Latest news with #KanyashreeDay
The Hindu
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
CPI(M) urges people to ‘Reclaim the Night' again, a year since R.G. Kar rape and murder
The West Bengal unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) on Thursday (August 14, 2025) put its weight behind fresh 'Reclaim the Night' protests to be held across the State tonight (August 14, 2025) to mark one year since the R.G. Kar rape and murder. 'In this State, culprits behind most crimes, especially against women, are in cahoots with the government tasked with punishing them. Women's rights, survival, safety, and employment are in question... So tonight, women across the State will take to the streets again to 'Reclaim The Night',' CPI(M)'s central committee member Minakshi Mukherjee said on Thursday. Exactly a year back, thousands of people across the State took to the streets on the eve of Independence Day to take part in 'Reclaim The Night' protests, called by civil society groups for women to 'reclaim' public spaces after dark. This had followed the heinous rape and murder of a female on-duty doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH) in the wee hours of August 9 last year. 'On August 14 last year, when thousands were protesting outside RGKMCH at night, I saw from our protest site that police personnel were fleeing from the hospital right when a mob entered the campus. The police returned after an hour, after the mob carefully destroyed, especially CCTV cameras and their digital storage,' Ms. Mukherjee alleged. For context, during Reclaim The Night protests last year, violence had erupted at RGKMCH premises late in the night, when a large unidentified mob vandalised the emergency building of the hospital, damaging property, medical equipment, and furniture. The CPI(M) leader claimed that despite their party providing visual evidence of the local miscreants who vandalised the hospital to aid their arrest, the police instead allegedly summoned and interrogated innocent protestors who were demonstrating peacefully. 'Everyone was summoned, except the mob that vandalised the hospital, the culprits associated with the rape and murder, and those who engaged in evidence tampering, corruption and syndicates. They were spared,' Ms. Mukherjee said. Citing the various recent crimes against women in the State, she added that the party will continue its movement against injustice, torture, and the government's alleged cover-ups of injustice through its law enforcement. CPI(M) announces women's welfare programmes On Thursday, when the Mamata Banerjee government celebrated Kanyashree Day to promote the welfare scheme for school-going girls, Ms. Mukherjee also announced that CPI(M) will be introducing a slew of women and girl child empowerment programmes across districts to promote education, financial literacy, physical fitness and skill development among women. 'We will unite the women residents of every panchayat and ward and build Women's Councils across the State. The work has already taken off. We aim to bridge economic and social gaps, spread health-related awareness, empower them mentally, provide legal aid, tutor school dropouts, and conduct self-defence and sports classes,' she said.
Hans India
6 days ago
- Politics
- Hans India
Over 93 lakh women benefitted from Kanyashree scheme in Bengal: Mamata Banerjee
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that over 93 lakh women have benefited from the state government's Kanyashree scheme. Taking to the social media platform X, CM Mamata said her government has spent over Rs 17,000 crore in the last 12 years to help women through this scheme. "Today is Kanyashree Day. The Kanyashree project has completed 12 years today. Many congratulations to all the Kanyashree women across the world, across the country, across Bengal. I don't think there is any other government project that has had such a big impact on women's empowerment in society in such a short time! That's why it is so popular in the world - it won the United Nations Public Service Award, winning first place among 552 projects from 62 countries," Banerjee said. 'Kanyashree Prakalpa' is a targeted conditional cash transfer scheme which is aimed at checking child marriage and retaining girls in schools and other educational institutions. In 2017, Kanyashree Prakalpa, which is a targeted conditional cash transfer scheme, received the United Nations' highest award, the first place for Public Service. "I always think that a society where women are not well off can never be well off. Empowerment of women is necessary for the development of society. It is my pride that today there are more than 93 lakh 'Kanyashree women' in our state. Seventeen and a half thousand crore taka has been handed over to them under this project. We don't just talk about women's empowerment. We do it," she said. The Chief Minister concluded by saying, "I would like to tell all the Kanyashree women to grow up in life and make the face of the country and the state shine. You will one day build a world Bengal. You will wear the crown of respect on your heads in the world."
