yatra nāryastu pūjyante ramante tatra devatāḥ|
yatraitāstu na pūjyante sarvāstatrāphalāḥ kriyāḥ ||
These holy lines in Sankrit mean :
“The divine are extremely happy where women are respected ;
where they are not, all actions (projects) are fruitless.”
India, fondly called “MOTHERLAND” or “BHARAT MATA” excels in every field. Be it sports, like recently the Indian Women’s Hockey Team beat China and won the Asian CHAMPION TROPHY 2016″. Then we have Sania Mirza, who recently was awarded “Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award” by Indian President Shri Pranab Mukherjee and is ranked as World No. 1 in Women Tennis Doubles.
Indian history is full of examples of strong women leaders like Indira Gandhi and Sarojini Naidu etc. Today women are striding forward in every field, adding to our economy and earning India name and repute. So, why is our society still so lacking in respect for women?
Day after day, violence against women is rising. Cases of acid attacks are reported on a regular basis and for unfathomable reasons like domestic or land disputes, dowry demands, or revenge. In many cases they are a form of gender based violence, perhaps because a young girl or woman spurned sexual advances or rejected a marriage proposal.
There are many Acid Attack Survivors like Laxmi Agarwal, Reshma Bano Qureshi etc. who came out in the public with immense courage and spoke about the pain they went through.
It is high time we did something to change the situation in our society. The attitude and behaviour against women need to change for women to truly feel safe and prosper in our country. And in their prosperity, the nation may flourish too.
