9th National Conference of IDPD concludes

Ludhiana, February 18, 2013: The 9th national conference of Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) concluded today with a resolve to continue struggle for end to violence of all kinds and to bring about conceptual changes in the health policy so as to achieve the goal of comprehensive health care to all. A citizens’ charter for this will be soon prepared.

Last day’s  session was marked by talks on peaceful coexistence in South Asia by Maj. Gen. (Retd) Vinod Saighal who emphasised on the need for people’s movements in the countries of South Asia so as to impress upon the governments to continue dialogue to ease tension in the region and put an end to arms race.

Professor Arjun Dev, former head of the  department of Social Sciences NCERT expressed concern at the trends of increasing intolerance in the society particularly against the marginalised sections. Such a situation is a threat to the basic fabric of the society. “We must unite to combat the designs of communal, casteiest and parochial forces”, he said.

Amarjeet Kaur, National Secretary, All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), cautioned against the increasing violence against women. She said this was a result of age old mindset in the society to view women as second grade as compared to men. This had been perpetuated by the increasing disparity and commercialization where women are commodified and used to project the sale of the products, she said, adding the recent reaction to such violence was a positive step and had to be continued. Value based education had to be given to the children in the family at educational institutes, she asserted.

All these sessions were followed by discussion on the subjects.

The conference re-elected Dr L.S. Chawla as president, Dr Arun Mitra as general secretary.

The conference passed resolutions for abolition of nuclear weapons, restriction on issuing of small arms to the civilians and comprehensive security to be provided by the state.

In another resolution the conference demanded the use of renewable energy recourses and not nuclear power for electricity generation.

Conference also cautioned against the use of GM crops without proper trials and expressed concern at the recent agreement between Punjab government and Monsanto.

Finally the conference demanded increase in the budget allocation for health to 6% and ensure food security to all.