of bitter cold but women were not perturbed. Even during the Convention the same arrangement for food and sleep continued. The theme of the Convention was “Freedom of Women and Men in the Awakening of Women Power”. On the 9th there were sessions covering subjects like Employment Guarantee Scheme, Water Crisis, Education, Dowry, Alimony, Common Civil Code and Growing Insecurity in Society. All sessions were chaired by the women workers of Aghadi. The next day, 10th November, happened to be the day which SS always observed as a Martyr’ Day to pay its homage to those farmers who had lost their lives in this struggle. After that homage, the Convention continued. In the morning over one and a half thousand tribal women reached the site in their traditional costumes. They were welcomed with cheers and applause. Enthusiasm further increased when a procession of 30,000 farmer women reached the venue. The open session started at two pm. There was a sea of women attending it. The estimate of the number had varied between three to five lakhs. But it was clear that never before a gathering of so many women had taken place. The important resolutions passed were as follows: 1. During famines the farmer suffers the most. Even if a factory closes down the owner does not go to break stones. An employee in a job has the support of Pension and Provident Fund in his old age. But a farmer has no such security. Famine is a natural calamity and there is no fault of the farmer in it occurring and yet during the famine he and his family are compelled to go for hard manual labour on the government’s famine relief jobs. In future, when women from farmer’s family go for the labour under Employment Guarantee Scheme they would not do the hard physical tasks 226
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Sharad Joshi : Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage
