7th January, 2013
Half the Sky: The Right to Equality and Dignity
Over 300 people from different city institutes attended the free seminar, which began with an inspiring message from Dada J.P. Vaswani, who aptly pointed out that woman is a symbol of shakti, and it was this shakti that would ultimately overthrow the monster of violence and evil that was destroying the moral fabric of our society. Inaugurating the seminar, Dr. E. B. Khedkar, Dean, Faculty of Management, University of Pune, observed that education, economic independence and self-esteem would enable women to overcome the obstacles that impeded their progress.
-The legal perspective on women’s issues and the obstacles in obtaining conviction against the accused in women related criminal offences was outlined by Advocate Ujjwala Pawar, District Government Pleader and Public Prosecutor
-Raj Khilnani IPS, Director General (Anti Corruption), Maharashtra, presented the practical approach adopted by the police and urged the participants not to lose faith in the police force.
-Radhika Rawat of Muskaan – Aalochana, described the trauma felt by victims of violence. She also gave Helpline numbers and mentioned NGOs which could extend help to women who faced violence at home or in public.
-Anuradha Sahasrabuddhe of Dnyanadevi Foundation, exhorted the participants to cultivate self confidence and the mental strength to question the prescriptive remedies imposed on them by society. She urged that a change in mindset was the best way to tackle the problem of women’s rights.
-Rohit Srivatsawa gave a practical demonstration of how security breaches and violation of privacy occurred on social networking sites, and requested students to exercise caution and restraint and observe security norms in their ventures into cyberworld.
-Deepankar and his team of self defence experts from Mahindra Special Services were on hand to demonstrate basic self-defence techniques to all participants.