Massive show of women’s strength planned in Raichur on Saturday seeking prohibition, better schools

Women in Raichur demand prohibition, education quality improvement, malnutrition measures, pensions, and scholarships in massive demonstration.

Women from remote villages in the backward Raichur district, who had staged a massive demonstration demanding complete prohibition, are prepared for another show of strength in Raichur on Saturday.

Last time, on the day of Gandhi Jayanti in 2016, they thronged the city and marched to the APMC Yard where they staged a demonstration to demand complete prohibition. This time, they have added a few more demands apart from seeking prohibition — improving the quality of education in government schools, measures to address malnutrition and anaemia in the backward districts of Kalyana Karnataka region, proper pensions to the victims of the Devadasi system and scholarships to their children, and funds to repair RO (reverse osmosis) plants installed in rural areas.

“We are expecting over 20,000 people from different villages across Raichur district. Women will be the main force, accounting for most of the mobilisation. The demonstration will be held near the district stadium,” Hafeez Ulha, an activist associated with the initiative, told The Hindu.

The agitation will be held under the banner of the Joint Action Committee of Progressive Organisations, a common platform of different civil society groups working among farmers, women, Dalits, students, and other sections of society.

Grameena Kooli Karmikara Sangha (GRAKOOS), an organisation working with rural labourers, is the driving force for the forum. It was GRAKOOS which was behind the massive mobilisation in Raichur in 2016 and held a 12-day padayatra to cover 210 km from Chitradurga to Bengaluru in 2019 demanding a complete ban on liquor.

Abhay Kumar, founder of GRAKOOS, said people would bring their food such as jowar and bajra rottis and dry chutney. “It is an indefinite agitation. However, we will send back most of the people on the same day after the protest. Around 300 people will continue the Satyagraha day and night indefinitely. We have asked the people to bring their own blankets and warm clothes. We don’t have any option but to sleep on the roadside pavements and on the premises of nearby government buildings,” he said.

On the mobilisation, Vidya Patil, who has been associated with GRAKOOS for a long time, said the call for agitation had evoked a good response from rural labourers. “We have been extensively campaigning in rural areas. We have covered over 500 villages. People themselves are contributing some funds to hire vehicles to travel to Raichur,” she told The Hindu. She added that representatives from other States would also join the agitation.