Assignments

Mass media and Society (HUM1043)

Vishesh Bhandari

17BME1228

Fulfilment of “new Women” in India Is a Myth

Every year we celebrate Women’s day on 8th march in a motive to respect women, to
empower and support them and inspire them to come up in their life. Women symbolise
strength, power, never give up attitude. We also know that there is no tool more effective for
development as empowerment of women. Women empowerment has become the need of the
hour. It has become a matter of global concern. However sad to know that even after the
guarantee of Indian constitution to maintain equality among men and women, there is less
practical situation seen in the world we live in. Various schemes and initiatives are taken for
women development and to promote gender equality. Still it is evident that there is lowest
participation of women in workforce. Female safety and protection in public places, respect
to women education and equal view of women and men in society is still questionable.
Schemes like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao have contributed in nation building, various other
programs are conducted to empower women. Attempts to eradicate inequality towards
women have encountered strong resistances.
New women concept may become a myth if it fully relies on government initiatives,
schemes etc. it is possible only if women change up their mind, stand up for their rights
and start believing themselves that they have equal rights and opportunities. Be it personal,
social or economic the new women have control over her own life. The concept indicates the
changing gender norms and awareness of gender equality and discrimination. New women
indicate framework of equal access to economic opportunities, bring balance to decision
making and power with purpose, creativity and compassion. There are cultures and old
people still believing girls and women being inferior to men and are supposed to be less
educated, be more in home and are denied from work. It is in the hands of women to open
from their zone to broaden their thoughts and mind and find the reality. empowering women
towards nation building is a high topic of discussion. Our prime minister Narendra Modiji
believes that the key to empowerment of women is educating the girl child. He
said women empowerment is crucial to India’s growth. Days of seeing woman as
homemakers have gone, we have to see women as nation builders. It is worth to write
about our Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj who has contributed towards
women empowerment. recent theme of “women first, prosperity for all “which emphasises
that women represent tremendous power for economic growth and prosperity in
developing and developed countries ensuring equal pay and improvement of working
conditions to women .every girl and women had the potential to make changes in this world
to make a better place and this potential depends on deeper thinking and high thoughts.
Creation of new women is possible only if women decide to be empowered to take their own
decisions, going against social evils and believe themselves that they are capable equally as
men and create changes all around for the betterment. Only then new women concept comes
out of a concept of traditional story or a myth.
 A Good Life Is One Inspired by Love and Guided by Knowledge

Soon after the heinous attack in New Zealand Mosque, another dreadful act took place in
churches and hotels of Sri Lanka on 21st April 2019. This all was preplanner brutal aims. Sri
Lanka attack was not a mere terrorist attack rather a dreadful warning to all other countries
for the next attack to take place in the name of religion, no matter religion teaches this or not.
They only think of killing innocent in the name of God that lead them to land in heaven but
unfortunately, they are doing exactly opposite that surely will lead them land in hell. Now a
day’s religious issues has become an irresistible topic for each and every country to think
upon and why not?
The missile man of India Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam, who was the brain behind many destructive
missiles, quoted a verse of a famous Tamil poem in European union which says “I am a
world citizen and every human beings are my own kith & kin”. This shows that he was a
living example for the quote “A good life is one inspired by love & guided by knowledge”.
Even if he loved all human beings in the world, he didn’t step back from his duty of making
destructive missiles to protect our nation. Neither love without knowledge, or knowledge
without love can produce a good life. Love can be interpreted in many different ways. But the
emotion with humanity which makes the person selfless for the wellbeing of his loved ones is
the true love and the inborn nature of human beings. But love without knowledge can be a
threat to everyone. Many terrorist attacks and mob lynching’s which our society has
witnessed is a proof for this. Many people who are misled by different ideologies without any
knowledge has become a threat to the society. Their so-called love for those ideologies is the
reason for many inhuman attacks we have seen. Their lack of knowledge is the main reason
for all these. On the other side a lot of crimes take place using technologies and science. This
shows us the face of knowledge without love.
India has always been an example to the world by the way we live. India has taught the world
both tolerance and universal acceptance. When we use our knowledge to launch satellites on
mars and moon, we also care for our neighbouring countries Bhutan, Afghanistan, Srilanka
etc, for their wellbeing and help them in all possible ways for their development. A balance
of love and knowledge is what takes our country forward. An undeniable fact is that there are
a lot of inhuman crimes happening in our nation where love without knowledge or knowledge
without love has played major roles. But at the same time, we witness selfless sacrifices of
people like Mr. Anand, a great mathematician whose love for the teaching profession and
knowledge has created wonders in the lives of many people by his program ‘‘super 30’’.
Many unsung heroes like him live in every part of our country who use their knowledge for
the wellbeing of others. People like them always remind us that our true nature and culture is
a balance of love and knowledge.
Only the people who are inspired by love and guided by knowledge can be good leaders in
the society. Mahatma Gandhi is an example for a real leader who was inspired by love and
guided by knowledge. He taught the world the power of non-violence, love and knowledge.
Whenever there is an imbalance of love and knowledge in leaders, that will lead to the
destruction of others or the people who follow them. Many terrorist attacks in different parts
of the world in the name of religions are examples for this. All religions teach its followers to
love and be kind to the fellow beings, but people who don’t have real knowledge about their
own religions become a threat to the world. They not only destroy other people, but also lead
to the defamation and destruction of their own ideologies. The New Zealand mosque attack,
Srilankan church attack, pulwama terror attack on CRPF jawans or the Bilkis Bano case, all
were done in the name of different religions and ideologies but all these have the same face, a
real imbalance of knowledge and love of their ideologies.
Confucius once said “real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”. It is when we
realize the extent of our ignorance and move towards knowledge, the love will find meaning
in our lives.
 A People That Values Its Privileges above Its Principles, Looses Both

Human beings are considered as the best creation of god, not for physical strength but for
affection, sympathy, morality, social value, intelligence, consciousness etc. ‘Privileges’ and
‘principles’ both are essential for human life and the status of human life is shaped by the fact
that who gets supremacy among these two key terms.
‘Privileges’ are transient matters in human life. It continues to change with the flow of time,
whereas ‘Principles’ are quite long termed and largely effective in human life. In very simple
terms ‘privilege’ means advantage to someone particular in any aspect. If advantage is
equally distributed among all without any discrimination then it will lead fair competition but
if it is given to someone special without caring principles the system may be corrupted and
the person may be inappropriate for the position that can defame him/her as well as the
system. Will it be effective for society if a dishonest person becomes a bureaucrat or a
powerful person misuses his/her power?
Now the question comes that why we should give ‘principles’ more importance than
‘privileges’? ‘Principles’ form human character that is very much essential for human
society. ‘Privileges’ are just wanting of the time that may lead one to disaster at the end.
‘Privilege’ can kill one’s true potentials because if he/she gets advantages than others then he
will not work hard or will not use his potentials. If earning a lot of money is one’s only
intention and he/she does it even by the means of corruption then he/she should be ready for
punishment because he/she cannot escape from the ambit of law. ‘Privileges’ may make a
man greedy but ‘principles’ make an ideal man. If Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose would had
valued his privileges of earning by accepting the prestigious post of civil servant in British
India rather than caring of his principles to make India ‘free’ then perhaps India would have
been still suffering the pain of colonisation.
In practical life it is often seen that a person who values his/her ‘privileges’ rather than
his/her ‘principles’, loses both and in recent time the cases of Vijay Malya and Neerav Modi
support this. They privileged ‘money’ more in their life than the principle of ‘trust’ in human
society and as a consequence they have already lost reputation and are going to lose money
soon. ‘Privileges’ often lead to criminalisation that can drive away one’s sleep whereas
‘principles’ can lead one to prestigious status in society in society and can provide him/her a
peaceful sleep in night. India is a land of talents. In every family there is at least one talent in
several fields like sports, music, education, handicrafts etc. one year of hard work can lead
one to crack civil services exam but one year is not enough to form principles of life. To
quote Smt. Sarada Devi, “Character formation is the principle intention of human life.”
M K Gandhi is considered as the father of nation not only because he fought for our
independence but he relied upon the principles of ‘ahimsa’(non-violence), ‘karma’(labour),
‘ekta’(integrity), ‘jan andolan’(mass movement) as means of independence. His intention was
not only to make India free but also to make a great India where there will be no violence of
order, where all people will live peacefully and will cooperate with each other, where there
will be trust for each other and perhaps because of these idealistic principles he is still
considered as the guide of our nation.
In upcoming time, we need to focus more on the ‘principles’ of human kind as India’s target
is to be the major ‘soft power’ country because we believe that sweet word performs more
than bullet. It should be the call of our heart that we should value ‘principles’ more than
‘privileges’.
“Those, whose wisdom has been rent away by this or that desire, go to other gods, following
this or that ride, led by their own nature.”
- The Gita.