had to be implemented more effectively. K. Neela, president of the Karnataka State Committee of AIDWA, added that the scheme was not implemented where there was no pressure from activists.

While a day’s wage is Rs. 74 in Karnataka, it is Rs. 125 in Kerala and Rs. 100 in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, she added. AIDWA is demanding that it be raised to Rs. 100 in Karnataka and its implementation made gender-friendly.

Ms. Sundararaman said that the spirit of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2006, was being thwarted because of the reluctance to make necessary budgetary allocations. K.S. Vimala of Janawadi Mahila Sanghatane added that Child Development project officers, who are already burdened, are appointed as Protection Officers in Karnataka, and demanded that infrastructure be provided to make the act effective.

AIDWA, said Ms. Sundararaman, was consistent in its demand for 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament.

Referring to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s recent announcement on providing 33 per cent to women in their organisational structure, she said it was an effort to “divert attention” from the real issue of reservation in Parliament. Members of AIDWA expressed concern over growing communalism, especially in Karnataka.

AIDWA took exception to two recently reported comments by Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Cyriac Joseph and Karnataka State Human Rights Commission Chairperson S.R. Naik suggesting that immodest dressing was the cause of increasing crimes against women.

K.S. Vimala of Janawadi Mahila Sanghatane said that the lack of gender sensitivity among high judicial authorities was “worrying” and both their comments projected the view that women should remain within the four walls of the house.

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