First step to violence-free society is elimination of gender bias: Sanjiv Sardar
Mail News Service
Jamshedpur, Nov 25: “YUVA”, an organization that constantly raises its voice in support of women’s rights and crusades against violence unleashed on the fairer sex launched a 16-day program from Thursday at Tetla Panchayat Bhawan.
The programme was jointly inaugurated by Potka MLA Sanjeev Sardar, Jharkhand Viklang Manch president Arun Kumar Singh, Tetla Panchayat Mukhiya Dipantri Sardar and YUVA secretary Barnali Chakraborty.
In reply to a query, Barnali said, “The purpose of this program is to make people, especially women, aware of their rights. In this program, which will run till December 10, people will be informed through various mediums about the theme of ‘Protect my rights, not me’ to prepare them to fight for their rights.”
The YUVA secretary further elaborated, “The prime purpose of this program is to motivate women to raise their voice against the discriminatory treatment meted out to women, third gender and LGBTQ and make them aware of their rights.”
Tetla Panchayat Mukhiya Dipantri Sardar thanked the youth organization and said that such a program would not only boost the morale of girls, women and specially abled girls who would then themselves move forward to claim their rights. She said, “This camp will enable girls and women to take decisions on their own. Problems like child marriage, gender inequality and differences in honorarium payment for the same type of work are more visible in rural areas but no one comes forward to raise a voice against such discrepancies. YUVA is doing a very good job which is making people aware on these problems, especially the people suffering due to these problems and showing them the way to fight for their rights.”
Arun Kumar Singh, the President of Jharkhand Viklang Manch, said that discrimination started from home. “The woman whom we worship in the society as the Goddess of power that very same woman has to struggle for her basic needs and rights. It is also of prime importance to identify specially abled persons at panchayat levels so that they can be trained to join the social mainstream.
This sixteen-day campaign was inaugurated by Sanjeev Sardar, MLA of Potka. In his address, Sanjiv observed, “The first step to a violence free society is to eliminate sexual violence and gender bias at every level of the social order. This is the right platform for people, especially girls and women to take up cudgels and fight for their rights, a strength and vision that had long been missing. As for the girls, I would like them to study not merely for jobs and livelihood, but to become aware of social rights and take this knowledge and spread it among others. Violence against women has been carried over from the past to ‘now’ and for this the women themselves have to be up in arms against perpetrators of violence and fight for their rights. No law can be considered applicable unless you yourself are aware and so be informed and turn the society towards the solution and not towards the problem.”
During the sixteen-day campaign, people will be made aware of various social facets and realities through various programs including street plays, meetings, paintings and other sessions to secure the rights of women, especially women with disabilities for building a violence-free society, in which women of all socio-econmic strata will play an important role. MLA Sanjeev Sardar flagged off the Rath (chariot) for this campaign, which will conduct various programs in Potka block for the next sixteen days.
Youth trainer Anjana Devgam, Jyoti Hembram, Ritika Kumari, Chandrakala Munda, Avanti Sardar, Maino, Dobo Chakia, Suraj Kumar Anil Bodra and others are members of the organizing team.