DOWRY : Ultimate Curse for Society

"An impotent beggar believes in begging for money
                                  But
A potent beggar believes in begging for DOWRY"

What is dowry ?????? Is it an amount of property or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage....... Well in my opinion..... NO....... A huge big nooo...... Let's face the truth.....  Truth is.....  Dowry is lifetime gang rape against women. Dowry is lifetime prostitution against men. Dowry is a bed full of brambles.

If it was only just the gift given to the bride then why so many deaths due to it??? Why the harrassment of females in the name of dowry??? Don't you people think that we are actually selling our daughters by paying their price ?????

Irony is today we fix dowry rates for boys of different categories :- doctors, engineers, lecturers, businessmen etc. etc. , does the merit of the girl has no value???? Though government pass the Dowry Prohibition Act way back in 1961 making it illegal, but did this so called "gift exchanging" really stopped ????

To do away with this evil, people have to look within their mind. Their conscience should be stirred that this practice is not good for the society as a whole.Though many laws can be proposed to curb dowry system, it is not possible to eradicate the evil unless there is change in people’s mind. The reason for dowry is greed.

Social mental set up also works behind it such as in Indian society girls are considered a liability while boys as assets. Dowry is not the only problem of Indian society, attached to it is the whole bunch of corresponding evils. Middle and lower income groups who are not able to fulfill the demand of dowry think it wise to nip in the bud. Domestic violence is another consequence of this evil.

This system has made the lives of poor parents of girls miserable. If they are unable to arrange a rich dowry, they find it difficult or rather impossible to marry their daughters to suitable young boys. Thousands of poor girls are compelled to pass unmarried life on account of this evil. The birth of the daughter in the house becomes a cause of great worry for the parents. Their lives become miserable. Some parents earn money by immoral means for the marriage of their daughters. Some parents are compelled to marry their daughters to old men or widowers. Brides who do not bring rich dowry with them are ill-treated. They are insulted and beaten and sometimes even killed. Or sometimes these brides themselves suicide. But it's not actually a suicide it's a murder.

Women’s education and enhanced participation in political process, position in decision-making bodies will improve the situation. They need to be provided with shield of protection which should not be blunt like present laws but razor sharp that could really help them and prevent them from taking extreme steps. With whatever intentions this custom may have been started, it cannot be denied that it has failed to give equal status to women in the society. The time has come to scrape the roots and branch of dowry system. Unless we become more progressive in our outlook, less orthodox in our ways and more revolutionary in our ideas, dowry will remain the bane of our society.

Putting you all in the thought of questions by the lines self composed..........

है कीमत लगाई जो तूने मेरी,
क्या सस्ती थी मैं बापू इतनी ?
क्या मिला है मुझे मेरा हमसफ़र?
या लग गई मेरी बोली गुलाम बनकर......

- Rupal Katiyar