Understanding The Madness

According to the 2011 census of India the number of females per 1000 male in our country is 940. This is unfortunate, yet one may find prospect in the fact that this is not a fall but 7 point rise when compared to the census of the previous decade. I for once saw hope in the news but that was until I went beyond the headline. There is one fact stated in the census report which must be heeded to and that is that the number of female children per male child fell drastically through this decade.

Why is it, one wonders, that there is such inequality in our society.  Why is it that after fighting successfully with foreign rulers for centuries we are falling to malice that our own culture has acquired for itself. Why is it that in today’s world of equality we are still obsessed with the desire for a male child? How can a woman who has felt her offspring in her womb get rid of her upon knowing that she is a girl? How indeed. Let us explore for their purposes.

A desire for son is innate to most sections of our society. It is a will that many people openly express. It is so commonly accepted that in a recent case a judge was reported saying that it is acceptable.  The reason being that in most parts of our country a patriarchal system of inheritance is followed where only sons retain the property and the name of their father. There are a few exceptions of course but none in significant majority. Therefore preference to a male child seems like a strategy for preserving the family name.

The social setup in India is such that it is a son who has the responsibility of his parents in their old age. The idea of living with a daughter and her in-laws is simply too imprudent to even consider for most parents. With income as limited as it is in our country saving for retirement is mostly not an option. For this reason most people who are unable to produce a male heir are either forced to work through their old age or to compete for old-age homes. A male child thus is a retirement plan and a daughter simply doesn't fit.

In our country where most people still live below the poverty line, children are often no more than an economic choice. A son can earn his share of bread and more from early days of his life whereas after a certain age daughters, who are not allowed to work because of backward conservative mindset of parents, are commonly accepted as burdens. Thus for many in our society having a girl child is an economic disincentive.

The most important among these factors perhaps is a curse from our past that still haunts millions of women through their life and through them their parents. Yes dowry, the socially accepted form of human trade in our culture, is perhaps the most unforgiving of all the reasons. It is because of this that many families kill their newborn or unborn daughters in fear of the grave financial misfortunes that her marriage would bring along. Whereas a son simply by his marriage can pay a lot of bills and thus the greed makes them covet.

Upon observation we find that there is some rationale in the unjust preference of a son over a daughter. There is some logic, no matter how horrid, behind the gruesome murder of a daughter. And thus there is a plausible reason behind the falling child sex ratio. There is no doubt that the number 914 to 1000 is a taint on the values of the nation. We need to rise and work towards an unbiased future because such an imbalance as this is dangerous for the country.

There are laws in India that were intended to rid us of these evils. There are laws, no matter how lax, that were intended to stop foeticide. There are also laws that were intended to stop the practice of dowry. But the thing worth marking is that there seems to be a lack of will among the administrators and police for implement such laws. This is because they too are a part of this biased society that has dual standards for the sexes. For them to change we the society have to change.

We must remember not to separate the cause from the consequence. Working towards stopping female foeticide would be unfruitful if we do not work towards eradicating the causes behind it. We must first work towards stopping the practice of dowry so that then we can work towards equality. For without equality we can only check the nuisance but we can never stop it. It is only through impartiality between the two halves of the nation that harmony can be achieved.


Further reading :
Dowry laws in India
Satyamev Jayate episode that features foeticide

To Be A Freedom Writer

A free media is the true essence of a democracy. It is the tool that empowers the people to speak up against tyranny, to protest against the wrong and bring the undeserving down from power. When our union minister of Communication and Information Technology Mr. Kapil Sibal announced that he would introduce a new scheme for pre-screening of material on social networking sites he reminded me remarkably of Lord Lytton.

In the year 1878 Lord Lytton the then Viceroy of India had passed an act that became a word in the history of the nation. Since the Independence of the India generations of children have read of what was then titled as The Vernacular Press Act. The law was intended at restricting any content in all print media which could do harm to The British Raj. The act brought down restriction upon right to expression so that the Raj could spread ignorance and thus exploit the people.

It seems that the congress government is irked enough by indecent photographs of their leaders over the internet of propose a law to stop them. The event comes to reveal that UPA government is more concerned by their worsening image that the reasons that cause them. They would rather kill the protest, than kill the inadequacy of their measures in steering the country and all the while they say it is a fight against people who spread religious hatred through such sites.

Kapil Sibbal - the man behind the proposal

People who spread religious hatred in the country must be stopped and punished. The act itself is of the most heinous kind. But do we surrender our rights in order to do that. Are there no other preventive measures to accomplish that? How about prosecuting the people who bring such hatred and bringing them to justice. Why don’t we use the established medium of networking sites to allow the users themselves to report perpetrators to the government?

 Well I don’t think that would happen since the congress government clearly isn’t interested stopping such attempts they simply want to have a hold on the web so that they can stop the political propaganda against the UPA and thus was revealed by the sites themselves. According to facebook most of the request to bring down content concern political leaders and only a handful concern other issues.

This sudden act by the government made me wonder. Does this provocative attempt of invading people’s privacy show the government’s ambition of incorporating the worst of China in India or is it simply a measure to divert focus from their other failure in governance? Whatever be the case we should keep in mind how our freedom fighters fought against such oppression. They protested till the Vernacular Press Act was dropped by a subsequent Viceroy. If the need be we should do the same and become freedom writers.

Further reading :

Economic times article on the issue 

A BBC article on the issue  

Pornography And Prostitution

Today while going through some news across on a The Times of India website I came across a rather interesting piece of an article. The story was titled "Porn star doesn't mean prostitute: Sunny Leone". Personally I don't have any problem with porn industry around the world and I agree to the statement made by Leone herself. But I do have a problem with the intent of what she writes. Here it is...

What Sunny states is in the article reflects that prostitutes are somehow low in what they are doing and that there is some sort of dignity in what "adult entertainment artists" do after all they are hardworking people who have to manage their sales. Here is how Sunny is quoted in the article: "I think India doesn't have an adult entertainment industry - that's why people have no idea what it is. I ran a company that took care of the deals I sealed with firms to sell and share my content online and to other media. Running a company was hard work. I'd work for about 60-70 hours a week. It wasn't a party. I have only one partner. So that way, I'm very restrained in the real world." 

 

So does she intend to imply that being a prostitute is an easy job? I would like to point out that the comparison of the jobs of a prostitute and a porn star was not on the practical resemblance of their jobs rather on the ideological resemblance in what they do. While a prostitute gets paid for providing pleasure to her client for money her job is discrete and often born out of genuine need. While what a porn star does is gets involved in sexual act for the pleasure of the people who watch them over the internet and television.

I also understand how she says that she has to run a company in order to sell legal rights to her sex videos. It brings me to wonder how many girls in her industry actually are so fortunate and get treated so well. At one point the article says that she never intended to be so much into the industry just that "the money was too good". There you go, greed! Now we have a real good base for perspective. Is it being greedy that makes her better than a prostitute? I am not sure.

Many girls who enter the porn industry get into it because of genuine need for employment and I do not intend to be disrespectful towards them. It must be real hard on them knowing that what they do cannot be undone in this lifetime. Anyways while all is said I would like to point out that I believe what Leone says to be true to the same extent that I believe that "a prostitute doesn't mean porn star". I would also like to defend Indian commoners take on porn workers by stating that in India where prostitution has the same legal status as porn (not punishable if not organized or public) Indians have a right to cite porn stars and prostitutes under the same category sex-workers.

Though unrelated to the topic another very interesting point comes out of this debate that is how easily Bollywood accepted her into itself. I would under normal circumstances feel happy for a person who has walked out to success in mainstream media irrespective of their background but in this case I would feel ashamed of our film industry if it has chosen her because of her background and not despite it. But that is for another time.

Read: The Times of India article

           Legal status of pornography in India

           An NY Times article on high class prostitutes in India

You may choose to read this:

While this is in some conflict with the rest of the article anybody reading this article should also make themselves aware of the pitiful state of India when it comes down to prostitution. While talking hypothetically the perspective above makes sense but I am saddened by to apathy of prostitutes in our country and do not intend to trivialize the issue. I believe that steps must be taken by the government to eradicate human trafficking and child prostitution. I also don't believe that criminalization of prostitution in general is an option. While this article above fails to address the problem I would feel privileged if you read from the following link: A BBC article on the rise of prostitution in India.