Acharya Tulsi
There is a Chinese saying that if you educate a man, you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate the whole family. Such was also the outlook of our Revered Late Gurudev Kalugani. He was in favour of imbuing women with the religious tradition. He felt that a truly religious woman could become the pivot round which the whole family moved. Lenin, the revolutionary leader of Soviet Russia was of the opinion that without the social and psychological emancipation of women, socialism could not be built. Today, the winds of socialism have entered our country through the orioles of politics. Slogans are being raised for the establishment and development of socialism. There is a lot of speechifying, and new plans are being formulated. But until the cooperation of women is enlisted in this direction, the slogan of socialism will remain a mere verbal exercise, and not become a reality of public life.
In India, double standards exist in respect of man and woman. In the Constitution.of India, the woman has been given the same rights as man. However, in practice, the sphere of woman seems to be very limited. Roughly, there has existed a division of work, with the woman doing the housekeeping, and the man working outside. Looking after the house is no mean undertaking, but since the stay-at—home women did not enjoy much social status, they started going out like men. Thoughtful people had no objection to this widening of a woman’s sphere.But orthodox people did not like it at all. They said, "A woman should keep within limits imposed upon her by nature. She is a housewife first and foremost, dependent on man for her sec and not frees to do what when she will. This disputation on family and social issues swallowed up a good deal of women's energy and thought. Equal pay for equal work was accepted in principle and yet the woman‘s wages continued to be less than that of the man. Certain opportunities of development are not available to a woman just because she is woman. Many families do not possess the maturity or the will to bring up a daughter like a son. A horripilation instance of such a mentality is the growing practice of female-foeticide.
There was a time when man found himself utterly helpless in the matter of begetting children. A son or a daughter '? Man had no say. Since the evolution of test—tube—baby techniques, new researches are being made in genetics. One such research relates to the determination of the sex of the embryo. The technique used in such sex-determination is known as the amino-synthesis. This technique was originally developed to study any deficiencies present in the embryo. The objective was to isolate any crippling effects, mental imbalance of genetic diseases so as to undertake their treatment in the embryo—stage itself. Subsequently, however, the original aim was forgotten, and the chief objective came to be the determination of the sex of the embryo—baby. Through amino—synthesis, the physicians are able to tell whether the child in the womb is a boy or a girl, If it is a female child, the parents get rid of it through abortion According to a survey conducted in the city of Bombay, 99 per- cent of the abortions done relate to female-embryos. Here is an example of Modern scientific exploitation of women. Of course the responsibility for the destruction of the female—foetuses rests more on the mother.
One form of the Indian mother’s affection was seen when she nursed even her crippled, demented and sick child to her last breath. Any negligence on the part of any member of the family towards her handicapped child caused her a deep hurt. The same Indian mother is seen today to cooperate willingly in the destruction’ of her own unborn, dumb child. Why? Not because the baby is in any way maimed, not because it is demented, or diseased, but simply because it happens to be a girl. Have the springs of her affection completely dried up? On the one hand, the growing destruction of female-foetuses testifies to man's cruelty, on the other hand, the heavy decrease in the number of women, threatens to cause a great imbalance in the human environment.
Each destruction of a female-foetus is an insult to woman, besides being an attempt to disturb the equilibrium of Nature. The religious, social and political organisations should start a joint campaign against this inhuman and fatal practice. It is reported that all investigations with a view to determining the sex of an embryo, have been legally banned in the state of Maharashtra. The Minister of State in charge of health in Maharashtra had earlier introduced a bill to that effect in the Vidhan Sabha. With the passing of the bill, the destruction of female-foetuses stands restricted of itself. It is to be seen as to how many other states follow the example of Maharashtra and thus cooperate in this humane campaign.
To say that by merely passing a law, the killing of female embryos would automatically stop, is to fly in the face of facts. Because, as long as there is no change in the public mentality, such abortions would continue, even though illegally. But will not this feeble mentality of the country drag it back to the 18thcentury, instead of it marching towards the 21st?
