Essay on Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan

Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan (200 words)

Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan is an initiative run by the Indian government to provide accessibility for disabled people to the public places. It is also known as Accessible India Campaign and was launched by the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on 3^rd of December (means the International Day of Persons with Disabilities) 2015, at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi to offer equal access for people with disabilities. According to the Census of 2011, around 2.21% people of the total population of India are disabled (2.68 crore). So, it is very necessary to make accessible and barrier free environment for them so that they can participate in all the areas of community life.
This initiative is to initiate equal opportunities and full participation of disabled people in the society which is possible only through the barrier-free access in all the public places and transportation systems. This initiative is to ensure equal availability of all the facilities such as physical environment, transportation, information and communication, and other required technologies and systems in the urban and rural areas for people with disabilities. It is to initiative economic growth and development as well as productive, safe and dignified lives of disabled people in the country.

Essay on National Integration

National Integration (200 words)

In India National Integration Day is observed as a most important social event every year on 19^th of November. For more awareness among public about the national integration, a whole week programme has also been implemented by the government of India to observe annually as National Integration Week from 19^th to 25^th November. India is a country famous for its different cultures, traditions, races, religions, castes and creeds but it cannot be unseen that it is still comes under the developing countries because of the diversity in the thinking of people living here. People living here think differently according to their own culture and religion which is a big issue of hindering the individual and country development.
India is famous for its unity in diversity but it is not true as people here are not ready to accept others opinion for development. Everyone always try here that his religion is best than others and what he does is always great. People from different races living here are fighting physically, emotionally, arguing, debating in many ways to prove them best only for their own benefits. They never think by getting together about their country. They never think that the development of our country is possible only with growth and development of individual and single identity of everyone.

Essay on Dog

Dog (200 words)

Dog is a well-known domestic animal. It is very faithful and loyal friend of man. Wild dogs become very dangerous however pet ones are very friendly. They perform their duties very faithfully that’s why liked so much by the man. People love its service very much. They are available in various types; some of them are grey hounds, bull dogs, blood hounds, lap dogs, etc. It is a flesh eater however can eat plant origin foods that’s why called as carnivore as well as omnivore. Its teeth are very sharp which help him in tearing meat. Some dogs have long tail however some have short tail.
Its thin and strong legs help in running very fast. Dogs are generally differ in their size, shape, height, weight, color and behavior. Dogs eat many things (mainly flesh) however a domestic and trained dog can drop flesh diet and live on veg diet. European and wild dogs are very fond of eating meat and survive on flesh. A tame dog can also eat ordinary bread, rice and milk. Dogs are useful in many fields such as guard, police, army, etc. Kids love to play with dogs in the playground. Domestic dogs live in family as a family member as they get attached heartily with everyone very soon because of its loyal jobs. Trained dogs become very loyal to their owners and do wonderful things.

Essay on Cow

Cow (200 words)

Cow is a domestic and very successful animal. It is of great importance for the people of Hindu religion. It is a most important pet animal kept by almost all people of Hindu religion. It is female animal who gives us milk daily two times, in the morning and evening. Some cow gives milk three times a day according to their diet and capacity. Cow is considered by the Hindu people as a mother and called as the Gau Mata. Hindu people respect cow very much and do worship. Cow milk is offered to God during pooja and katha. It is also used to do abhishek of the God and Goddess statue during festivals and pooja.
Cow milk is given high status in the society as it is very beneficial to us. She gives birth to a small calf after 12 months. She does not give any practice to her child to walk or run, he/she starts walking and running just after the birth. Her calf drinks her milk for some days or months and starts eating food like her. Cow is a very sacred animal for all Hindus. It is a big domestic animal having four legs, a tail, two ear, two eyes, one nose, one mouth, one head and a wide back.

Essay on Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat

Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat (250 words)

Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has talked about a new scheme called as Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat on 31^st of October 2015 (birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel) in his speech. This is an initiative in the process to be launched in near future. It is an effort by the Indian government to strengthen the unity and harmony all over the country. It is a programme aimed to connect people to people all through the country. India is a country which is the best example of “Unity in Diversity”. This programme is also an initiative to improve the quality of unity in India. He also said in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme that Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat scheme is to make India “One India Supreme India”.
This solid initiative of enhancing the peace and harmony need to uphold the law and order in order to maintain the same. In order to make this programme more effective, PM has requested the views, ideas and suggestions of common public on a government portal ‘MyGov.in’. He has also requested to suggest the structure, logo and ways to increase public participation in this programme. There are various creative minds hidden in the crowd who can give better suggestions to connect people of India to unity and harmony to make it Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat. There is a plan to make it a specific and prestigious scheme to connect people in easy manner to achieve the main goal of enriching the culture of unity and harmony in the country.

Essay on Money

Money (200 words)

In such a costly and competitive society and world, no one of us can live without money. We need money to fulfil our basic needs of the life such as buying food, and other many basic necessities of life which are almost impossible to buy without money. People in the society who are rich and have property are looked as honourable and respectful person of the society however a poor person is seen as hatred without any good impression.
Money increases the position of the person in the society and gives good impression to him. All of us want to be rich by earning more money through good job or business in order to fulfil all the increasing demands of the modern age. However, only few people get this chance of completing their dreams of being a millionaire. So, money is the thing of great importance all through the life. Money is required by everyone whether he/she is rich or poor ad living in urban areas or rural areas. People in the urban areas are earning more money than the people living in backward or rural areas as the people of the urban areas have more access to the technologies and get more opportunity because of the easy sources.

Gender Inequality

Gender Inequality

We proud Indians of 21^st century rejoice in celebrations when a boy is born, and if it is a girl, a muted or no celebrations is the norm. Love for a male child is so much so that from the times immemorial we are killing our daughters at birth or before birth, and if, fortunately, she is not killed we find various ways to discriminate against her throughout her life. Though our religious beliefs make women a goddess but we fail to recognize her as a human being first; we worship goddesses but we exploit girls. We are a society of people with double-standards as far as our attitude towards women is concerned; our thoughts and preaching are different than our actions. Let’s try to understand the phenomenon of gender inequality and search for some solutions.

Definition and Concept of Gender Inequality

‘Gender’ is a socio-cultural term referring socially defined roles and behaviors assigned to ‘males’ and ‘females’ in a given society; whereas, the term ‘sex’ is a biological and physiological phenomenon which defines man and woman. In its social, historical and cultural aspects, gender is a function of power relationship between men and women where men are considered superior to women. Therefore, gender may be understood as a man-made concept, while ‘sex’ is natural or biological characteristics of human beings.
Gender Inequality, in simple words, may be defined as discrimination against women based on their sex. Women are traditionally considered by the society as weaker sex. She has been accorded a subordinate position to men. She is exploited, degraded, violated and discriminated both in our homes and in outside world. This peculiar type of discrimination against women is prevalent everywhere in the world and more so in Indian society.

Causes and Types of Gender Inequality in India

The root cause of gender inequality in Indian society lies in its patriarchy system. According to the famous sociologists Sylvia Walby, patriarchy is “a system of social structure and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women”. Women’s exploitation is an age old cultural phenomenon of Indian society. The system of patriarchy finds its validity and sanction in our religious beliefs, whether it is Hindu, Muslim or any other religion.
For instance, as per ancient Hindu law giver Manu: “Women are supposed to be in the custody of their father when they are children, they must be under the custody of their husband when married and under the custody of her son in old age or as widows. In no circumstances she should be allowed to assert herself independently”.
The above described position of women as per Manu is still the case in present modern day social structure. Barring few exceptions here and there, women have no power to take independent decisions either inside their homes or in outside world.
In Muslims also the situation is same and there too sanction for discrimination or subordination is provided by religious texts and Islamic traditions. Similarly in other religious beliefs also women are being discriminated against in one way or other.
The unfortunate part of gender inequality in our society is that the women too, through, continued socio-cultural conditioning, have accepted their subordinate position to men. And they are also part and parcel of same patriarchal system.
Extreme poverty and lack of education are also some of the reasons for women’s low status in society. Poverty and lack of education derives countless women to work in low paying domestic service, organized prostitution or as migrant laborers. Women are not only getting unequal pay for equal or more work but also they are being offered only low skill jobs for which lower wages are paid. This has become a major form of inequality on the basis of gender.
Educating girl child is still seen as a bad investment because she is bound to get married and leave her paternal home one day. Thus, without having good education women are found lacking in present day’s demanding job skills; whereas, each year’s High School and 10+2 standard results show that girls are always doing better than boys. This shows that parents are not spending much after 10+2 standard on girl child and that’s why they lack in job market.
Not only in education, in case of family food habits, it is the male child who gets all the nutritious and choicest foods while the girl child gets whatever is left behind after the male members have taken their meals or the food which is low in both quality and nutrition. And this becomes a major health issue in her later years. One of the main reasons for the high incidences of difficult births and anemia in women is the poor quality of food which a girl always gets either in her paternal home or in her in-laws as also is the excessive workload that they are made to bear from their early childhood.
So the inequality or discrimination against women is at various levels in the society, either in home or outside home.

Gender Inequality in India: Important Data

Global Indices:
Gender Inequality is also reflected in India’s poor ranking in various global gender indices.

• UNDP’s Gender Inequality Index- 2014: India’s ranking is 127 out of 152 countries in the List. This ranking is only above Afghanistan as far as SAARC countries are concerned.
• World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index- 2014: India’s ranks at 114 in the list of 142 countries of the world. This Index examines gender gap in four major areas:
• Economic participation and opportunity.
• Educational achievements.
• Health and life expectancy.
• Political empowerment.

India’s position on these indicators was as follows:

• Economic participation and opportunity: 134^th
• Educational achievements: 126^th
• Health and Life expectancy: 141^st
• Political empowerment: 15^th

These two important Global Indices show the sorry state of affairs in India as far as gender equality is concerned. Only in case of ‘Political Empowerment’ India is doing fine which is a welcome sign. But other indices are very poor and a lot need to be done to improve the same.

Gender Inequality Statistics

Gender inequality manifests in varied ways. And as far as India is concerned the major indicators are as follows:

• Female Foeticide
• Female Infanticide
• Child (0 to 6 age group) Sex Ratio: 919
• Sex Ratio: 943
• Female literacy:46%
• Maternal Mortality Rate: 178 deaths per 100000 live births.

These above mentioned indicators are some of the important indices which show the status of women in our country.
Female foeticide and female infanticide are most inhuman of acts. And it is a shame that in India these practices are prevailing at large scale.
The data shows that despite the law in place viz Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994 sex selective abortion is still on the rise. One estimate done by MacPherson shows that more than 100000 illegal abortions are being performed every year in India mainly for the reason that the featus is of girl child.
Due to this, there is an alarming trend which has come to the notice in 2011 census report; the report shows Child Sex-Ratio (i.e sex-ratio of children between the age group 0 to 6) at 919 which is 8 points lesser than the 2001 data of 927. The data indicates that sex-selective abortion is increasing in our country.
As far as overall sex-ratio is concerned, it’s 943 in 2011 report as compared to 933 of 2001 which is 10 points increase. Though it is a good sign that overall sex ratio is increasing but it’s still tilted against females.
Female literacy is at 65.46% in 2011 as against 82.14% of male literacy. This gap indicates a wide gender disparity in India that Indians do not give enough importance to the education of girls.
All these indicators points towards the sorry state of affairs in India regarding gender justice and women’s human right. Though every year government starts various schemes and programs apart from existing ones for the benefit and empowerment of women but on the ground there are not enough visible changes. The change will appear only when the mind set of Indian society would change; when the society would start treating male and female on equal footing and when a girl would not be considered as a burden.

Legal and Constitutional Safeguards against Gender Inequality

Indian Constitution provides for positive efforts to eliminate gender inequality; the Preamble to the Constitution talks about goals of achieving social, economic and political justice to everyone and to provide equality of status and of opportunity to all its citizens. Further, women have equal right to vote in our political system. Article 15 of the Constitution provides for prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex also apart from other grounds such as religion, race, caste or place of birth. Article 15(3) authorizes the Sate to make any special provision for women and children. Moreover, the Directive Principles of State Policy also provides various provisions which are for the benefit of women and provides safeguards against discrimination.
Other than these Constitutional safeguards, various protective Legislations have also been passed by the Parliament to eliminate exploitation of women and to give them equal status in society. For instance, the Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 was enacted to abolish and make punishable the inhuman custom of Sati; the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 to eliminate the practice of dowry; the Special Marriage Act, 1954 to give rightful status to married couples who marry inter-caste or inter-religion; Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Bill (introduced in Parliament in 1991, passed in 1994 to stop female infanticide and many more such Acts. Furthermore, the Parliament time to time brings out amendments to existing laws in order to give protection to women according to the changing needs of the society, for instance, Section 304-B was added to the Indian Penal Code, 1860 to make dowry-death or bride-burning a specific offence punishable with maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
So there are varied legislative safeguards and protection mechanisms for women but the ground reality is very different. Despite all these provisions women are still being treated as second rate citizens in our country; men are treating them as an object to fulfill their carnal desires; crimes against women are at alarming stage; the practice of dowry is still widely prevalent; female infanticide is a norm in our homes.

How we can Eliminate Gender Inequality

The list of legislations as well as types of discriminations or inequalities may go on but the real change will only come when the mentality of men will change; when the male species of human beings would start treating women as equal and not subordinate or weaker to them. In fact not only men but women also need to change their mindset as through cultural conditioning they have also become part of the same exploitative system of patriarchy and are playing a supportive role in furthering men’s agenda of dominating women.
Therefore, what is needed is the movement for Women’s empowerment where women can become economically independent and self-reliant; where they can fight their own fears and go out in the world fearless; where they can snatch their rights from the clutches of men and they don’t have to ask for them; where women have good education, good career, ownership of property and above all where they have freedom of choice and also the freedom to make their own decisions without the bondages of age old saying of Manu.
Let’s hope and wish that our participative democracy, in times to come, and with the efforts of both women and men, would be able to found solutions to the problem of gender inequality and would take us all towards our cherished dream of a truly modern society in both thought and action.