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 ‘We swear – never, on our part, to treat women as being in any way inferior and in particular not to deny a foetus the right to birth for the reason that it is female;

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not to discriminate against girls as regards nursing, feeding, affection, medication and education;

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not to oppose equality for women as regards property rights, opportunity, freedom and choice;

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not to contravene laws concerning compulsory education, minimum age for marriage, dowry and maintenance;

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not to let married women feel estranged from the parental family and as outsiders in the house of the inlaws;

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not to be derogatory to widows, divorcees and abandoned women, and in particular to the victims of atrocities;

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not to depict women as consumable objects overemphasizing the erotic and the coquettish; and not to tolerate seeing them thus depicted;

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not to let pass unchallenged any injustices to women.

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We, a hundred thousand women gathered here at Chandwad, finally solemnly resolve to carry the message of this declaration to all the nooks and corners of the globe, with all the strength and means at our disposal.’ The second Convention of the Shetkari Mahila Aaghadi took place at Amravati three years later on 9 and 10 November 1989. It discussed various ways in which the resolutions at Chandwad could be taken forward by organizing an actual plan of action. 228

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Sharad Joshi : Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage