Dowry is a social evil in society that has
caused unimaginable tortures and crimes towards women and polluted the Indian
marital system. Dowry is payment made in cash or kind to a bride’s in-laws at
the time of her marriage.
Today the government has come up with many
laws (The Dowry Prohibition Act 1961) and reforms, not only to eradicate the
dowry system, but also to uplift the status of the girl child by bringing in
many schemes. However, owing to the social nature of this problem, the
legislation has failed to produce the desired results in our society. In order
to get rid of this problem, appealing to the social and moral consciousness of
the people, providing education and economic independence for women, and
effective enforcement of legislation against the dowry system, can help.
What People Think of Dowry System
Dowry is like suicidal bag for many people
who are not very strong financially. It should be completely stopped from all
the country wherever it is followed strongly, the government needs to take
action in this so that no more crime takes place. In the modern era of India
where people are reaching everywhere and achieving many things but still in
many populations our thinking against dowry is the same. Dowry
system varies from state to state and also on the job profile of the groom. If
we see in the north part of the country the groom having government job, doctor
or engineer than dowry is huge in terms of money, and like the south part of
the country, the bride is forced to give dowry in terms of land, jewellery and
money. We can say if you can give huge dowry you can get anyone for your
daughter. In ancient times dowry was taken only from upper caste families, but
now becoming universal for everyone. Still in India marriage
is taken as a big grand celebration from both sides of the family by calling
all the relatives and taking their complete care till the marriage happens even
if the bride is having a good job or highly educated still the bride has to
give dowry for marriage. Dowry is not voluntary which is made by the bride or
groom, it is demanded from the groom's parents.
Why the Dowry System Should be Stopped?
The new dowry system is creating problems
in society. Poor parents do not get any groom who will marry their daughter
without taking dowry. They have to take “Marriage Loans” to get their daughter
married. Dowry is becoming a nightmare for Women. The cases of infanticide are
increasing. Poor parents do not have any other option. They cannot afford to
have a girl child, and hence they are intentionally killing infant girl. More
than 8000 women are killed because of Dowry! It is very clear that Dowry is
creating violence. Groom’s parents are misusing this pure tradition. And they
are not aware that they are misusing it, because they are not educated about
the traditional dowry system. Everyone is just following the new dowry system
blindly.
Conclusion
Dowry system is good unless and until it
is considered as a gift given to the bride by her parents. If the groom’s
parents are demanding money to get married as a “Dowry” then that is completely
wrong and illegal.
