Women the better half?

Gender empowerment, gender equality are the terms which are most often read these days. By constitutional provisions discrimination by caste,creed, place of birth or SEX is not legal and these are some of the fundamental rights which can be enforced by knocking the doors the Supreme Court, what has socially the gender equality is enforced is a million dollar question. I would second the opinion that India still has a long way to go to achieve this in letter and spirit.

The recently spurted controversy of an woman ranked officer in the Army committing suicide being succumbed to occupation stress , leading to a statement high order officer Mr. Pattabhiram saying women are not wanted in Army talks stories of how women's involvement in the work life is not welcomed.

The sex ratio of the Indian population is at a pathetic state, worse being in states like Haryana, Punjab, Bihar etc where the female infanticide is more prevalent! The inheritance of property and issues like dowry haunt the couples to avoid female child and go for a male one. The female child in rural north India is still considered a curse, eventhough the situtation in southern India has improved far better than what it was few years back.

Women's role in the managerial decisions in India is negligible, we can count the number of female bureaucrats, M.P's, Ministers, Chairmans, Presidents in the private sector or for that matter in any area you take. This talks fortunes of how much influence does female have in the society. Majority of the women are even today restricted to mundane jobs and activities and discriminated. They are not openly given credits and appreciation for the work they do, nor they are promoted on time even if they deserve. It happens more in the public sector.

The recent move by UPA to make the Right to Property for women, is probably an eye opener for the junta, as this makes sure at least they don't succumb financially to the other half in their later years, majority of the women being unemployed today. The specific ratio maintained in the National Rural Employment guarantee Act (NREGA), for rural women is also welcomed.
The sponsorship of CBSE for single girl child also boosts the ego of the female child and allows them to study further without any financial hindrances coming in their way. Even the definition of rape is being broadened by the government with the help of National Commission of Women (NCW) which is becoming another move to empower them with the crime ridden environment.

As more such incentives come in the way, I feel more women would opt for better education and would be more independent and contribute to the society in all aspects rather than the just mundane household chores that they carry out today. The journey has begun as it can be seen from Mr. Pattabhiram retracting his statement after some pressure from the women's who's who. It is just a matter of time for us to see the Gender Equality happen both in true letter and spirit!

Is Literacy a panacea to backwardness?

One of the foundations on which the democracy lies is people rule the country through their representatives. But how far this is true can be debated in developing countries like India. According to the Indian statistical organization(NSSO,CSO) which I don't know how far is reliable, the estimates comes to about 65% of the people are literate. The rural population contributes to about 72%. About 80- 90% of the total population is living on unorganized employment, can democracy style of governance succeed in ruling such a country?

The politicians find it very easy to dupe the rural population who are not even aware of their basic fundamental rights. The rural population is just fighting for its daily bread and wants to find a quick way out of the misery and it has no choice but to vote for those gigantic national parties in the hope that Godly intervention from the politicians would happen. The independent and smaller parties are mostly not trusted by the general population thinking that they may not be able to make a big difference in the policies of the government which are ruled by bigger parties.

Our forefathers with special credit given to Dr B.R. Ambedkar & Pandit Nehru who were the major contributors to our constitution which stands as the ultimate bible over which our government runs, thought that the present way of Democracy would empower the Indian citizen to be more vocal in each and every important decision taken by government, but probably they forgot to think on the lines of what in-efficient governance can do to the country! India in the past 60 years after independence has not improved much in terms of the demographic or social indicators other than that of the population growth. The poverty is all time high according to the U.N. official statistics released recently and they compare it to some of the under developed countries of Africa. The selective urbanization of the cities alone has become a big menace and the Dharavi slum of Mumbai being the biggest in Asia is one of the best examples of what could happen. The U.N. lately pressing for better Human Development has framed indicators such as literacy, IMF(Infant Mortality Rate), Life Expectancy etc.. from which it assess a country for Human Development, India ranks 127 out of the 177 countries it evaluated and of which even countries like Sri Lanka has overtaken us.

Most of the population in rural India is not only deprived of infrastructure, health and education facilities but they are even deprived of basic necessities like water and electricity. I can hardly think of how people living in these conditions would be interested in exercising their franchise to vote enthusiastically thinking about India's future when their own immediate future is at stake. Such kind of vulnerable population is duped by the politicians showing them some immediate relief during elections. Some of these could be the Free colour T.V. sets, Rice for Re.1 per kilo and other such fanatic manifestos which not only does erode our public treasury big time but also do no good to our fellow citizens in the longer run.

I would say that India for a brighter future not only needs a more educated and public service oriented politicians but also a more empowered literate citizen who could question the very basic existence of the politicians, which is for them! Right now, the country is in a big vicious circle where the illiterate people are made to remain that way so that they can be duped and the politicians can keep eating the public time and money. More educated citizens like us need to spend more time and effort, as the great mortals during the independence to empower our grassroots. We need to provide them education, better health facilities and basic infrastructure with the support of philanthropic industrialists and IT giants. This I feel would truly change the entire nation's future!