We are Equal

We are around 1.2 billion of human being in India, of which half are women. Traditionally women has been respected in the society and home as mother, sister and wife. Our religious scriptures call lady of the house as lakshmi (Godess of good things). But it is also true that behind this well decorated facade, she is oppressed, harassed, dominated and made dependent. These have been happening from centuries and male domination over women is a truth of history of the world. But today things are changing, there is a new awakening among women and they are fighting for their rights. When people demanded equality the did not think about women, she fought shoulder to shoulder with men for the class equality, equality between lords and serfs, between peasant and zamindars, blacks and whites and so on so forth. But women soon realized that these struggles would not give them equality, for that they have to fight their own struggle against their oppressor which is male dominance spread across the classes. Thus she rose, fought and slowly gaining her true place in the society. She has shown that she is no inferior to men in any sense but the irony is despite women like Rani Lakshmi Bai,Mother Teresa, Florence Nightingale who are praised across the world, condition of common women remained deplorable. She is still treated as property, to be fought for, to be protected as if she has nothing of her own. She cannot get the equality guaranteed to her by the constitution of all nations (except few) unless the mindset of society about her changes. There is need to treat her as individual just like society treat men. Allow her the to live the way she want to , groom her , make her capable of making decision, no special treatment but just as its done for the male child. If she can give birth to men she can never be inferior to him. Scientifically a child owes half of its trait to his mother and other half to father who in turn has half of his mother's trait. So a man's capability is derived from a women's capability, doubting which is foolishness.

If women are provided equal opportunity not only in material sense but in terms of grooming her thoughts and mindset, she could be as strong as a man. She would no more be dependent, as has demonstrated by women today. Equality has to come from the root level, all beliefs and tradition which stop us from giving this fundamental right to women should be changed. For example the desire of male child is a much accepted practice in India and the world. The reason for that are many. A girl child has to be protected, she has to be married to a man for which a heafty dowry has to be given. She is not educated properly, she is not fed properly because ultimately after marriage she would not be with the family so why to invest in her so much ? On the other hand a male child would bring dowry, would lead the family, would take care of parents in their old age and thus investing and loving him seems but natural. Behind all these reasons lay the sheer selfishness, which is human nature. Taking one example, from our cow we expect a female calf which would one day become a cow and give us milk. We don't want a male calf in this case, because he is of no use to us, tractors and other agricultural machinery has taken over his job and he is useless. There are many such examples which shows that human beings choose between male and female for their benefits.

In the modern world when there are no frequent fights, no hard jungle dwelling, no hunting gathering which needed strong physique males to do jobs for the family, can we not expect ourselves to shed this mindset of requirement of male for leading a family ? Taking example from previous paragraph, dowry is one such ritual practice which puts women in a disadvantageous position. Think if nobody has to pay money for their daughters marriage just like they don't have to for their sons, wouldn't it decrease their desire for not having a daughter ? after all human being are rational economic animals.
Similarly practice of a girl moving from her parents home to her in laws' home makes her less attractive to be desired and loved by her parents who cannot divorce themselves from this general mentality of the society. If this practice is slightly changed and even women are allowed to lead family, to be with their family, to help them in need, things would drastically change. And this has started happening at least in upper strata of society. If it is assured that she would also take care of parents just as the men is expected to, she would become more equal to men in the eyes of her parent.

Another major reason for not wanting a girl child is a responsibility to protect her, she is made the family honor and if her modesty is outraged, family honor is gone and thus protecting her is a big responsibility. On the other hand male child causes no such concern. In the modern world this medieval belief should be done away with. Women should be relieved from this burden of being honor of the family. She should be treated just like any other human being any violence against her or sexual violations should be treated as a crime not against women but society. There should not be any discrimination and this taboo of relation between sex and honor should have no place in modern society. In a civilized society like ours it is the responsibility of government to protect citizens. If government plays its role properly then even this obstacle in giving equality to women could be removed.

Important thing here is that every thing positive or negative comes from the mindset of people, the mindset which has been inherited from ages by the society as a whole. If there is anything that could change it , it is education alone.Our education system does not give importance to social and moral values, It only teaches importance of money, and makes a person a money craver, who is ready to do anything and everything to gain money, this is what he has learned from his education inside and outside school. This man is the one who does not even spare his own children and chooses between son and daughter.

Unity in Diversity is Our Speciality

Surrounded by the countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan etc. which boasts having a state religion, India is the beacon of secularism in the region and in the world.
Indian secularism does not mean anti religion but means treating all religions alike. This secular fabric is threatened by the irresponsible and venomous speeches by political leader and somewhat biased coverage by media.There has been numerous cases of muslim youths being arrested often without any substantial proofs by the police after any major terrorist attacks. These youths have to spend many years of their life in prison only to be released by the court in the absence of evidences. It is nothing but pressure from the public and general belief prevalent in the country which associates Islam with terrorism, which forces police to arrest sometimes innocent youths to show thier action. Recent case of arrest of a DRDO scientist Ejaz Ahmed Mirza for allegedly involving in helping terrorists has again raised the question about the biased nature of public in general and media and police in particular. In is very common to listen to TV anchors shouting Muslim names after each terroris attack. Even before any thing is clear about who is behind the attack. This kind of irresponsible attitude has led to the isolation of one community from the rest and is not good for Indian republic which is based on equality and secularism.Terrorist leaders who use religion as an instrument for brainwashing the youths in Kashmir and other regions are often benefited by such callous attitude of media, in painting whole of India as anti-Muslim. There is a need to be more responsible specially in the part of media which affects the mind of the people and is treated as showing collective consciousness of the society. We have to be careful in showing the hate speeches by the political leaders who wish to cash on the religious agenda.With the advent of social networking site and penetration of internet even in the rural areas things have become vulnerable. Along with the good things these technological revolutions have also taken bad things to common people. It is now easier to communicate hate messages to large population by uploading hate videos or publishing morphed pictures which insults any religion.Such facilities are now also available to the anti-social people who are making full use of it, which is evident from the choas generated among the people from north east India living in southern cities.But regulation of Internet may not be the answer, what is needed is a proper administration of internet and making people aware abou the harms that it could do to the country if not used responsibly.These are the new generation challenges that India is facing and it must find the new ways to deal with these kind of threats.