Indian women deemed second rate citizens: Annie

KOCHI: National Federation of Indian Women general secretary Annie Raja on Monday said the greatest challenge faced by Indian women is the ‘right to be born’. Inaugurating the 13th state-level conference of the Kerala Mahila Sangham, the women’s wing of the CPI, she said the female-male ratio that has come down in the past years is only a pointer in this direction.Noting that the ‘right to be born’ was so much related to economy and neo-liberalism, Annie Raja exhorted the women to come forward to fight against the evils in society. She also pointed out that women in India were only considered as second rate citizens in a male dominated society. Stating that there were many flaws in the BPL list, she said the methodology of using the expenditure criteria for determining the BPL families should be withdrawn as that would not be enough to determine the poor in the country. The Centre’s basis that the poverty line amounts to a per capita consumption of Rs. 15 per day for rural areas could not be accepted, she said. Lashing out at the proposed Food Security Bill, Annie Raja said the NFIW would fight against the government’s decision to replace the Public Distribution System with cash transfers. It was aimed at closing down all the ration shops in the country.  The proposed bill does not deliver anything about food security. “Moreover, the farmers were indulged in agriculture as they were getting Minimum Support Price for their products as they are procured by the government. But once the PDS system gets abolished, there would not be any procurement of food grains, which means that there was no need for providing minimum support price,” she said and added this could make the farmers shift to other areas. Speaking at the inaugural function, NFIW president Aruna Roy said the outfit had a greater role in establishing the right of the people.