Tulsi Prajna 1995 07

SR No.: 524584
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Parmeshwar Solanki
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati
Publication Year: 1995
Total Pages: 164
Language: Hindi
Classification: Magazine, India_Tulsi Prajna, & India
File Size: 7 MB

Page 160

$
3.
Vol. XXI, No. 2
73
for women to move, work or earn a living. When women defy this norm it operates against them and affects all women, cutting across class barriers. 'Power rapes', 'custodial rapes' etc. are generally is aimed at not just women but it intended to demoralise the family and the group or community to which the victim belongs. It is also seen that shortage of resources within the family increases violence against In times of political upheavals, communal riots, wars, women are often raped and tortured even if they have not been a party to the struggle. Today 25 percent of reported rapes are of girls under 16. Infact there is a rise of 30% rapes in major cities in India. The national statistics reported 7856 cases of rape in 1989 and every year it is increasing. If we look carefully all adolescent girls are visually-raped by men.
women
Dowry deaths
Every day papers are full of dowry deaths. We cannot find a single day when no girl was burnt alive. The difference is only in the form, which may vary from sati in one society to dowry demands and bride burning in another and hunting in yet another. There are no reliable statistic on the number of such deaths because of nonreporting. According to national statistics this was 3829 in 1989 and 4006 in 1990. In Gujarat State alone one report gives the number of women burnt in 1986-87 as 4332. In Maharashtra, dowry deaths totalled 480 in 1989.10
Prostitution and Dedication
There has been an alarming increase in postitution. According to a study by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, there are 2 million forced into this profession in 817 red light areas of India's major cities. Child prostitution is on the rise particulurly in cities with a heavy influx of visitors. The condition of prostitutes is pitiable.
One variation of prostitution is the dedicatiou of women to temples ostensibly to serve God but in effect become exploitable by men. An organisation called Savdhan notes that about 2000 girls per year in Karnataka and Maharasthra get dedicated. An act abolishing the custom was passed in Karnataka, but its incidence has increased across the border, as a result.18
Female infanticide and female foeticide
Female infanticide is a common phenomenon in societies that value sons. Indra has one of the lowest female to male ration in the world; 931 to 1000 in the 1981 census; it has droped still further to 921 to 1000 in the 1991 census. Even then this type of horrendous crime still persists in Rajasthan, some areas of Gujarat and northern