Pious pronouncements won't do
Sir,
Celebrations of a
particular day reminds us of our commitments for the
cause, evaluate our achievements and re-dedication to
carry forward the unfinished goals.
But these principles are
now hardly cared and celebrations have been reduced to
rituals, shedding of crocodile tears, publications of
speeches and advertisements in Newspapers. False promises
are repeated, which every body knows shall never to be
fulfilled.
The same thing has
happened this year also on the International Women's Day.
Forgetting the rituals,
let us ponder over the problems faced by women folk and
achievements made in our country in the last 50 years for
the upliftment of the women. The Constitution of India
guarantees equal rights for all its citizens. The
discrimination, on account of gender has been made
punishable under it. Even the Directive Principles of the
Constitution lay right to have adequate means of
livelihood to all citizens viz men and women and equal
pay for equal work for both men and women. But how far,
we have progressed since adoption of the Constitution of
free India and guarantee equal rights to the women is no
body's guess.
In respect of women
particularly in rural India, same old age rules apply in
the male dominated society. The system of Devdasis is
still prevalent. The widows bear the brunt of the system,
where they are forced to shave off their heads, wear
white Sari or Dupata, eat only once a day. The deserted
women at Holy Banaras Ghats are shocking examples. We
have in our six major cities 70,000 to 1,00,000
prostitutes out of which 40 percent are children below
the age of 15 years.
Against a literacy rate of
64 percent for men, the women figure is only 39 percent.
Due to various reason 70 percent of the girls in the age
group of 6-14 years do not attend schools whereas our
constitution guarantees (Art - 45) free and compulsory
Education within a period of ten years from its
commencement (26th January 1950) for all children untill
they complete the age of fourteen years. This dream may
not come true for another 50 years if things go on moving
as they are existing today.
No doubt some microscopic
percentage of urban women have moved out of kitchens and
have adopted careers of pilots, officers in army, police,
air force, navy, administrative services, technocrats,
doctors, managerial services, professors of Universities
etc. but their representation in Parliament has increased
by only 1.65 percent as there were 27 women MPs in 1957
out of 494 members' house which now stands at 41 women
MPs out of 543 MPs.
A few women in India have
proved to be successful as Prime Minister, Governors,
Ambassadors, Ministers, Judges, Presiding Officers etc.
but majority of them are still chained in superstition,
classified as Dalit women, upper women, lower class women
etc. The crime against women has reached an alarming
stage. The gravity of the crime becomes severe when women
join hands in committing crime against women and the law
becomes mute spectators. The women are stripped naked in
public places and gangraped but the criminals are rarely
punished, which shows our unseriousness in the matter.
If we have to save the
women folk, we need to classified them as only spouse,
mother, sister, daughter and not as Dalit, upper class
and lower class. We need to rededicate ourselves to
provide to women what has been enshrined in our
constitution and law books. Any body working against the
set goals be punished as per the law of the land.
Yours etc.....
Er. H. R. Phonsa
H. No. 63, Sector 5,
Nanak Nagar, Jammu.
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