demanding equality on ‘men’s day’

CHANDIGARH: Demanding gender equality and welfare of men-the actual victims of modern day life, Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) and Parivar Raksha Samiti, highlighted the enactment & implementation of ambiguous laws which are easily susceptible to misuse against men.

On the occasion of International Men’s Day, the NGOs announced that they will extend all help to men who’ve been abused by their wives. According to the National Crime Records Bureau from 2005 to 2008, as many as 22,000 men have ended their lives in reverse dowry harassment after allegedly being tormented by their wives. In contrast, dowry harassment has driven 6,800 women to suicide.

The local chapter of SIFF, which gets more than 200 calls related to harassment meted out by women in a day, organized the function on Thursday wherein moving tales of families and husbands who have been thus tortured, were discussed and demands were made for a gender equality. “It is a crime to be born in as a man inIndia, Even Police is aware of the huge number of fake cases but the law is so anti-man that no one comes to rescue the victim because he is a man,” said Mandeep Puri, member of SIFF and brother of a victim.

”Even animals have a ministry and welfare division, but not Indian men. At least they should have a platform where their grievances are heard,” said Human rights activist Nitin Gupta. SIFF plans to commence a nationwide campaign to get a separate welfare ministry and national men’s commission. “More than 98 per cent Indian husbands face domestic violence in terms of economical abuse, mental harassment and relationship cheating,” Mr Gupta added.

Advocate T S Sudan said, “although law was made with the noble intention to protect the rights of women, it is being largely seen that Dowry and Domestic Violence Act is being misused.” Citing NCRB facts, he added in 6,800 cases of dowry harassment, husbands were sent behind bars without any probe.

Section 125 of the Cr.PC, Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (HMA), Section 25 of the HMA, Section 18 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act and Domestic Violence Act were labelled discussed as ‘gender biased Acts misused by women.’

The activists stated that in the last 62 years of Indian Independence not a single rupee has ever been allocated for men’s welfare from the Union Budget, not constitutional or quasi-constitutional body ever been formed to study men’s issues. No study has ever been conducted targeted to study men’s issues. And no scheme envisaged for men’s welfare. The NGOs demanded men’s Welfare, promotion of Gender Equality, abolishment of Biased & In-human Laws and modifications in Maintenance Laws.

published on 19th Nov 2009

cost of a small family- dont have daughters….

CHANDIGARH: “Earlier, families wanted at least one son. Now they want one son only!” says Dr. Sabu George who has been working in the field of female foeticide for over two decades. According to experts, selective elimination of unborn females in Punjab is not just the result of backward social attitude but years of marketing by doctors who promoted the idea of foeticide as sensible social investment. “Medical terrorism” Punjab has one of the lowest sex ratios in the world, from 875 per 1,000 births in 1991 to 798 in 2001. The sex ratio at last birth (NFH Survey-III) in Punjab is an abysmal 504, which means that 496 out of 1,000 families do not have more children if the first-born is male. Terming the practice of aborting a foetus after sex determination as “medical terrorism”, Dr. George said that while society has always been unkind to women, the sudden eruption in male births is entirely due to easy availability of technology and the shameless manner in which doctors market the procedure to the educated elite. “Educated females want small families and medical technology has made that convenient; eventually the concept of an ideal small family is built at the expense of dead female foetus,” he added. Advertisements Ultrasound machines meant for checking the growth of an unborn were dumped in India and doctors made a fortune by overplaying being son-less as social stigma. “Not long back, nursing homes in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi carried advertisements on how an expenditure of few thousands [at aborting a female] would eventually save many lakhs in the future,” Dr. George said. A recent study conducted by Patiala-based paediatric doctor Harshinder Kaur talks about how school girls in urban Punjab resent the idea of bearing a female child. “Close to 40 per cent stated that a female got proper attention and due respect in her in-laws’ house only if she bore a male child. Other reasons were increasing crimes against females, ill-treatment at home, and continuation of family name and support in old age.” Dr. Kaur, who has been working in the area of female foeticide in Punjab, added that only one-tenth of the girls knew that the gender of a child depended on the male partner, “Shamefully many thought not bearing a male child was some sort of a defect. The present education system seems too insufficient to enlighten them!” Even as the Punjab Government announced considerable improvement in the sex ratio (from 798 per 1,000 to 850 in nine years), experts question the reliability of the data. “The Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques [Regulation and Prevention of Misuse] Act, 1994, was enacted primarily to check sex-selective foeticide, but its conviction rate is not good enough to act as deterrent. The law has not been enforced, awareness is ineffective and the society doesn’t seem to care about the brutal murder of innumerable girls,” say“Earlier, families wanted at least one son. Now they want one son only!” says Dr. Sabu George who has been working in the field of female foeticide for over two decades. According to experts, selective elimination of unborn females in Punjab is not just the result of backward social attitude but years of marketing by doctors who promoted the idea of foeticide as sensible social investment. “Medical terrorism” Punjab has one of the lowest sex ratios in the world, from 875 per 1,000 births in 1991 to 798 in 2001. The sex ratio at last birth (NFH Survey-III) in Punjab is an abysmal 504, which means that 496 out of 1,000 families do not have more children if the first-born is male. Terming the practice of aborting a foetus after sex determination as “medical terrorism”, Dr. George said that while society has always been unkind to women, the sudden eruption in male births is entirely due to easy availability of technology and the shameless manner in which doctors market the procedure to the educated elite. “Educated females want small families and medical technology has made that convenient; eventually the concept of an ideal small family is built at the expense of dead female foetus,” he added. Advertisements Ultrasound machines meant for checking the growth of an unborn were dumped in India and doctors made a fortune by overplaying being son-less as social stigma. “Not long back, nursing homes in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi carried advertisements on how an expenditure of few thousands [at aborting a female] would eventually save many lakhs in the future,” Dr. George said. A recent study conducted by Patiala-based paediatric doctor Harshinder Kaur talks about how school girls in urban Punjab resent the idea of bearing a female child. “Close to 40 per cent stated that a female got proper attention and due respect in her in-laws’ house only if she bore a male child. Other reasons were increasing crimes against females, ill-treatment at home, and continuation of family name and support in old age.” Dr. Kaur, who has been working in the area of female foeticide in Punjab, added that only one-tenth of the girls knew that the gender of a child depended on the male partner, “Shamefully many thought not bearing a male child was some sort of a defect. The present education system seems too insufficient to enlighten them!” Even as the Punjab Government announced considerable improvement in the sex ratio (from 798 per 1,000 to 850 in nine years), experts question the reliability of the data. “The Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques [Regulation and Prevention of Misuse] Act, 1994, was enacted primarily to check sex-selective foeticide, but its conviction rate is not good enough to act as deterrent. The law has not been enforced, awareness is ineffective and the society doesn’t seem to care about the brutal murder of innumerable girls,” says Voluntary Health Association of Punjab director Manmohan Sharma. “Genocide” “The desire to have a single male child is high because more educated women have greater access to technology, they are more privileged and everybody knows which doctors are doing it in any town or village. Civil society organisations do not give it adequate priority in terms of stopping the crime, they still don’t see it as genocide,” says Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development professor Ashwini Nanda.s Voluntary Health Association of Punjab director Manmohan Sharma. “Genocide” “The desire to have a single male child is high because more educated women have greater access to technology, they are more privileged and everybody knows which doctors are doing it in any town or village. Civil society organisations do not give it adequate priority in terms of stopping the crime, they still don’t see it as genocide,” says Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development professor Ashwini Nanda.