India, a country where women have been given the status of goddesses has also been disappointing itself from centuries by never actually providing them an environment wherein they can flourish and grow as individuals. It is pretty sad that in a country as large and culturally rich as India, women are still a long way from being treated as equal citizens. Women live in constant fear of rape, trafficking, physical and sexual violence, denial of equal opportunities for education and work. Women's rights are extremely important if a country needs to move forward and prosper, and no matter how much India “shines,” the nation can go only so far if half its population is held back.
Our focus on women development forces us to trace the root problems which actually generated in our society years back. The dominance of men in our society never even considered women as people who deserved equal rights and opportunities. The over possessive nature of the men in our society made them to think of the women in their lives as obligations. The fact that the boys in the families were taught to provide safety to the women in their families rather than empowering the girls so that they are able to protect themselves hints at how regressive the approach went years back. These problems have continued over the years and crimes against women in India are not only a major concern but also a matter of shame. A country which boasts loudly about its rich cultures has one of the highest percentages of crimes against women such as rape, domestic violence, dowry and oppression in the world. Issues of safety, discrimination, lack of opportunities, hygiene and personal care, education and oppression have managed to survive over centuries.
The good news is that we have increasingly become vocal about our problems and have started to counter them in our own ways. Being the youngest nation in the world with more than 65 percent of the population under the age of 30,we have now also started to understand the importance of nourishing our children by providing them better healthcare and education so that they build a better tomorrow for our country. It was in the year 2006 that the Department of Women and Child Development, Government of India, came into existence as a separate Ministry targeted at directly solving issues related to women and children in the country. Its aim has been to empower women to live with dignity and contribute as equal partners in development by providing an environment which is free from violence and discrimination. It also aims to nourish children by giving them opportunities to grow and develop in a safe and protective environment. The government in this way runs welfare, support services, trains for employment so the women are able to earn their own money making them independent, runs awareness campaigns about how and why education, cleanliness and healthcare are important rights of every women and child in the country. The government runs most of these campaigns and projects in association with one or the other NGO’s which are deeply engaged in making our society better than the previous day. The benefit with NGO’s is that they have a simpler constitution and issues are heard directly from the common people to help them to rise from the disparities of societal problems such as poverty, discrimination, unemployment and lack of education.
Talking about major NGO’s which are focused towards development and empowerment of women and children Lakshyam, Sayfty, Care and Sankalp have achieved tremendous milestones and successes in recent years. NGO’s like Lakshyam work on a step based approach starting with providing remedial education to children so that they see a brighter tomorrow than their parents and then moving towards exposing their mothers with professional training in stitching and tailoring to equip them with a platform where they can exhibit their products and earn money for themselves. Other NGO’s like sayfty and care are deeply focused towards spreading awareness among women on issues such as abuse and self-defense. They work towards providing women with affordable Health Care, jobs and safe environment to prosper in a world that is free from violence and discrimination which allows everybody a chance to grow irrespective of their gender. With increasing efforts of the government and various NGO’s in this direction, there is a huge need for us citizens to become a part of these campaigns in one way or the other because only an integrated effort can stop us from falling back in the evils of these already long lasted problems of gender inequality, discrimination and violence.
The good news is that we have increasingly become vocal about our problems and have started to counter them in our own ways. Being the youngest nation in the world with more than 65 percent of the population under the age of 30,we have now also started to understand the importance of nourishing our children by providing them better healthcare and education so that they build a better tomorrow for our country. It was in the year 2006 that the Department of Women and Child Development, Government of India, came into existence as a separate Ministry targeted at directly solving issues related to women and children in the country. Its aim has been to empower women to live with dignity and contribute as equal partners in development by providing an environment which is free from violence and discrimination. It also aims to nourish children by giving them opportunities to grow and develop in a safe and protective environment. The government in this way runs welfare, support services, trains for employment so the women are able to earn their own money making them independent, runs awareness campaigns about how and why education, cleanliness and healthcare are important rights of every women and child in the country. The government runs most of these campaigns and projects in association with one or the other NGO’s which are deeply engaged in making our society better than the previous day. The benefit with NGO’s is that they have a simpler constitution and issues are heard directly from the common people to help them to rise from the disparities of societal problems such as poverty, discrimination, unemployment and lack of education.
Talking about major NGO’s which are focused towards development and empowerment of women and children Lakshyam, Sayfty, Care and Sankalp have achieved tremendous milestones and successes in recent years. NGO’s like Lakshyam work on a step based approach starting with providing remedial education to children so that they see a brighter tomorrow than their parents and then moving towards exposing their mothers with professional training in stitching and tailoring to equip them with a platform where they can exhibit their products and earn money for themselves. Other NGO’s like sayfty and care are deeply focused towards spreading awareness among women on issues such as abuse and self-defense. They work towards providing women with affordable Health Care, jobs and safe environment to prosper in a world that is free from violence and discrimination which allows everybody a chance to grow irrespective of their gender. With increasing efforts of the government and various NGO’s in this direction, there is a huge need for us citizens to become a part of these campaigns in one way or the other because only an integrated effort can stop us from falling back in the evils of these already long lasted problems of gender inequality, discrimination and violence.
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