The 16th State Conference of the PDSU was held in Mancherial town of Adilabad district on January 29-31, 2005. Around five thousand students from all over the state participated in the huge rally that culminated in a public meeting in Boys High School Grounds. The streets resounded with the slogans being raised, “We will carry forward the mission of our martyrs”, “We will beat back the establishment of foreign universities in India”, “Introduction of foreign universities in India is road to intellectual slavery” and so on.

Addressing the public meeting, Com. V. V. (state leader of CPI(ML) – New Democracy) said the students are the founders of a new India of tomorrow. However the education which shall mould them is now being directly thrown open to foreign universities. The educational institutions are being transformed into workshops to export intellectual and technical labourers. As a result of GATS agreement, educational sector will be flooded by foreign universities. He also accused AP Chief Minister Y. Rajsekhar Reddy of becoming a servant of World Bank- the very thing which he himself used to accuse Chandrababu Naidu of doing. In context of the entire situation he called on the students to prepare themselves for militant, patriotic struggle.

Starting the public meeting, outgoing PDSU President, M. Sriniwas, said that GATS will become a hangman’s noose for all third world countries, especially in the field of education. He accused Chief Minister of AP of allowing entry of foreign universities while the state govt. pretends to be a people’s govt. However it does not hike scholarships for students, open govt. schools and colleges, it doesn’t even release the money for pending scholarships. A militant struggle is needed against the anti-student policies. He pointed out that the state conference was being held at the birth place of heroic martyrs Bhumaiah and Kista Goud.

Other speakers at the public meeting included Com. T. Sriniwas (Dist. Secretary of the Party), Com. C. S. Sagar, (General Secretary, PDSU AP), Com. S. L. Padma (Joint Secretary, PDSU AP), Com. Lal Kumar, V. Satish and others. Arunodaya performances inspired the audience.

"Delegate Session"

The delegate session was held at George Reddy Nagar from 30th January onwards. 600 delegates from 20 districts of Andhra Pradesh representing 1,50,000 students attended the delegate session. Com. M. Sriniwas hoisted the PDSU flag and a two minute silence was observed in memory of martyrs. Chairman of the Reception Committee Com. K. Rajanna welcomed the delegates.

Main speaker of inaugural session, noted Hindi poet Pankaj Singh, criticized the comprador govts. for continuing their brutal repression and adopting anti-people politics. They are mortgage India and the future of the country is being given into the hands of MNCs. Illiteracy, social illness, are weapons of the ruling classes to keep the people in ignorance. He called on the delegates to make students conscious of these features and gave his best wishes to the Conference.

Com. P. Prasad, President of IFTU AP state executive committee (and former president of PDSU) spoke on the imperialist invasions of third world countries. He called on delegates to formulate tactics to design alternate forms of struggle and he hoped PDSU would develop students’ struggles.

The General Secretary’s report on the work since the last conference and a draft on conditions of education sector were introduced and discussed. Suggestions of delegates made them more comprehensive and they were approved by the conference.

The conference elected a 31 member new executive with Com. C. S. Sagar as President and Com. S. L. Padma as General Secretary. 13 members who have long been with PDSU were relieved to work on other fronts. All performances of Arunodaya made a remarkable impact on the 16th conference of PDSU. 

Top

"Falling Sex Ratio – Fight back Needed"

The new year has brought with it fresh round of information of falling sex ratios in North India especially Delhi, Haryana (Kurukshetra remains a particular sore spot), Rajasthan and even UP and Punjab. These figures have been published through studies by NGOs to whom Social Welfare and Women’s Ministries are comfortably relinquishing their responsibilities. However, the data only reinforces the findings of Census 2001 and it thus emphasizes the fact that despite much breast beating little concrete has been done to arrest the decline.

This time too, as each time the issue appears in the news, there is some uproar about the need for action against amniocentesis and gender related abortion centres run by unscrupulous doctors. Not that there is any effective action at all. This is a fact apart from the additional one that it is difficult to nail down proof when both service seeker and giver are one on the aim. Even women’s organizations who earlier used to conduct some campaigns on this question have left it to governments to give advertisements about the girl child while concretely acting against her life in practice. The faith reposed in governments to curb the wiping out of the girl child without recognizing that ruling classes’ governments stand for status quo in society and with all redundant feudal practices and not for women’s defence, itself is a fallacy.

Is the issue of falling sex ratio merely linked to the question of amniocentesis and selective abortion prevention – in short, the target being primarily the unscrupulous medical community? Girl babies for years together have been buried alive, fed chillies to die, strangled, discarded – so many innovative methods are there. Sex ratio is also influenced by the death of young girl children – with poorer nutrition, uncared for illnesses, negligence (factors like poverty operating for both boys and girls, operate more against the girl child). So punitive action against such establishments and recalling doctors to their oaths can only be one part of a bigger struggle on this question.

Can and should women’s organizations build comprehensive struggles around the question of a falling sex ratio? Yes surely. It is a most sensitive mirror of the status of women in society. It exposes so many aspects of the real anti-equality and anti-women stands of the status quo, whatever lip service is paid to women’s rights. Women can be drawn into so many aspects of struggle that this issue offers. The struggle to even arrest the sex ratio is linked to the struggle to make for women an equal place in society so that they are not discarded as mere burdens. Women drawn into various aspects of this struggle will be helped to open their own eyes to the need to build a different society. If the issue is placed in a comprehensive way for struggle, women themselves will be sensitized to concretely facing why they consent to annihilate daughters – often they have no choice but often they do and they consent.

The struggle against the falling sex ratio is actually the aggregate struggle to both ensure and assert women’s role in social production, along with changing the cultural and social attitudes. But without fighting for concrete steps for the former, the latter struggle will be a mirage – it can have no result.

"Employment"

While taking part in struggles for jobs for all, women’s organizations must concretely struggle for and demand from governments 50% reservation for women in all jobs whether in government or private sector. All and every promise for employment must equally apply to women, including unemployment allowances. Equal wage for equal work should be an important issue of struggle for all sectors along with enforcement of minimum wage in both urban and rural sectors. In rural areas, in agricultural operations unequal wage for equal work based on gender, is the rule in many areas. Compulsory crèche facilities provided by governments and employers at all offices, establishments, within industrial areas, at construction sites as part and parcel of employment (and not at extra cost) should be fought for and implemented. This will help women to retain jobs and much needed economic independence.

Strong and active defence by the state of the rights of security to women at workplace must be fought for by the exemplary enforcement of anti-harassment laws against superiors, concrete facilities for safe transport to work place and other measures.

Employment of women must be facilitated by governments by opening of series of centres where women are taught and then employed in making jams, pickles, papads etc. These products should be sold competitively through numerous centres and MNC products of the same nature should be discriminated against by taxes etc. till banned altogether. Similarly many sewing and embroidery centres should be similarly instituted, where women are also provided employment and where private orders of individuals too are accepted along with all government work being done here. The timings of such centres should be acceptable to the women (for instance during school hours of children) and women must be taught elementary literacy as also scientific attitude towards rituals, traditions.

"Education"

There must be struggle to ensure free, compulsory, good quality education in government schools for all girl children upto high school. They must be supplied free books on time, free uniforms, good, adequate midday meals. Positive programme to take the burden of education off the shoulders of the parents is a positive social investment. This education should not be allowed to be handed over to NGOs and for governments to escape their responsibilities.

Beyond the 10th standard, there should be full financing of girls going for higher education, and adequate number of government polytechnics where scholarships/loans/funding are offered to girl students. If families have to pay this ‘double dowry’ women are going to be – as they are being – squeezed out of higher education.

There should be struggle for recognition of household work as socially necessary labour. Firstly census data should regard it as an employment category. Women working on family farms should be characterized as peasants, not housewives alone.

Women and youth organizations should join hands for wide struggle involving all sorts of social organizations too, against ostentatious marriages and for community enforced simple marriages. The struggle in the cultural field for a positive reinforcement of women’s role in society cannot be divorced from the struggle both against feudal culture and against commercial imperialist culture, both of which degrade women. Rather alternative cultural forms like welcoming of girl child, simple marriages and community mobilization for the same should be propagated. Struggles must be built for progressive changes within Personal laws especially to do away with cultural practices against girls and women. Jobs and education, by their very practice, do away with many backward practices – a simple example is that girls and wives cannot eat last when timings to leave the house are set.

Women must be encouraged to struggle for social securities like Provident Fund facilities where they should be encouraged to nominate their daughters and not husbands and sons. All land distribution should be on joint pattas or pattas in the name of women.

A vast network of health care facilities for mother and child must be provided by the govts. reversing their privatization trend and ‘Pontius Pilate’ attitude of governments’ ‘washing hands off responsibility’. There have to be pro-active measures here to monitor health of girls especially in villages and also in cities. Three must be compulsory registration of every girl child born, and their systematic health follow up till a fixed age.

Struggles for other social and democratic reforms like non recording of ‘sir name’ in admission forms for jobs, schools, etc. whether government or private, dilutes the concept of “propagating my family name”. So many similar demands can be visualized which will contribute materially to raising women’s independence, remove lack of esteem for her life in her own eyes and in those of society.

Such struggles will provide women with much material for exposure of society. Because when the response of those sections in power, of the status quo, to an attempt to concretely improve the status of women comes on agenda, lip service is exposed.