Women

All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) strongly condemned the recently passed the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion (Amendment) Bill 2024 in the state assembly on July 30, which aiming to make the existing 2021 anti-conversion law more stringent. The new draconian bill proposes increasing the maximum sentence from 10 years to life imprisonment, along with a fine of up to 5 lakh rupees.

In a significant demonstration of dissent, AIPWA organised a protest in Lucknow against the increasing incidents of violence against women in Uttar Pradesh under Yogi Adityanath's regime. The protest took place at Parivartan Chowk, with participants voicing their grievances and demanding justice. The march towards the assembly was halted by a heavy police presence near KD Singh Babu Stadium. Despite the obstacles, the protestors handed a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister to the Police Commissioner amidst slogans and struggles.

Bihar Rajya Vidhyalaya Rasoiya Sangh (Mid-day Meal workers union) affiliated with AICCTU organised a huge protest on 24 July in Patna for Mid-day Meal workers demands of increase in the honorarium to Rs. 10000 per month for 12 months of the year along with a 13-points charter. They also protested the handing over of the Mid-day meal scheme to NGOs in the state.

In a press conference held on June 30, AIPWA's National General Secretary Meena Tiwari along with survivors of Muzaffarpur DBR company job racket case the called for the immediate formation of a high level Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case, alleging that the administration is shielding the criminals involved. The main accused, Manish Sinha, remains at large, and the administration is reportedly under pressure from the BJP, hindering his arrest.

The two day 9th National Conference of All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) was held in Delhi’s Surjeet Bhawan on September 30 to October 1, 2023. The conference witnessed participation of more than 500 delegates from across the country. 

The State Conference of All India Progressive Women Association (AIPWA) Rajasthan was held on September 17 in Jaipur. The conference was attended by more than two hundred delegates from districts including Jaipur, Udaipur, Ajmer, Pratapgarh, Salumber and Dausa in Rajasthan. The conference started with paying homage to the martyrs of the people’s movements and departed comrades of AIPWA.

Bihar ASHAs completed four weeks of their indefinite strike on 9 August with the resolve to carry on their struggle till the demands are met by the Mahagathbandhan government in the state. On 3 August a rally was organised in Patna participated by tens of thousands of ASHAs from all over the state to press for their nine-point charter of demands.

The 9th National Conference of AIPWA will be held on 30 September to 1 October in Delhi. Mina Tiwari, general secretary of AIPWA said that in challenging times when the government has left no stone unturned to suppress the voices of freedom and democracy, women are trying to raise their voice on issues ranging from livelihood to rights, equality and justice, we can see an open attempt by the dominant social-religious class and the feudal elements to suppress their voices brutally.

The indefinite strike of ASHA workers in Bihar has entered into the fourth week without any solution in face of the state government’s unwillingness to implement the already agreed upon demands of the latter. The rural health services are on a halt for almost a month because of the insensitive attitude of the state government, said Shashi Yadav who is among the leaders who spearhead this historic assertion of the workers in the rural health sector for a nine-point charter of demands. 

The ASHA and ASHA Facilitators in Bihar are on an indefinite strike since 12 July for their long pending and unfulfilled demands. The main demands include recognition of their work as workers or employees and increase in wages which should not be termed as ‘reward’, to Rs. 10000 per month. They are also demanding disbursal of pending amount of Rs. 1000 per month from April 2019 to November 2020.