Are women second class citizens in India??

Chandigarh may be one of the prettiest cities of India but what I read last week makes me feel that it is probably one of the "ugliest" too. It has the dubious distinction of having the worst gender ratio in the country ( 877 females per 1000 males). Delhi our national capital and Haryana that otherwise prosperous state are the two other regions in the top three of this list of shame. Prenatal gender-determination is a crime according to a law passed many years ago but it seems female foeticide is rampantly practised in these areas. This is one national problem which is caused as much by the rich & educated as by the illiterate & poor. The law of demand and supply has already taken over in these North Indian states - girls now command a monetary premium (reverse dowry) & brothers are sometimes forced to share a common wife, just like in MAHABHARAT - (though for entirely different reasons).

Do we as a community have a "return on investment" kind of approach when it comes to our natural preference for male children?? Are we so guided by this बुढापे की लाठी philosophy that even mothers agree to abort girl foetuses ( like scoring a self goal)?

Females have been discriminated against in every society (encompassing all religions) during the progress of human civilization - the main reason of course was that males wrote all the rules. Did you know that females got the right to vote as late as 2006 in Kuwait, 1971 in Switzerland, 1946 in Belgium, 1945 in France, 1928 in Britain and 1920 in USA? Females are barred from becoming a Pope or even an Imam in a mosque and are generally accorded an inferior status in rituals of all religions. Have you ever heard of a female शंकराचार्य? It is estimated that over 60,000 women were once burnt by Christians by branding them as witches. In the Hindu system of सती, women were literally murdered and then glorified. Islam even today refuses to grant alimony to a divorced wife. Politically, all parties are so blatantly hypocritic that for years they have been proclaiming gender parity but when it comes to reserving 33% seats for women in parliament, they turn a completely blind eye towards the issue.

Coming back to the burning problem of female foeticide, we have seen that mere passing of laws has not worked - maybe we should allow capital punishment to be given to such offenders. But I really think that the time has come for religions to "pay back" for the years of gender - disparity that they have been indirectly advocating. It is high time that opinion leaders like रामदेवबाबा , श्री रविशंकर , आसारामबापू & all शंकराचार्य loudly declare that :

[1] Any Hindu family that demands dowry during marriage will be ex-communicated; [2] It is not true that moksha can be achieved only when a SON lights your funeral pyre - a daughter is equally eligible to do so; [3] Anyone found aborting a female foetus or assisting such an act will be ostracised and no one will have रोटी - बेटी का व्यवहार with such families.

Religion has such immense power over people's minds that it is capable of bringing about this social transformation - unless of course if the religious leadership is itself not convinced about gender disparity being an issue worth paying attention to.