MODERN MEDICAL PRACTICES IN INDIA: A CONTINUITY OF THE PAST GENDER INEQUALITY

“By a young girl, by a young woman, or even by an aged one, nothing must be done independent, 

even in her own house”.

“Her father protects (her) in childhood, her husband protects (her) in youth, and her sons protect (her) in old age; a woman is never fit for independence.”  Manu, 200 BC

                                                                                                     Kalidash Brahma

Throughout the history of humankind in India with some exception to the early Vedic period, women are not treated equally with their male counterparts. They were being treated inferior to men and as such marginalized in every sphere of their life. They were bind by diverse of social norms like Sati System, dowry,  dedication of girl child in the river Ganges, restriction on widow remarriage etc. Several social reform movements were launched in India in order to eradicate those social evils in the society which brought slight changes in the orthodoxy of the society. But it appears that the movement was not complete for many of those issues and practices are still in existence in the modern India. Moreover, the modern medical practices in India have added a strong blow to the existing wound. The main objective of the present paper is to understand the following queries:

1. Whether the various social reform movements launched during the 19^th century against various social evils (particularly gender inequality) were successful?

       2. Does the modern medical practices in India a continuance of the past gender inequality?

     In doing so, the paper will highlight the symbols of gender inequality in Indian society and relate it with the modern medical practices.

SATI SYSTEM:

One of the most serious challenges of Indian society was the problem of ‘widow immolation’ or ‘Sati’, where Hindu widows climbed the funeral pyres of their husbands; an ancient tradition, prevalent in Bengal, Rajasthan and the South Indian kingdom of Vijayanagar. Sati was never a religious obligation, but a belief. It was believed that by burning herself on the funeral pyre of her husband widow can remove the sins of her husband. She was believed to ascend to the heaven on committing Sati. Strong social pressures of the patriarchal Hindus society on the widow and the status of widows were also factors which helped the growth of the sati system.

WIDOW-REMARRIAGE

Restriction on widow remarriage was another social malady of Hindu society. The status of widows in India was deplorable that they were not allowed to participate in any religious and social functions and as such their life was worse than death. This left them no other option than Sati. Prohibition of widow remarriage was strictly followed amongst the upper caste Hindu society. Any attempts on the part of British to make laws to facilitate remarriage of widows were vehemently opposed by the conservative Hindus. And if I am not wrong, the restrictions on widow-remarriage still alive in our mentality and our society.

CHILD MARRIAGE

Then comes the problem of child marriage. In those days Small kids and in some cases even ignorant and innocent infants were married by their parent. It was a custom in the Hindu society. In this regard Gandhiji said, ‘I do not think it (marriage)  meant to me anything more than the prospect of good clothes to wear, drum beating, marriage processions, rich dinners and a strange girl to play with’. As a result, they had to face lots of problems like health, economic, social adjustment and what not.[1]

FEMALE INFANTICIDE:

A girl in the family was considered as a burden by parents. Since a girl child would be going to her husband’s home after her marriage, the parents there is no need to waste their resources on her upbringing. Besides, the practice of dowry and the huge wedding expenses caused a lot of hardship to the parents. These in the long run, led to the practice of killing the girl child in India particularly in its north and northwestern part. In addition to it, customs like dedication of girl child into the river Ganges was practiced as a disguised form of female infanticide.  It was a superstitious belief that by doing so they could have boons from god and thereby cherished.

POLYGAMY:

 Polygamy was practiced in ancient, medieval and modern India. The practice was prevalent in both Hindu as well as Muslim society e.g. King Dasarata (Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi) and Akbara. As a result of this practice women were regarded as a puppet for their (male) physical thirst or as a living instrument to fulfill their daily needs. They could not get the due share of being someone’s wife or life partner.  Rather, they have to face so many of the problems like-loneliness, frustration and sometime even mental torture from senior wives of her husband.

Besides problems like torture of women by in-lows after husband’s death was also very much rampant which was also responsible for volunteer sati system. Likewise in the Muslim society, we find some elements of gender inequality. In the Muslim society, as mentioned in the Holy Quran, women are not given equal weightage as a witness. They are given only a half weightage. Here is a reference,

‘O believer, when you contract a debt one upon another for a stated term, write it down……And call in two witness, men; or, if they be not men, then one man and two women, such witness as you approve of, lest one of the two (women) err, then other will remind in her’( Quran 2: 282 in exegesis).[2] In other word, women are more prone to error and therefore, needs a second woman to remind her.[3]

To be short and precise, women in India were not treated equally with their male counterparts. They were treated as inferior and subordinate to their male counterparts. As a result, different customs and superstitious practices were emerged leading to degradation of the status of women. This ultimately resulted into several social reform movements by different social organizations like Brahmo Samaj (1828), Arya Samaj (1875), Rama Krishna Mission (1897), Theosophical Society (1875) and Mohammeden Literary Society (1863). The prominent leaders of those organizations were Raja Rammohan Roy, Keshab Chandra Sen (Brahmo Samaj), Swami Dayananda Saraswathi (Arya Samaj), Mrs. Annie Besant (Theosophical Society), Rama Krishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda (Rama Krishna Mission).

CONSEQUENCES OF THE REFORM MOVEMENTS

       As a consequence of those movements-

Ø  Sati was first abolished in Calcutta in 1798.

Ø   A ban was imposed on sati in 1829 in the British territories in India.

Ø  Hindu Widows Remarriage Act XV of 1856 was passed.

Ø  Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929.

Ø  In 1795, infanticide was declared to be murder by Bengal Regulation XXI.

Ø  Native Marriage Act of 1872 was passed, which abolished early marriages, made polygamy an offence, sanctioned widow remarriages and inter-caste marriages.

Ø  In 1901, the Government of Baroda passed the Infant Marriage Prevention Act.

However, development in the field of science and technology particularly the medical science has left the efforts incomplete. It has become a matter of great concern for the present human society. ‘Numerous scholars have observed that the latest advances in modern medical sciences – the tests like Amniocentesis and Ultra-sonography which were originally designed for detection of congenital abnormalities of the foetus, are being misused for knowing the sex of the foetus with the intention of aborting it if it happens to be that of a female’.[4] These new medical technologies have brought the problems like female foeticide, sex selective killing, abortions etc which resulted into the decline of female sex ratio. However, Pre-conception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 prohibits practice of sex determination before and after conception. The practice is a punishable offence with an imprisonment of up to 3 years and fine up to ten thousands which may extend to five years and with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees (In case the physician is employed in any Centre where determination of sex is practiced). In case the physician is a registered medical practitioner his name may be removed from the register of the state Medical Council for a period of five years for the first offence and permanently for the subsequent offence. Even any individual seeking for sex determination for the purposes other than those specified in subsection (2) of section 4, (of the act) (for the purposes of detection of any of the following abnormalities, namely:  Chromosomal abnormalities, Genetic metabolic diseases, Haemoglobinopathies, Sex-linked genetic diseases, Congenital anomalies and any other abnormalities or diseases as may be specified by the Central Supervisory Board) shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees for the first offence and for any subsequent offence with imprisonment which may extend to five years and with fine which may extend to one Lakh rupees. But the trend of abortion case is alarming in India. Robert Johnston in his study has estimated to 763,126, 129,709, 163,205, 58,528 and 69,501 abortion cases in Indian during the year 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08  respectively[5]. The table given in the following indicates that the female sex ratio is declining in every decade with some exception to the last two decades. At present there are 940 female in India against every 1000 male.[6]  However, during the same period India has experience the lowest the child sex ratio (914) since Independence[7]. It deserves to be a theme of systematic and serious discussion.  With 618 female populations against every 1000 male population Daman & Diu stands at the bottom. It is followed by Dadra & Nagar Haveli with 775 female populations.

TABLE-1: DECADEL SEX RATIO IN INDIA:

Year	Female (per 1000 male)
1901	972
1911	964
1921	955
1931	950
1941	945
1951	946
1961	941
1971	930
1981	934
1991	927
2001	933
2011	940*

Source: Various Census Report of India and Census Report of India, 2011 (Prov.)*

ETHICAL ISSUES:

Moreover, the modern medical practices like sex determination, abortion (excluding exceptional cases), foeticide (particularly female foeticide) etc. leading to decline of sex ration needs a considerable retrospection. The practice of sex determination and abortion is directly or indirectly contravening to the provisions of various National and International Human Rights Conventions. It is contravening to the provisions of legislation.  Besides, it is against our humanity and ethics as well. However, the supporters of the issue of foeticide and abortion have considerable success in making abortion a legal right in many developed nations. They argue that the baby in form up to 14 days cannot possibly be conscious of their pain and pleasure. Besides, it cannot be understood if the baby is going to be a male or a female. Therefore, it is not a complete human and as such can be destroyed.[8] They also argue that the fetus is totally dependent on mother for its survival and as such it has no right to life independent of her wish. At the same time they also argue that the mother should have complete freedom in her body. She should have the right choose to accept or not accept the baby. But the opponents argue the practice of abortion with help of following premises.

First Premise: It is wrong to kill a human being.

Second Premise: A human foetus is an innocent human being.

Conclusion: Therefore, it is wrong to kill a human fetus.[9]

They challenge the argument that fetus has no right to life for it is completely dependent on her mother. If the right to life is not secured because of being dependent on other what would be their arguments concerning the life of those who are dependent on their children because of being old or handicapped. Perhaps, they will not have reply for this particular question.

Now my question is that shall we wait for that debate to complete? And then starts working according to the conclusion.  Who knows how many generations it will take to come to the conclusion. For the sake of ourselves and humankind I feel the time has come to ask ourselves:

Is it ethically right to kill a life before it’s born?

Is it ethically right to kill a foetus because it is not fit enough?

Is it ethically right to destroy a life because the life in form is a female?

Is it ethically sound to kill a life because it is an unwanted?

Without any doubt I feel a normal person will say ‘No’. If this is the case, why cannot we act accordingly? Let us proceed with a promise that we will not encourage the practice of sex determination, foeticide and abortion which leads to the problem of declining women population.

******

REFERENCES:

           

1.       M K Gandhi, ‘The story of my experiments with truth’ translated by Mahadev Desai, Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad-380014.

2.       Sneh Lata Tandon and Renu Sharma, ‘Female Foeticide and Infanticide in India: An Analysis of Crimes against Girl Children’, International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences Vol 1 Issue 1 January 2006.

3.       Robert Johnston, India abortions and live births by state and territory, 1971-2008http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/india/ab-indias.html

4.       Various Census of India including Census of India, 2011 (Provisional).

 End Notes:

---

[1] M K Gandhi, ‘The story of my experiments with truth’ translated by Mahadev Desai, Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad-380014, p-5.

[2]   Quoted in Mahammad Fadel’s, ‘Two Women, One Man: Knowledge, Power, and Gender in Medieval Sunni Legal Thought’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Cambridge University Press, Vol. 29, No. 2. (May,  1997), p-187.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Sneh Lata Tandon and Renu Sharma, ‘Female Foeticide and Infanticide in India: An Analysis of Crimes against Girl Children’, International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences Vol 1 Issue 1 January 2006.

[5] Robert Johnston, India abortions and live births by state and territory, 1971-2008http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/india/ab-indias.html

[6] Census of India, 2011 (Provisional).

[7]  Ibid.

[8] Peter Singer, ‘Practical Ethics’, Cambridge University Press, 2010(Reprint), p-137.

[9] Ibid, p-138.

“Human Migration and Identity Issues: An Analysis of India’s North East”

  Introduction:                                                           

In recent years, the issues of human migration and its impacts on the socio-economic and cultural life of the people is being widely debated throughout the world. In simple language, migration means movement of people from one place to other in search of better living condition. However, a large scale migration of the people may affect the demographic characteristics of a state or a nation. As a result, conflict may occur between the aborigines and the migrants leading to large scale human rights violations. The prime objective of this paper is to highlight the issues of human migration in the North Eastern part of India and its impacts on the socio-economic and cultural identity of the people in the region.   

It is well known fact that the present North Eastern states (earlier undivided Assam plus Manipur, Tripura and Sikkim)[1] of India have been the safe destinations of various streams of interstate and international migrants during the colonial and post-colonial period. Large number of new social groups like Nepalis, Marwaris, Biharis, Hindu Bengalis, Muslim Bengalis, Chinese, Americans, British and tea garden laborers (Black Tribals) migrated into the North Eastern part of India during the colonial period[2]. The pull factors of the migration in the North East India are the soft British policies towards migration, large area of virgin fertile land, rich natural resources and abundance of employment avenues in newly emerging tea Industries and various institutions of the region. Besides, there are other avenues like Coal and Oil production, construction of roads, railways and buildings which attracted the immigrant laborers.[3]  On the other hand, scarcity of land, employment and natural resources had been the push factors for outmigration in East Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar. In order to handle Santal movement in Jharkhand and to meet the scarcity of the laborers in the Tea Gardens of Assam, the Colonial administration brought a huge number of laborers from Jharkhand in the early period of 20^th century. However, the most alarming influx of foreign migrants occurred in 1945/46 while large number of Bangladeshi migrants were imported in Assam under the policy of “Grow More Food” by the then Chief Minister-Mahammad Sadullah. This policy of Mr Sadullah brought large number of Bangladeshi migrants and changed the demographic pattern of the region.[4] Then comes the partition of India (15^th August, 1947) and the Bangladesh War of Independence (1970s) which resulted into large scale migration into the region. The following table (table No-1) may substantiate this phenomenon.

Table-1: Population Growth in Assam*: 1901-1991[5]

Year	Growth rate, Assam	Growth rate, All India	Variation
1901-1911	16.99	5.73	11.26
1911-1921	20.48	-0.31	20.78
1921-1931	19.91	11.0	8.91
1931-1941	20.40	14.22	6.62
1941-1951	19.93	13.31	6.62
1951-1961	34.98	21.51	13.34
1961-1971	34.95	24.80	10.15
1971-1991**	52.44	48.24	4.2

*Assam before 1963 includes present Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland. Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal and Mizoram were separated from Assam in 1963, 1971, 1986 and 1986 respectively. Therefore, up to 1961census Assam represents whole of North East India with exception of Tripura, Manipur and Sikkim.

** No census was conducted in Assam in 1981. Hence the growth rate is for twenty Years from 1971-1991.

Estimations of the Total Migrants in the North eastern part of India:

There is no consensus of estimation regarding the number of total migrants in the North Eastern part of India. Besides, the whole of North Eastern part of India with exception to Manipur, Tripura and Sikkim had been within the fold of undivided Assam till 1963. And this process of separation from Assam had completed only in 1986 with the separation of Mizoram and Meghalaya. Therefore, lack of sufficient information and evidences had been a major challenge while writing about North East Issues.

Census of India, 1921 has estimated the number of total migrants in Assam at 411941 during 1911-1921.[6] Likewise, Anil Saikia, H Goswami and A Goswami have estimated the number of foreign migrants in Assam at 1337015 during 1951-1991.[7] Amalendu Guha has also estimated that the number of post-1951 settlers with questionable citizenship status would in no case exceed 13 lakhs.[8] All Assam Students Union and Gana Sangram Parishad have also estimated the number at 45 Lakhs.[9] Susanta K Das believes that the population growth in Assam from 1901-1951 “has been the second highest in the world, exceeded only by Brazil”[10]

In Tripura, flows of refugee and migrants became alarming during 1940s and 1950s. “By 1958, 374,000 refugees had entered Tripura and massive rehabilitation was carried out. By 1960, 70,000 families were rehabilitated, of whom 34,000 were settled in 75 colonies in Agartala and the rest in different places.”[11] However, the flow of migrants and refugee continued to be unabated till the Bangladesh war of liberation. Yet the attitude of the Government of India as well as the state Government towards the migration problem is not appreciable. Even after many decades, the fencing of Indo-Bangladesh international Border has left incomplete.

 Human Migration, Cultural Identity and Ethnic Conflicts:

This issue of immigration has, in the long run, created problems in the region. The aboriginals or the indigenous peoples of the region have felt that they being alienated from their own land as a result of large scale immigration.  They further felt that the problem of continuous illegal migration has become a threat to the cultural identity of the indigenous people. This resulted into the mushrooming of extremist groups and the outbreak of several movements in the region for the protection and preservation of indigenous cultural identity.  Assam Movement and Bodoland Movement in Assam and tribal movements in Tripura may be mentioned in this regard. The main goals of the Assam Movement were: to detect, deport and disfranchise the foreign nationals from the electoral roll of Assam.[12] Similar were the main objectives of tribal movement in Tripura.

Ethnic Conflicts and Issues of Human Rights Violations:

Those movements in the long run, has resulted into large scale human rights violation in the region. During the Assam movement (1979-85), a minimum of 471 cases of bomb blasts were reported to the police where at least 101 people lost their life (Table-2).[13] On 18^th February 1983, over 1200 people (mostly women and children) were butchered to death at Nellie in Nagaon district of Assam.[14] Monirul Hussain has described this incident of Assam movement as “one of the largest and severest pogroms that contemporary world has recorded. It has only a few parallels in the post-second world war history”[15] Likewise, at least 1135 Bodo people had lost their life during the Bodoland movement from 1987-93.[16] More than 150,000 people were left homeless and had to settle down in different relief camps without government relief, rehabilitation and medical care. According to the report of ABSU to the then Prime Minister of India (V.P. Singh), over 200 Bodo inmates died out of starvation and another 93 Bodo inmates died due to lack of medical care in Gohpur (Assam) itself.[17]  In Tripura also, 1,300 people lost their lives, 3,77,048 were left 34,661 houses were burnt and 1,89,919 people were displaced as a result of tribal ethnic movements .[18] The violence of the riot was so brutal that even children were not spared.

Table-2: No of Bomb-blasts and number of death during 1979-84.

year	Number of blasts	Number of deaths
1979	4	0
1980	47	8
1981	81	5
1982	39	27
1983	259	55
1984	41	6
Total	471	101

Source: Monirul Hussain, The Assam Movement: Class, Ideology and Identity, Manas Publication, 1995.

Conclusion:

Migration has a close link with the cultural identity of a particular group of people. A large scale migration of people in a particular place brings pressure to the land of the indigenous people of the region. It leads to the problems of land alienation and as a result, may be treated as a threat to the socio-economic and cultural identity of the indigenous people. Large scale skilled and unskilled human migration in the North Eastern part of India was treated as a threat to the socio-economic and cultural identity of the people in the region and several movements were launched by different groups of community for the protection and preservation of their cultural identity which brought a large scale of human tragedies. Therefore, it is suggestive that the issue of migration should be tackled with utmost care for a peaceful future of the region. The fencing of India-Bangladesh International Border at the earliest is an important task to be completed by the Government of India and Bangladesh. This will bring a sense of security in the mind of indigenous people. Issuing of voter”s identity card to every eligible (for vote) citizen may also be helpful. Besides, the vote bank politics should be eliminated from the region. For this, all section of the people including the police personals as well as the administrators should put their hand together.

**********************

---

End Notes:

[1] Assam before 1963 includes present Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland. Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal and Mizoram were separated from Assam in 1963, 1971, 1986 and 1986 respectively.

[2] Manirul Hussain, The Assam Movement: Class, Ideology and Identity, Manas Publication, 1995, P-47.

[3] Sanjib Baruah, “India Against Itself”, Oxford University Press, 2011 (reprint), p-46.

[4] Report on Illegal Migration into Assam Submitted to the President of India(K.R. Narayana) by the Governor of Assam (S.K. Sinha) on November8, 1998.

[5]  Sanjib Baruah, op. cit. p-51.

[6] Sanjib Baruah, op. cit., p-57.

[7] Anil Saikia, H Goswami and A Goswami, “Population Growth in Assam 1951-1991 with Focus on Migration”, Akansha Publishing House, New Delhi, 2003, p-114.

[8] Abu Nasar Saiied Ahmed, “Nationality Question in Assam: The EPW 1980-81 Debate”, Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Science and Development (Guwahati) and Akansha Publishing House, New Delhi, 2006, p-93.

[9] Ibid, p-93.

[10]  As Quoted in Sanjib Baruah”s “India Against Itself”, Oxford University Press, 2011 (reprint), p-50.

[11] Bijan Mohanta, Tripura since 1945, Progressive Publication, Calcutta, 2004, p-89.

[12] Monirul Hussain, op. cit, p-117.

[13].  Ibid, p-143.

[14]  Ibid, p-141.

[15] Ibid, p-141.

[16] K. Brahma, “Bodoland Movement and the Issues of Human Rights Violation” in K. Paul (Ed) “Human Rights: Contemporary Issues”, Avishek Printers & Publishers, Silchar (Assam), 2011, p-92.

[17] Ibid, p-91.

[18] Manas Paul, “The Eyewitness”, Lancer, New Delhi, 2009, p. 76.

References:

1.     Ahmed ,Abu Nasar Saiied: “Nationality Question in Assam: The EPW 1980-81 Debate”, Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Science and Development (Guwahati) and Akansha Publishing House, New Delhi, 2006, p-93.

2.     Baruah, Sanjib: “India Against Itself”, Oxford University Press, 2011 (reprint).

3.     Hussain, Manirul: The Assam Movement: Class, Ideology and Identity, Manas Publication, 1995.

4.     Mohanta, Bijan:  Tripura since 1945, Progressive Publication, Calcutta, 2004.

5.     Paul, K.  (Ed) “Human Rights: Contemporary Issues”, Avishek Printers & Publishers, Silchar (Assam), 2011.

6.     Paul, Manas: “The Eyewitness”, Lancer, New Delhi, 2009, p. 76.

7.     Report on Illegal Migration into Assam Submitted to the President of India (K.R. Narayana) by the Governor of Assam (S.K. Sinha) on November8, 1998.

8.     Saikia, Anil., Goswami H and Goswami, A: “Population Growth in Assam 1951-1991 with Focus on Migration”, Akansha Publishing House, New Delhi, 2003.

9.     World migration report,2010

         http://www.jcp.ge/iom/pdf/WMR_2010_ENGLISH.pdf