[Reader-list] universal civil code

[A.K. Malik]

Hi Rakesh Ji and Taraprakash ji,
                                Literacy has nothing to do with Khat Panchayats. It is only the stub-born attitude and hollow honour attached by men in the community.The other point is while women are getting better respects from men and have more say in family matters in other communities, it is not so in Haryana where women are still considered second fiddle and have virtual no say especially in matters pertaining to love, marriage, land & property.
Honour killings were being done by individuals earlier, now it is being done by or under pressure from Panchayats. No one gets punished as no one dares become a witness because he/she is also threatened with same fate.Police know but are unable to proceed in such cases.
I remember a case 30 years back, where a Jat Girl fell in love with a boy from other caste was thrown in a well by her own Tau(father's elder brother) even when she went on pleading to his Tau that she will never see the boy again.But the Tau told her that she had spoiled the family honour which can be brought back only when she is forced to die.Everyone in the village knew what happened but nothing happened.(For criticizers,I was not a witness to it, it was narrated by one of the villagers).
Even with well educated people caste has become much more than it used to be.See HT matrimonials. The only positive factor in urban educated class is they only boycott the young couple but never kill them.
Regards,

(A.K.MALIK)


--- On Fri, 8/14/09, taraprakash <taraprakash at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: taraprakash <taraprakash at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] universal civil code
> To: "Rakesh Iyer" <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com>, "A.K. Malik" <akmalik45 at yahoo.com>
> Cc: "Sarai List" <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Date: Friday, August 14, 2009, 1:21 AM
> 
> 
>  
>  
> 
> 
>  
> Hi all and Rakesh. As far
> as literacy and economic 
> development is concerned, Hariyana is doing much better
> than the BIMARU states. 
> For some reason the Khat patriarchs have managed to retain
> control over the 
> entire community. 
>  
>  
>  
>  
> 
>   ----- Original Message
> ----- 
>   From: 
>   Rakesh 
>   Iyer 
>   To: A.K. Malik
> 
>   Cc: taraprakash
> ; Sarai List 
>   
>   Sent: Thursday,
> August 13, 2009 1:39 
>   AM
>   Subject: Re:
> [Reader-list] universal 
>   civil code
>   
> Dear Malik
> 
> One of the reasons this has happened is 
>   because of poor literacy rates, particularly of women, in
> such regions as 
>   well. I am pretty sure that Haryana has a poor literacy
> rate of women. What is 
>   more, such cases also ensure that the sex ratio is
> skewed. This has a 
>   deteriorating effect because studies show that districts
> which have a lower 
>   sex ratio have a higher crime rate. Hence, in particular
> we need to do things 
>   about it. 
> 
> And the first way, one may go, is changing the public 
>   opinion, which is possible through the media and through
> newspapers. One of 
>   the bigger failures of our democracy has also been that
> our political leaders 
>   are more interested in votes rather than ideals and
> understanding the issues 
>   properly. We can't send the Indian Army after all to
> kill the male heads of 
>   these khap panchayats and teach them a lesson for
> 'not modernizing', so as to 
>   nullify the vote impact totally.
> 
> Why not our media channels go to these 
>   places and have the Sardesais and the Barkha Dutts have
> the debates in these 
>   villages? Who knows, what changes couldn't be brought
> till now may have to be 
>   brought in because of this.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Rakesh 
> 
>  
>