The idea of progress: why is India a country of contradictions?
Par Christopher • 19 Septembre 2018 • 853 Mots (4 Pages) • 771 Vues
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The document “India's grils go missing” (recording) raises this problem : In this report, we learn that India is undergoing an increase in the number of boys in families, compared to girls. This increase is not a coincidence but a national reality. Families prefer to have a boy than a girl because it can be more useful in managing familly business. The dowry tradition can explain this situation. Indeed, in the dowry tradition, the family of the wife-to-be gives a “dowry” or gift to the future husband's family on marriage. This tradition explains why many parents don't want to have a girl. Many steps were taken by the governement to stop this practice but it's deeply rooted in Indian society.
The document “Another girl” (novel) also focuses on this problem : A women names Kavita has just given birth to a baby girl. She wants to keep her but her husband doesn't want to because the family needs a boy to help them in the fields, they won't be able to pay the dowry to the husband family. This is a very common situation in India, which today produces a wide disparity between the sexes.
India's population is divided in differents castes. There are people who are outcasted, called Dalits representing 1\3 of the Indian population. The document “The Dalit story” (video clip) shows us how they live : In poor conditions, because they did something wrong in their previous life (karma), there are excluded from the caste system, they live far away from any access to water. It's very difficult for them to provide for their families They are forbidden to do lot of things like travel in public roadways ...
They have been given the worst jobs, women could be abused and touchable by night.
Conclusion
We saw that in India today, all citizens are not on an equal footing. To my mind, there are too many disparities, mostly between the Rich and the Poor. But the disparities between men and women are very important too, and living as a woman in this country is not easy at all.
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