Letters to the editor.
To the Editor, Natalie Antelava
BBC News India, 27th June 2012
Thank you for writing this article. It shows people are trying to change the violence and discrimination many of India is being faced with. Personally I was born into the Dalits and lived a tormenting and troublesome life. It was a life of humiliation and I could not do anything to change it. In India we had a caste system where people were born into. Unfortunately being born in the lowest class I was treated very poorly. The only way I got out of this is with my education. Getting education for people like me was very difficult as rarely any school offered schooling to us, Dalits.
People need to understand that we were absolutely stripped of our identity and had no rights and freedom. People in India were known through their class. It was indeed like being born with a stamp on your forehead and you can never get rid of it. It is pure discrimination and inhumane. Dalit women used to get raped, paraded naked and beaten. We were given the filthiest of jobs and were in constant fear of assault even death. Although much of this violence has gone, we are still scared and suppressed. Speaking out did not help as the police and government concealed all the abuse from the world.
We, untouchables, were literally outcastes; a fifth group that is so unworthy it doesn't fall within the caste system. Since those days the physical abuse has reduced almost completely however we are still faced with psychological trauma and upset. I believe that what happened was completely cruel and cold-hearted and world must realise the punishment we went through being stripped of our individuality and treated like filth.
Thank You
Sunny Leone
30/6/12
Dear Editor,
I am a mother of 3 and I am afraid of the gender inequalities that I am experiencing everyday. I once heard a quote “No nation, no society, no community can hold its head high and claim to be part of the civilized world if it condones the practice of discriminating against one half of humanity represented by women.” – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh The only concern here is gender inequality.
The widespread practice of aborting female foetuses happens every day: the reality of gender inequality in India, origin of gender inequality and how to deactivate it. Firstly, the reality of gender inequality in India is very complex and diversified, because it is present in many ways, many fields and many classes. Fields like education, employment opportunities, where men are always preferred over women. Consider the case – a girl taking admission in mechanical engineering. Doesn’t it sound a bit awkward because it’s always considered a man’s field. There again comes this menace – gender inequality.
The gender inequality faced by women was so much that many women claimed May God give sons to all.This is a fact and India has witnessed gender inequality from its early history due to its socio-economic and religious practices that resulted in a wide gap between the position of men and women in the society. Clearly, then gender gaps that are widespread in access to basic rights, access to and control of resources, in economic opportunities and also in power and political voice are an impediment to development. Secondly, the origin of this gender inequality has always been the male ego. At least in India, a woman still needs the anchor of a husband and a family. Their dominating nature has led women to walk with their head down. It was all practised from the beginning and is followed till date. Consider the woman’s reservation case in parliament.
The opposing party believes that women are born to do household work and manage kids, and not to corrupt the country by taking hold over politics. Here, just as women’s domestic work is undervalued, so are their skills in the world of employment. Most are concentrated in the poorly-paid, low-skilled ‘womens’ sectors of the economy. What we need today are trends where girls are able not only to break out of the culturally determined patterns of employment but also to offer advice about career possibilities that look beyond the traditional pail of jobs. It is surprising that in spite of so many laws, women still continue to live under stress and strain. To ensure equality of status for our women we still have miles to go.
Thus, it is rightly said – Man and Woman are like two wheels of a carriage. The life of one without the other is incomplete.
Manisha Adlakha
To the Editor,
Firstly I would like to say that I have no personal experience with the Indian caste system, as I received a privileged upbringing in a well-off American family. Yet from my travels around the world, I have seen how our planet is developing and growing and have come to realise that this primitive hierarchy has no place in the modern world.
For a country to move forward in this ever-changing world, its key element must be its workforce. To have a successful workforce, it must be expansive and diverse not pre-decided from birth by an age old petty system. If a country expects to receive equality from other countries it must first reach internal equality by the uprooting of all civil rights issues.
In this modern day and age, we see a vast world, yet completely connected. Yet it is issues such as this discriminatory and unfair system that not only set back a country, but prevent the development and unification of the world.
Thank You
James Harris