Raising serious concern on the language used by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar in the Assembly while commenting on women’s education and population control, AIPWA in a statement on November 8 said that incident has given rise to an uncomfortable situation. The AIPWA in a statement said that the Socio-Economic Survey has given a new direction to politics in the entire country, it is expected that the process of making tailored development policies in the light of the survey data will now start in Bihar, but at this very juncture the Chief Minister's comment has weakened the seriousness of the entire matter. While his statement created an uncomfortable situation for the women MLAs inside the House, some male MLAs laughed. This shows how our constitutional institutions are still in the grip of anti-women mentality. Also, this is harassment at the workplace for women MLAs.
AIPWA leaders Prof. Bharti S Kumar, Meena Tiwari, Shashi Yadav, Sohila Gupta and Preeti Kumari held also held a press conference and said that the choice of words and style of language used by Chief Minister to address the issue of women education was very objectionable. Though the CM later apologised, but the whole matter has created a serious concern.
The statement by AIPWA noted that comments by Bihar CM attempts to reduce women's education, an important issue for Bihar and the whole country to population control. Freedom of choice of women, easy availability of safe and convenient contraceptive means for women, safe delivery, safety of mother and newborn etc. are equally important. Secondly, family planning is not just the responsibility of women, it is also the responsibility of their husband or partner. For women empowerment, government needs to pay serious attention to overall education of women, creating respectable and safe environment for them in the society, more employment and strengthening in the health system.
