Punjab is one of Indian historical state. It was established after many historical wars. It also explains an Indian historic traditional culture as Indus valley civilization. In the great history of Punjab women’s place wasn’t coming in front. Punjab played a crucial role in an Indian freedom. Most freedom fighters were belonging to this historical place. When we put it on notice then one point is uncovered that is “women’s role”. Each state has some women ideals for the Indian freedom fight but Punjab did not have such example. Women’s role had collapsed inside the door.
After Indian independence, Punjab government had established to develop citizen’s status, services, financial schemes and etc. from the date of establishment Punjab state government touches top levels of success. Punjab state government provided many good schemes to residents. They also found excellent success in state development, financial development, employment, agriculture, forest, tourism and many different sectors. They had got many awards for their success. Punjab government is a milestone for other states in agriculture filed. Within great success, Punjab government got a failure tag in two important sectors which are as…
1) Women empowerment
2) Intoxication relief
These are weak points of Punjab state government. Intoxication is a serious matter where all state government are serious to decrease consumption in the respective state. Even some of the states have banned wines selling & use. Drugs are already banned from all other states but in Punjab huge amount of users are using drugs & wines. Women empowerment is a second point where Punjab government is failing to approach the milestone.
In the current scenario when all states have increased sex ratio then Punjab is lacking. In previous official counting, the sex ratio was 895. It means there are only 895 women introspect to 1000 males. When we put focus on child sex ratio, the condition is too poor. There are only 845 girls in respect to 1000 boys. This statics clearly explains the Punjab government is failing to make women stronger even when women are playing a very important role in the nation’s development. This poor statics is only because of high BPL population. In Indian society, there are many editions like dowry. Dowry is the serious edition of Indian society which makes the direct impact on sex ratio. Actually in Indian society, during the marriage, bridal wing needs to pay some gifts as dowry.
To keep dowry prices low, families also keep girls from going to school, because dowry prices increase with each additional year of formal education. Families also view school fees for a girl as a waste of money because that investment will not be recouped by the family later in life. Further, girls are often kept at home to do labor for training to be better housewives. To avoid larger dowries, families often marry their daughters off as children. India has the most child brides in the world and this phenomenon is partly driven by the dowry system. The younger a girl is, the lower her dowry price will usually be, so to save money, families marry off their daughters at young ages. The dowry system dehumanizes women by treating them as property goods that can be exchanged. To make matters worse, the system also casts them as a burden, rather than an asset, to be passed along a bride’s family pays the groom’s family for the cost of taking care of the bride. Child marriage effectively ends a girl’s childhood, curtails her education, minimizes her economic opportunities, increases her risk of domestic violence, and puts her at risk for early, frequent, and very high-risk pregnancies. Girls under 15 are five times more likely to die in childbirth than women in their 20s and face a higher risk of pregnancy-related injuries, such as obstetric fistula. Child brides are often unable to negotiate safer sexual practices and are therefore at a higher risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. The negative consequences of child marriage reach beyond the girls themselves: children of child brides are 60 per cent more likely to die in the first year of life than those born to mothers older than 19, and families of child brides are more likely to be poor and unhealthy. Initially, parents need to teach daughter after completion of her education they pay the good amount as dowry. Due to this dowry, edition person doesn’t want to burn girl child. Some of the people use child marriage to avoid extra financial load. They avoid girl’s education & study. This child marriage plays an important role in women’s poor strength in Punjab. In the rural area of Punjab most of the villagers are using child marriage to decrease financial load.
Now to decrease child marriage edition from Punjab state, the government started “Sagan” scheme. In this scheme, the government put a proposal for bridal wings. The government decided to assist some amount during marriage which will around 15 thousand to 25 thousand. This amount will only pay when bride’s age crossed eighteen years. Child marriage is a global edition and united nations also working hard to eliminate from all over the world because this edition is very dangers for women & married couple too. In this scheme, the applicant can apply with online medium. They must submit some of the necessary documents which will be after card, address proof, age proof, bank account details, and etc. they have defined some eligibility criteria which are as follows-
Applicant should be a permanent citizen of Punjab state.
Applicant family must belong to the below poverty line (BPL)
Applicant must belong to the Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes and other economically weaker families.
Similarly, they defined some necessary documents which are as follows:
- Aadhar card
- Proof of Residence
- Proof of Birth certificate
- Proof of Caste certificate
- Proof of Income certificate
- Below Poverty Line (BPL) card
- Bank account details
Now we can proudly say, yes Punjab government brought a good step against child marriage & other edition. All other states should take necessary action against child marriage. When all population will aware with this edition then “save daughter & teach daughter” will become successful.