Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao
Today the whole world is talking about empowering the women, but the fact is that their lot is going from bad to worse. As an Indian, I’m proud of the fact that we not only empowered her but also glorified her as the fountain of prosperity in the guise of Goddess Lakshmi, knowledge and wisdom in the guise of Goddess Sarasawati and strength in the guise of Goddess Durga. Ours is the country where we honor it as our mother and worship her-Vande Mataram. What is most shameful is that the Capital of our mother’s heart has been designated as the rape Capital?
It is very heartening to note that our Prime Minister has floated a very powerful slogan for the empowerment of women- Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao but what about our Betis whom circumstances have been forcing to prostitution from time immemorial.
It is in the Capital of our Country where the Betis are the most unsafe. Every morning one will find the newspapers flooded with news of all kinds of heinous crimes against the Betis.
As per the recent report published in the Times of India- Beti Bacho-Beti Padhao scheme, the Ministry of Women and Child Development has received thirty lakhs application forms. Do all these applicants sincerely believe in this high sounding slogan or it is the cash incentive of up to Rs. Two Lakhs which has prompted them to do so.
Not slogans but effective steps will save the Betis. What steps have we taken to save them? What are we doing for the Betis who are being used as Public Properties in the Red Light Areas?
Prostitution is technically illegal but you can indulge in it where no middleman or brothel is involved, you are not supposed go for it in public places but you are free for it behind the doors; and all this is constitutional. Prostitution in India is, on an average, 8.4 billion a year industry (refer to Google) with more than 02 millions prostitutes and around 0.3 million brothels involving about 10 million commercial sex workers. Their core customers are truck drivers, migrant workers and men separated from their families for a long time. One of the surveys reveal that a third of all the prostitutes enter this trade because of poverty and more than a forth because of marital problems.
The lot of fair sex in India is not so disturbing as it is in other parts of the world. The total revenue, worldwide, involving the flesh trade industry is about 186 billion dollars per year with 73 billion dollars China being at the top. We are at the seventh Position with 8.40 billion dollars. Will not it amount to living in utopia to expect that the international mafia of the flesh industry allow this industry to dwindle away. As a matter of fact this impediment in the way of Beti Bachao movement will also prove very instrumental in nullifying it.
It is very disheartening to note that in spite of spending huge amounts of money we have not been successful in achieving success in the projects involved with our holy rivers, the Ganga & the Jamuna. So is the case with the movement of alcohol free India. Alcohol industry is also one of the greatest revenue earning international industry. And what about the ban on beef industry? In spite of our religious affiliation with the source of beef we have failed to impose a ban on beef industry.
The fact is that one hardly bothers about the sex rackets and crimes for more than a week. What is happening in Reshampura (Gwalior) where sophisticated sex shops are popping up every day. College girls, foreign and local girls of every description are pushed into flesh trade on salary or daily wages basis. Their customers can even book them online.
We attribute everything wrong in our country to the era of foreign invaders-the Mughals and British etc. But about now? Is this the free India we dreamed of during our country have taken the shape of Augean’s stable and it requires an Herculean effort to wash it away.
A prominent area in India where prostitution is a widely accepted profession is Shonagachi- Kolkata with the regrettable title, ‘Asia’s largest red light area’. It is inhabited by more than 20,000 sex workers. There are 11 red light districts, the largest, Sonagachi employing 8000 prostitutes and is run by powerful brothel landlords. About 40,000 customers visit the districts every day; which means, on an average a prostitute there entertains five to six customers a day. One must watch the Oscar winning documentary film “Born into Brothels” to know about the lives of the children born to prostitutes.
Grand road red light area also known as Kamathipura in Mumbai is India’s second largest red light area. In 1992 Bombay Municipal Corporation recorded that there were 50000 thousand sex workers there which have been reduced to 1600 in 2009 because of the tough police crackdown. In the late 1990s with the rise of AIDS and government redevelopment policy helped sex workers to move out of this profession and subsequently out of grand road’s red light area.
Budhwarpeth in Pune is the third largest red light area in India with around 5000 commercial sex workers. Surprisingly if you want to visit the famous and the richest Ganesh temple in Pune or buy cheap or expensive sex , you will have to go via Budhwarpeth sex colony.
There is no dearth of sex markets in the land where Beti is regarded as a Devi- G.B.Road (Garstin Bastion Road) in Delhi , Ganga Jamuna in Nagpur, Meergunj in Allahabad, Shivdaspur in Varanasi, Chaturbhuj Asthan in Muzzafarpur (Bihar), Devadasis in
Bellary & Koppal district in Karnataka, Tilawala in Jaipur , Mehboob ki Kehanidi in Hydrabad.
You will be surprised to know that a village in Rajasthan where the birth of a Beti is an occasion for celebration; do we know why; yes, because they will grow up to become a source of income.
A renowned village in north Gujrat Wadia, close to Rajasthan border , is famous for prostitution for over last 80-90 years .The boys are raised as pimps and the girls, some as young as 10-12 years old, as a source of living by selling sex. The most heart melting and the mind blowing thing
is that their family members force them to do so. Men come to the village from as far as Ahmedabad, Rajasthan, Mumbai and even from Pakistan to buy sex, with rates ranging between Rs 500-5000/only. Approximately six thousand inhabitants of Wadia are descendants of the Saraniya community. In Saraniya men once served the army of the rulers who ruled over the region prior to India’s independence.
Bachara is a tribal matriarchal community in western part of Madhya Pradesh where girls are said to be the descendants of royal courtesans. Here girls are forced into prostitution as a profession to support the family financially. Most of such families have a dedicated room in their houses to continue this filthy profession. This community claims to be the descendants of royal courtesans. In this community the families pimp out their elder daughters and drag them to this awful profession. The worst thing is, that it is the father or brother who negotiates the terms and find customer for them.
One does not know how the custodians of various faiths will react to the Roman legend where a daughter (Peru) breast feeded her father (Cimon) to save his life in the prison where he was lodged to die of hunger and thirst after being condemned to death. But this much we are sure that the intention and spirit of the daughter (Peru) was pious and angelic behind her unethical
action. It was certainly not sinful and carnal. This legend has been referred to here not to indulge in the argument what is ethical and non-ethical, It has been quoted here simply to highlight the extent of sacrifice a daughter can make. And what the society has done or doing for her.
Objectives are achieved only with sincere and determined efforts. Beti Bachao,Beti Padhao movement needs the sincerity and determination of the breast-feeding daughter( Peru).
My humble suggestion in this regard is that we give a practical shape to this movement by accepting the proposal and appeal of a woman who was forced to the profession of prostitution by the circumstances which had made her a destitute; and we all know that the distance between a destitute and prostitute is very small.
She had requested Mr. Nehru and Mr. Jinnah to adopt Bela and Baitul, whom she had bought for Rs. 800/- from two pimps .These girls had paid for the partitioned freedom of India with their modesty. This prostitute wanted to save them from falling into the hands of human traffickers who were there to throw them into the garbage of our society, the red light area.
If each one of us, starting from our honorable Prime Minister adopt one destitute Beti, there is no reason why the slogan, Beti Bachao- Beti Padhao will not become a reality.
Don’t they deserve our concern and attention? How are we going to make their lot honorable? The need of the time is to save their modesty and if we can’t then it’s better to let them die before they are born. We should be thankful to God that girls in our country aren’t selling their virginity like the so called modern girls in Western countries. They are selling their virginity to the businessmen around the globe for their name, fame and for money. We have to rehabilitate such Betis as have been deprived of their modesty by the vultures amidst us and subject these vultures to exemplary punishment in public ? And if we don’t have the guts to give impetus to this movement then Beti Bacho-Beti Padhao why and for whom? To be abducted or kidnapped while returning or going to school or to her work place and gang-raped and murdered or sold to human traffickers. This review may sound very pungent and harsh but the reality cannot be questioned.
In the light of the fate of these movements one can easily infer the fate of Beti Bachao Beti Pardhao movement. The fund allocated for this moment is Rs.200 Crores for the year 2017-2018. The member of such betis (0-14 years) as be considered eligible for this amount is around 17,27,99,553 as per the Wikipedia. It means Rs.11 and paise fifty per beti per year. Doesn’t it, in the light of this fact, the movement seems to be a cruel joke with the Betis. So let us first save her modesty and then teach her and allow her to move about honorably without fear.
Muhammad T Kaifi
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