PaRCha - JNU - AISA - 2005 ID-2361

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J ALL INDIA STUDENTS' ASSOCIATION (AISA) 16.9.os .

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SFI-AISF, Stop Sectarian Tactics .

to Weaken JNUSU! .

Convene Council Meeting, .

Intensify Agitation for Charter of Demands .

and Against Admin.'s Insensitivity! .

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Rebuff Admin.'s Attempts to Cripple GSCASHI .

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1'udttc:. ettn-.

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Pinky vs Parvati ? .

Morality-Policing And Mumbai Bar Girls' Struggle Fo Livelihood And Dignity .

5Deaker : .

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Flavia Agnes, .

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Women's Rights Activist and Noted Lawyer Fighting the Cases of Mumbal Bar Girls .

9:30 om.

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Despite incessant rains. studen~s turned out in all !Ganga Mess 16.09.0S(tonight) ·~ ~ p j .

determination for yesterday's Protest Demonstrotion at the .

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Ad Block, demanding fulfilment of the Charter of Demands. The JNU Administration's response, was however shocking for its callousness and rudeness. Midway through the negotiations, the VC decidP.d that the JNUSU's appointment could be broken for a call by the University Chancellor. What sensitivity and seriousness. not to mention efficiency can we expect from the Administration which harassed Masood Alam and hunger-striking students for weeks? .

A swift response to this callousness, and an intensification of the struggle for the Charter of Demands is called for. Unfortunately, the SFI-AISF representatives In the JNUSU have once again show n the same non-seriousness and sectarianism that they showed in the Masood struggle. By refusing to sign yesterday's JNUSU leaflet (along with the President) emphasising the need for immediate protest against the VC's insensitivity and a Council Meeting to intensify struggle on the Charter of Demands, they are .

playing into the hands of the JNU Administration. .

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There are also other crucial issues that demand· an urgent collective response from the student community. The Charter ,. of Demands had called for a ratification of the Rui!"S and Pro~edures of the GSCASH. Shockingly, the JNU Admin. .has ratified the Rules and Procedures in a form that totally distorts GSCASH's Qi.:l)lder-sensitlve spirit and cripples its powers. A widespread c~mpaign to defend the gender-just spirit of the" GSCASH must be launched among .

. the entire JNU community and the students must be mobilised to give a united and resounding rebut: to such a distortion of the GSCASH .

The SAA GBM has demanded scrapping of Ford Funding in that School There should be a University-wide rejection of dependence on Ford Funding for any academic programme in JNU. AISA demands that SFI-AJSF stop their sectarian tactics and the JNUSU Gen. Secy.,instead of postponing, convene :a Council Meeting immediately to chalk out a programme for the intensification of the agitation on the Charter of Demands, as well as initiate a widespread campaign against Ford Funding and the attempt to cripple the GSCASH, culminating in a UGBM to deliver a powerful .

.students' mandate on these questions. .

he.ABVP's blatantly commu!;lalleaflet last night targeting r.f.asood Alam j~ highly condemnable. The ABVP repeats e Admin.:s slander-that Masood does not deserve entrance .

o PhD because he 'failed' his MPhil. Unfortunately, the facti .

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at the Sfi-AISPa.nd their JNUSU representatives ~re also echoing the sanie logic is giving the ARVP a chance to peddle its communal venom. AISA demands that the JNUSU unitedly resist the faulty and illogical AC resolution which has been the basis for denyfhg Masood admission. The im"plicatlpns of this resolution are not just restricted to Masood Alam or students ofArabic-ifit is not chaBenged, .

ore students will suffer !n the future. .

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·~dhesh Gen. Secy., AISA, JNU .

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Pinky or Parvatl? This is the morally loaded question that .

the leaflets distributed by an anti-dance bar lobby 1n Mumbai .

posed. Parvati, the paragon of Indian (read Hindu) woman-.

hood and wifehood; Sweety, on the other hand, dancing on .

the debris of this idyllic conjugality. Not having rest contented .

by condemning the dance bar girls as purveyors of a .

depraved morality, the self appointed guardian of morality .

and the Deputy CM of Maharashtra, RR Patil, doubly othered .

the bar girls by painting them as a threat to the security and .

integrity of the country. Seventy five per cent of the bar girls, .

declared Patil, are 'outsiders. "STD calls made by bar girls .

have been traced to Bangladesh.'' Certainly, xenophobia and .

morality make for a potent brew. Was it a mere coincidence .

that the closure of the dance bars came into effect on .

15th August, as though to re-affirm the purity of the .

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nation-state on it's Independence Day. .

I "These women who dance naked, they don't deserve our sympathy." .

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"These women loot men and destroy their houses. .. " .

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"These women who are opposing the ban, we will make .

their mothers dance .. . " .

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These were some ofthe statements made in the Maharashtra .

Assembly when the bill to ban dance bars-a bill supposedly .

to protect women's dignity'-was being passed. Another .

member of the house declared that it was more honourable .

to commit suicide than to dance in bars. And the house .

applauded. The members ofthe Maharashtra assembly must .

have derived a great deal of satisfaction at the news of .

suicide of three bar girls in the last few weeks. .

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With the ban, over 75000 bar girls were rendered JObless in .

a single stroke. The figures thrown up by a study conducted .

by the SNDT university is revealing: almost all the bar girls .

are drawn from backward and poverty-stricken districts of .

Maharshtra, UP, MP and Rajasthan, and a majority of them .

hail from de-notified tribes such as Bhedia, Chari and Bhatu. .

Ignored by the welfare schemes and bypassed by the .

development plans of the State, the girls received no .

education, or training in skills that would allow them to turn to .

other professions. A number of girls interviewed by the study .

said that they had turned to dancing in bars when the factories .

and units they worked in as labourers closed down. And the .

conditions ofw9rk in those factories, they said, were no less .

exploitative. The State whose skewed policies in the first place .

pushed these girls into the bar dance trade, has now washed .

its hands offby refusing to offer any alternative or rehabilitation .

package. Desperation has driven many of the former dancers .

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into the flesh trade and we may still many more suicides. .

We invite you to a discussion tonight on the topic of .

Morality-Policing And Mumbai Bar Girls' Struggle For .

Livelihood And Dignity. .

sd/-Sandeep Singh, Jt Secy., AISA, JNU .

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