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Saturday, January 2, 2010

India: A Fragile social fabric

India's social fabric is determined by the ethnic composition of society, values and education. Country's demographics are duly studied by researchers and suggestions/plans are drafted for the upliftment of the society.
NHRM statistical surveys suggest planning initiatives towards redevelopment of society. But these surveys could be ambiguous in terms of skewed distribution of social demographics.
On one hand, where education , poverty, unemployment are bigger issues to deal with, we are not that steadfast towards the obscure plight of sex workers in India. We are oblivious to their medical needs. I strongly opine that the profession of prostitution should be legally practiced in India. We are a country where prostitution is deep-rooted in our religion. Formerly practiced as "Devadasi", after the fall of Buddha empire, prostitution raised it's ugly head to transform into it's current form.
Often, this social concern of prostitution is attributed to economic causes like poverty. The nexus between prostitution and poverty does not represent the issue in its entirety. The causes can be varied like : ill treatment by parents, bad company, social customs, lack of sex education, phsychological disorders and also economic causes.. Thus curbing poverty alone may not resolve the issue. We need to handle it at a Constitutional level:-
1. Legalise prostitution as a profession
2. Levy Income/ Sales/ entertainment tax on brothel owners/sex workers
3. PAN card/voter ID to be issued to sex workers for identification of such individuals so that they can be a part of country's demographics and represent a true picture.
Contribution of this tax will also give an accurate calculation of GDP of the country.
Sex-workers are manhandled and tortured in inhuman ways and the only reason they cannot lodge an FIR is because their profession cannot be disclosed. There can be medical camps to address health concerns, spread AIDS awareness and regular medical checkups if we can identify this section of the society with above mentioned measures. To me , this is the most pratical way of conducting such social reforms..Rest is left to the better minds governing this country....

4 comments:

RandomGyan said...

Well..

I differ from your title. I don't think India's social fabric is fragile at all. I think it is infact rather strong.

Legalisation of prostitution will actually mean that people in power will have to:

1. NOT be hypocritical for once.
2. Lose power over this section. Once legalised, the women don't have to oblige anyone - whether they are from the police or the politicians or whatever.

More importantly, as a society we need to make our social fabric a bit less rigid and get over our fake morality to accept this as part of the society and live with it rather than pretending it doesnt exist.

Shubhra said...

Hmm..maybe the title got misinterpreted. Social fabric is not fragile because these elements exist in the society. It is fragile because of non acceptance of this part of society and quality of life led by sex workers due to denial of their existence by hypocrits. Which is the second part of your comment.
But I strongly feel legalisation of prostitution will empower sex workers in many ways...

PERSPECTIVE said...

Not sure why legalisation should not be looked at a solution..

@ randomgyam : preposterous views... to say the least.

@ Shubhra :Agree with your views .legalisation brings acceptability under law and laws tend to guide society's viewpoint over a period of time....Thats a first step towards making the sex workers acceptable in our surroundngs.

Ideally any occupation, so long at it is not forced upon an individual, would require protection of basic human rights from the community.Thats how free thinking civilizations evolve. Its a shame that as a fraternity we refuse to lend shoulder to those who may most need it...

Social fabric is fragile and will always remain so . Lets understand that as individuals we are all real and fake in our ways . how can our society be so different .Instead of crying wolf over morality and being a hurdle its better to think progressively .. does not matter if its patchy or inconsistent. its moving ahead.

Shubhra said...

@ rahul b: Firstly, glad that u stopped by my blog. Secondly, now I know why I admire you so much. Great perspective!
Thanks for your comments, will always look forward to ur feedback.