We call ourselves a democratic nation, but is the governance of our nation really democratic? We are kept in the dark as to what is happening in the running of our country. Every day as we open our newspapers or switch on news channels there are new scams and different politicians under the scanner every day. Despite all this some of our country’s politicians, our countrymen even the educated class is not ready to accept this fact. There is RTI and Freedom of Speech written in our constitution, but is it actually practiced.
We cannot even raise a finger at the governance of our country without having to face consequences, is this democracy or a dictatorship that we live in. Our Judiciary which is supposed to grant us justice is also controlled by the rich and the powerful, with all this corruption in the governance, the judiciary and the administration of our country, are we the countrymen getting our full rights, the justice that we deserve, is this the governance that we chose for our country, we all need to ask ourselves that question. . The condition of women is also very bad in our country. No importance is given to women in our society; they are not given the equal status as men, like they are to fulfill their demands and cannot say anything against them. Even today all girls are not given the right to education: the literacy rate among women is only 54 per cent compared with 76 percent among men, are forced into marriage, sold by her own parents in exchange for money. Is this the development in our country?
Sex selective abortion also takes place in large numbers as many parents prefer sons. In India, the proportion of women in legislature has been very low. For example, the percentage of elected women members in Lok Sabha has never reached even 10 per cent of its total strength. Their share in the state assemblies is less than 5 per cent. In this respect, India is among the bottom group of nations in the world. The bill with the preposition of one third seats reserved for women in the Lok Sabha has still not been passed.
Other than this women and young girls face domestic violence and sexual harassment in their homes and outside. The rape of young girls is so common nowadays that they have to think twice before going out of the house. And to add to this men blame women that they do not dress properly and even to the extent that a Haryana minister stated that a rape is consensus, and to all this the solution they find is to get women married at a young age.
Why the criminals for such crimes can’t be punished other than blaming us only. Is it not our right to dress up the way they want when they go out, but unfortunately in our country this is not acceptable. It is time that women are treated equal to men and men be punished for their crimes such as rape, domestic violence etc. And not blame us for their sins. Even they have an equal right to live, to go out dressed the way they want and be safe , to be educated and live the life they want to.
