Swiss woman’s gang-rape: India needs soul searching
Expressing
shock at the reported gang-rape of a Swiss woman in Madhya Pradesh on March 15
after the recent death of Delhi bus gang-rape victim, distinguished Hindu
statesman Rajan Zed has urged India to do serious soul searching on the
treatment of women.
India
could not even provide safer environment for the guests and her own women to go
about their daily lives. It was blight on a country, which prided herself on
having joined the league of hottest growth economies, Zed, who is President of
Universal Society of Hinduism, stated in Nevada (USA) today. He asked for a thorough investigation into
this case which reportedly happened in Datia district.
Quoting
scriptures, Rajan Zed pointed out that ancient Manusmriti said: “Where women are revered, there the
gods are pleased; where they are not, no rite will yield any fruit.” Number of Rig-Veda (oldest existing scripture of mankind)
hymns were said to be composed by women, and Aditi, who was sometimes referred
as “mother of the gods”, found mention in Rig-Veda as a goddess.
Continuing
indifference to the maltreatment of women was not acceptable in the 21st century world. India needed to focus
on urgent upliftment of women, forgetting her political battles. A strong
political will and some serious and durable systemic reforms were urgently
needed in this direction, Zed added.
Rajan
Zed argued that although India was on track to become a global power, but her
new power and prosperity had remained evasive for many, especially women.
Despite economic miracle, women in India continued to face inequalities in
opportunities which blocked them from fully participating in the growth process.
Zed
stressed: India needed to empower her women; provide them better treatment
under the law, better access to health-education-politics, and more
opportunities for workplace participation; and open up more economic potentials
for them.
India
needed to take urgent steps to make women as equal partners in the society and
eliminate gender inequality. Lesser gender gaps would also bring prosperity and
economic competitiveness to the country besides fairness. Men and women were equal
in the eyes of God, Rajan Zed noted.
Zed
indicated that a global poll of experts released by Trust Law, a Thomson
Reuters Foundation service, sometime back showed that India was the worst place
to be a woman among the world’s biggest economies and ranked even lower than
Saudi Arabia. “Infanticide, child marriage and slavery make India the worst”,
the poll concluded. “In India, women and girls continue to be sold as chattels,
married off as young as 10, burned alive as a result of dowry-related disputes
and young girls exploited and abused as domestic slave labour,” one of those
polled was quoted as saying.
Rajan
Zed further said that the Gender Inequality Index had also reportedly ranked
India among the worst places for women. India ranked at 141 among 165 countries
analyzed by Newsweek magazine in the treatment of women, which was published
last year. Even Bangladesh, Equatorial Guinea, Togo, Guatemala, Senegal,
Burkina Faso, Nepal, Libya, Eritrea, Syria; besides many other countries;
ranked higher than India.
India
was ranked at 112 out of total 134 listed countries in the Global Gender Gap
Report issued by World Economic Forum in 2010, Zed said.
Rajan
Zed stressed the need of promoting female literacy in India. According to 2011
Census, while male literacy rate in India was over 82%, the female literacy
rate was less than 66%.
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