By: Dr. Abhishek Kumar Pandey, Asstt. Editor-ICN
LUCKNOW: India is the largest country in the South Asia region and is the seventh largest country in the world by area with over a billion people, and is second only to China in population.
Once Martin Luther King said – “To other countries, I may go as a tourist, but to India, I come as a pilgrim.”
Yes, India is an extremely diverse country with vast differences in geography, climate, culture, language and ethnicity across its expanse and pride itself on being the largest democracy on earth and a hub of trade in Southeast Asia. Despite of all that, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, inadequate public health care etc. and this is a sad part for us.
Our country has rich heritage and natural resources. But there are many social evils in India which do not allow our progress. There have been many social reformers who fought against social evils and are successful in eradicating some of them like sati, untouchability and child marriage. But certain evils were so deep-rooted that they still exist.
Basically, social evils are issues which in one way or another affects member of society and are often considered controversial or problematic in terms of moral values. We are living in the 21st century, an era, where men and women are given equal rights and freedom. However, even after so many efforts by our social reformers, India is still orthodox when it comes to giving equal rights to women as compared to man.
Some of the major social evils are- No education for girls, domestic violence, female infanticide, dowry, prostitution, child abuse, racism, organized crime etc. These evils are considered harmful and dangerous for our society or community.
Education is very important for every child whether boy or girl. It is sad that some communities still discriminate against the education of the girl child. About 57 million children around the world are not going to school. If the female literacy rate is low, then the growth of country is slow, because when a woman is not educated, it impacts the every member of family. An educated woman has the skills, information and self-confidence that she needs to be a better parent, worker and citizen.
Girl’s education is considered as “Lifeline to development.” It is very true that equivalent expansion of both sexes will boost the economic and social growth in every area of the country. Once Napoleon said – “Nation’s progress is impossible without trained and educated mothers and if the women of my country are not educated, about half of the people will be ignorant.” Thus we should create an atmosphere in which not a single woman remains uneducated.
Violence against women is highly prevalent in India. Almost 70% of women are victims of domestic violence. Domestic violence is a pattern of behaviour used to maintain power and control over an intimate partner or family member. It is a serious national problem that knows no racial, religious, cultural or economic boundaries. Domestic violence is destructive for both the battered and the batterer. The nature of domestic violence could be physical, psychological, sexual and/or social.
Women form the largest group of victims. However, men, children and elderly people can also be victims of domestic violence. It occurs at all levels in society and in all population groups. The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) says a total of 244,270 incidents of crimes against women were reported in the country in 2012, compared with 228,650 in 2011, an increase of 6.4%. No one deserves to be abused or exploited. It is extremely important to seek help for yourself and your children or anyone if you are or have been a victim of abuse.
There are some home truths that we are unaware of or are turning a deaf year to them; female infanticide is one of them. The deliberate and intentional killing of a new-born female child is called female infanticide. Section 315 of the Indian Penal Code defines infanticide as the killing of an infant in the 0–1 year age group. The Code uses this definition to differentiate between infanticide and numerous other crimes against children, such as foeticide and murder.
Extreme poverty with an inability to afford raising a child is one of the reasons given for female infanticide in India. The dowry system in India is another reason that is given for female infanticide. Other major reasons given for both female and male, includes unwanted children, such as those conceived after rape, deformed children born to impoverished families, and those born to unmarried mothers lacking reliable, safe and affordable birth control. The practice of killing the girl child is a cruel and abominable act that must be stopped. The only way for that is to spread awareness and make people realize the consequences of not saving their daughter.
Prostitution, so called “World’s oldest profession” is the exchange of sexual services for money. Child prostitution is a major problem in India involving around 1.2 Million children. Prostitution is not a job. The inside of a woman’s body is not a workplace. The common prostitutes (the lowest class of prostitutes) are from the lowest economic and social strata. However, it cannot be said that poverty is the most important cause of prostitution. There are some prostitutes who were indifferently brought up by their parents. Defective socialisation, destitution, carelessness of parents and lack of love and affection has been reported as the main causes of prostitution.
Prostitution has become a sort of institution which has various forms. It is practised in a hidden way. No law can completely eradicate this social evil. The Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act (SITA) has not been very effective so far. There is a very strong need to treat the sex industry as any other industry and empower it with legal safeguards, which would rid this workplace of exploitative and unhealthy practices. The rising number of AIDS cases in India and the number of innocents being forced into the flesh trade are alarming. The time has come for lawmakers to be more serious about this issue.
Dowry is the most deep rooted evil of our society. “It is not a mere evil; it is a mother of many evils.” Girls are murdered due to their families not being able to give dowry to the bridegroom’s family.
“Gods reside there where women are worshiped”. Though we know of one ancient culture and quote the above quotation, but things are quite different in our society. Due to dowry system, the sacred affair of marriage is destroyed and it is turned into a business deal. The brides are placed in the same class as those of cattle. The ugliest thing about this system is that the richer the family of the bridegroom the higher is their demand. A marriage life that starts with such a business deal can never be happy. This system is found in both rich and poor community. To eradicate this blot or stigma from the face of Indian society a number of measures need to be taken immediately. Total change and social awareness in the society is necessary at this moment. The women should be empowered and made self-sufficient by giving them proper education and employment so that they might grow conscious of their dignity and prestige and reject outright the young men whose parents demand dowry.
Casteism is the biggest social evil which has its roots way deep. The complete society is divided into many groups either by caste or by colour. People from lower caste still face many problems in villages and are considered untouchables.
Child labour is a condition when children below the age of 14 years work in homes, industries or other institutions for making money. Over population, poverty and lack of education is the main cause behind this. Child labour can lead to some very devastating consequences such as robbery, criminal offense and other small thefts etc. . We should not play with the emotions of the children and ruin their childhood. Rather they should be given education properly.
It is a high time that India awake and get rid of these social evils that torture women and kids mostly. Joint efforts of govt., women’s organisations, and socially enlightened people are likely to yield results. Of course, the change will come slowly. But once a collective effort is made, there is hope of the social evil being wiped out.
Being a responsible citizen of India, we should aim at removing and not following these evil practices. Let us join hands and work together to put an end to these systems and make our country free from social evils and make it a better place with equal rights for all.
