Istri Jagriti Manch holds convention

Jalandhar, March 8

To celebrate International Women’s Day, Istri Jagriti Manch held a convention at Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall in Jalandhar today, during which they discussed ‘the position and direction of women in today’s society’. Women from different villages of Jalandhar participated and shared their views.

Istri Jagriti Manch district president Anita Sandhu and secretary Jasvir Kaur Jassi said women are treated like second-class citizens. Derogatory comments and songs about women are also part of this problem.

“In our country on one hand girls are worshipped and slogans such as ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ are chanted, on the other hand there are numerous cases where they are raped. The custom of hanging women’s dead bodies from trees, raping foreign women, and incidents of atrocities against women in Manipur, among other cases, highlight the pitiable condition of women,” they said.

They added that the silence of the government and the National Commission for Women in such cases underscored a lack of justice for them. Members of the manch also said the government was targeting minorities in the name of giving rights to minority women.

They said due to poverty and unemployment, women work at low wages or fall into the quagmire of prostitution. Due to the high cost of education, many women also do not get the opportunity of completing their education. On the occasion, the women also pledged to fight against social inequality.

The district committee members of Istri Jagriti Manch, Kamaljit Kaur, Kulwant Kaur, Balwinder Kaur, Diljit Kaur and Ramandeep Kaur of Punjab Students Union, among others, shared their views, while Nirmaljit Kaur compered the event.