Kerala Women’s Commission to revive ward-level vigilance committees to curb increasing incidents of violence
The Hindu
Training begins for ward-level surveillance activities
Aimed at curbing the increasing incidents of violence against women, the Kerala Women’s Commission has decided to reactivate the functioning of its vigilance committees in various local bodies in the State.
Inactive committees with insufficient or ineligible members will be dissolved soon as part of the reconstitution process, aimed at tracking the maximum number of grievances at the beginning itself and reporting it to higher authorities concerned for speedy intervention.
On Thursday, nearly 150 vigilance committee members representing the 75 divisions of the Kozhikode Corporation turned up for their first round of training as part of resuming the ward-level surveillance activities. It was part of the State-level events hosted by the women’s commission in the city to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and explain the action plan for the days to come.
Hampi, the UNESCO-recognised historical site, was the capital of the Vijayanagara empire from 1336 to 1565. Foreign travellers from Persia, Europe and other parts of the world have chronicled the wealth of the place and the unique cultural mores of this kingdom built on the banks of the Tungabhadra river. There are fine descriptions to be found of its temples, farms, markets and trading links, remnants of which one can see in the ruins now. The Literature, architecture of this era continue inspire awe.
Unfurling the zine handed to us at the start of the walk, we use brightly-coloured markers to draw squiggly cables across the page, starting from a sepia-toned vintage photograph of the telegraph office. Iz, who goes by the pronouns they/them, explains, “This building is still standing, though it shut down in 2013,” they say, pointing out that telegraphy, which started in Bengaluru in 1854, was an instrument of colonial power and control. “The British colonised lands via telegraph cables, something known as the All Red Line.”