Sunday, July 17, 2011

Will money buy HER a life?


And.... yet again the sadist approach toward the welfare of a girl child uncovers as the Pimpri-Chinhwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC)announces a 'lucrative' scheme for couples, which secretly begs the damn attitude towards the fairer sex to 'change'. And how? The PCMC will start a scheme in September, of allotting Rs 25,000 worth fixed deposit in the name of the baby girl if the couple stops at one child. The child will then get Rs 1,25,000 by the time she turns 18. In the case of the next girl, the amount will be Rs 10,000; which will rise to Rs 50,000 when she turns major. The scheme will not extend beyond two girls.

Ridiculous, I say! What time and era are we living in today? Is this air of women liberisation, revolution, empowerment; all for the namesake??? Doesn't it sound little funny and absurd that people need to be bribed now to let the girl child live and exist? And, this scheme is looked up as probably the country's strongest move to protect the girl child!

I, being a woman, strongly condemn this! If at all this schemes fairs well to improve the sex ratio, it is only the quantity that will rise, I believe. But what about the quality of life that every girl wishes to live with? Will she grow with the fact that she breathes today for some mere thousands of rupees that were allotted in her name at the time of birth? And when she grows up, she only lives to tell the tales of how she has been discouraged or disallowed to fulfill her own little wishes and expectations of her life, in the name of the widespread gossip-mongers in society!

Even as there is this continuous chirping going on about the sad state of what the statistics portray, why shouldn't there be any measures to kill the sick attitude toward the fairer sex? Why can't there be strict measures like some sort of rigorous imprisonment or punitive action against people who even dare to look down upon this gender instead? These measures should be so stringent, that even the thought of female feoticide or even the acts of gender discrimination of any sort should result in to a nightmare for such people. The most logical move, I think, is to exercise punitive measures there and then against any wrong-doer or even thinker toward this sex.

And I don't see any hallmark achievement for letting a girl child to be born by any such couple who will accept the money allotted through this scheme. If people really wish to raise a girl child, who is as human as as her male counterparts, they should do so with their heart - scheme or no scheme!

The dropping number of girl child sure is alarming. But, hopefully some jerks who exist, soon make a correction in their attitude for her. Let Her live, and let Her live life to the fullest as anyone else would wish to!

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Caste No Bar


Right from filling out the forms for a birth certificate, education at various levels, domicile, nationality, marriage certificate to the death certificate - we all have been filling the column that asks us to mention our caste. The caste system has been a stronghold of our social system, which defines the various traditions, rituals and lifestyles in our country. This is even nurtured as a key political concern, especially in the rural areas, which attracts vote-banks.

There have been many cases where parts of public staged protests against the reservation policies based on castes in the fields of education and the job market, which was considered positive discrimination. The caste system has always been a 'talking point' for everyone at various points in their personal, professional and social lives.

This is now not limited to only this! Until now we have grown with the fact that the caste system is politicised time and again, but it will now be economically driven as well. Thanks to BSNL that it will soon be banking on this very caste-ism and converting it in to a 'talking point', literally! It plans to launch the special OBC scheme that will 'enable' those belonging to this caste to have a free 'OBC to OBC' talktime, special SIM cards, and other facilities. The rat race among the mobile giants is not new to us. Number of schemes like group chatting, family plans, this plan and that plan have been hammered upon us by posing emotional drama through all possible marketing gimmicks.

And now, BSNL seems to strive and move ahead of all by striking a chord with one of the most sensitive issues' of our country, literally enterprising the 'Caste No Bar' campaign when it comes to making business out of it! We have long enough accepted the need to raise the social and economic status of those belonging to the lower castes, to help them desire and deserve things in life that others have not had to struggle as much as them due to the negative impacts of the caste system that prevailed.

Yet, the case in point here is that, is it judicious or progressive to society that the system itself will now be used as a means for monetary gains? Will this not harm the very people belonging to such castes and hinder their growth graph? Is it not like offering them a handicap in the name of their caste? Won't this give rise to various debates from other castes or religions? Doesn't this smell like the birth of yet another negative discrimination?

For common people like us, 'Caste No Bar' in its literal terms means that we see caste as no bar in anything related to education or job or lifestyle. These are too trivial issues to even think of, for us. But this very 'Caste No Bar' term for politics or business means - caste is no bar to fulfill our selfish desires. For the janta living in the 21st century, such organisations seem to be implanting such schemes and policies as slow poison in society which is so dying to break free from such nonsense!

Or do we have more to come in the name of caste and in the name of business? Does BSNL's 'Connecting India' theme seem to be Dis-connecting India somewhere?


http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/obcs-getcallbsnl/441556/
The link above talks about the OBC scheme.