Fatal starvation is a rare cause of death in industrialized countries but can be of major medicolegal importance if death results from the deliberate withholding of food, especially from infants. The significance of starvation in clinical, forensic, and medicolegal terms depends upon the degree of malnutrition or metabolic derangements induced, which, in turn, depend upon the severity and duration of starvation, and whether it is associated with exacerbating factors such as disease. Normally, the diagnosis of death as a result of starvation is a simple prima facie diagnosis. However, underlying illnesses as causes of emaciation and concurrent diseases should be ruled out. In the following chapter the significance of starvation, normal nutritional requirements, disease-associated malnutrition, degrees of starvation, autopsy findings, and further investigations that are of importance within a medicolegal context will be addressed. In cases of starvation of children several classifications of protein-energy malnutrition that have been developed for third world countries are of special importance.

Although the concept of food security was coined 17 years ago, humanity has been fighting hunger and thrust since ancient times. A new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and set several time-bound targets with a deadline of 2015, known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), is expected to give new impetus to the cause of food security.

The reasons for this disturbing phenomenon are different in each case. The physical availability of food at both macro and micro levels can be negatively affected due to the lack of local production, natural and human-made disasters, seasonal changes, water scarcity, poor infrastructure, insufficient storage capacity, stockpiling, and even legal problems.

However, factors that impede food absorption include a lack of clean drinking water, inadequate health, hygiene and sanitation, a low level of literacy and a fiscal cushion for governments for public sector development programs that would help ensure essential service delivery.

What is it like to starve to death?

Taken from Aid Groups Witness Starving Syrians Jan. 17, 2016

It’s an awful question, but it’s the question of the moment. In what United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called a “war crime,” thousands of people in Syria have been starving because both government and rebel blockades have kept food from reaching them. The town of Madaya has been under siege for months. U.N. relief staff members reported seeing elderly people, children, men and women who are little more than skin and bones. “Gaunt, severely malnourished, so weak they could barely walk and utterly desperate for the slightest morsel,” Ban Ki-moon said, according to the U.N. News Service.

This is not just a problem in Syria. People suffer from extreme malnutrition all over the world in places where there is war, economic crisis, floods, drought and all manner of human suffering. About 1 in 9, or 795 million people in the world, suffers from undernourishment, according to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization.

And that’s how starvation can begin — with undernourishment. People do not get enough calories to keep up with the body’s energy needs. (Although starvation may be staved off if edibles are available that would not previously have been considered “food” — grass, leaves, insects or rodents.)

Over weeks and months, malnutrition can result in specific diseases, like anemia when people don’t get enough iron or beriberi if they don’t get adequate thiamine.

A severe lack of food for a prolonged period — not enough calories of any sort to keep up with the body’s energy needs — is starvation. The body’s reserve resources are depleted. The result is substantial weight loss, wasting away of the body’s tissues and eventually death.

When faced with starvation, the body fights back. The first day without food is a lot like the overnight fast between dinner one night and breakfast the next morning. Energy levels are low but pick up with a morning meal.

Within days, faced with nothing to eat, the body begins feeding on itself. “The body starts to consume energy stores — carbohydrates, fats and then the protein parts of tissue,” says Maureen Gallagher, senior nutrition adviser to Action Against Hunger, a network of international humanitarian organizations focused on eliminating hunger. Metabolism slows, the body cannot regulate its temperature, kidney function is impaired and the immune system weakens.

When the body uses its reserves to provide basic energy needs, it can no longer supply necessary nutrients to vital organs and tissues. The heart, lungs, ovaries and testes shrink. Muscles shrink and people feel weak. Body temperature drops and people can feel chilled. People can become irritable, and it becomes difficult to concentrate.

Eventually, nothing is left for the body to scavenge except muscle. “Once protein stores start getting used, death is not far,” says Dr. Nancy Zucker, director of the Duke Center for Eating Disorders at Duke University. “You’re consuming your own muscle, including the heart muscle.” In the late stages of starvation, people can experience hallucinations, convulsions and disruptions in heart rhythm. Finally, the heart stops.

How long does this take? There’s great variation in the amount of time people can survive without food, depending on age, body weight, whether they have adequate water, and whether they have other underlying health issues. Mahatma Gandhi, in his nonviolent campaign for India’s independence, survived for 21 days with only sips of water. One study found that hunger strikers in various parts of the world survived for up to 40 days.

“There’s really no specific number of days people can survive,” says Gallagher.

Theoretically, women might have a survival advantage because they have a greater percentage of stored body fat. But, says Zucker, no study proves that. The most thorough study of near starvation in humans was a 1950 study by Ancel Keys, “The Biology of Human Starvation,” in which 36 volunteers — all male — were given a semi-starvation diet of 1,570 calories (the average man needs about 2,500 calories a day) for six months. It is from that study that nutrition scientists began to understand how the body reacts to food deprivation.

Children are smaller and have fewer body-fat stores to draw from. They fail much faster. “Children are at a much greater disadvantage,” says Zucker. “With anorexia nervosa [an eating disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat] we have to act a lot more quickly, because children and teens have fewer stores available; they’re growing and their metabolic needs are greater.”

What is going on during starvation internally, biologically and metabolically, is invisible. But physical and behavioral changes are on display.

Both adults or children can act very much out of character. They might be irritable or apathetic or lethargic. “Starvation is a state of threat,” says Zucker. And so people who are starving might act like a cornered animal, alert to any change around them and too quick to react to perceived threats. With a severe ongoing lack of food, people start doing things to ration food. “They eat more slowly. They might start shredding food to make it look like there is more. You take a piece of bread and shred it so you have a pile of bread crumbs,” says Zucker.

The body attempts to protect the brain, says Zucker, by shutting down the most metabolically intense functions first, like digestion, resulting in diarrhea.”The brain is relatively protected, but eventually we worry about neuronal death and brain matter loss,” she says. Just as the heart, lungs and other organs weaken and shrivel without food, eventually so does the brain. The concern for children is that their brains are still developing and any loss of function due to starvation could be permanent. But their brains are more plastic and might have a greater ability to bounce back, after they begin eating again.

“It’s hard to know. Children suffer more steeply, but their recovery might be better. It might be a tie,” says Zucker. “But adults and children alike can have permanent brain damage.”

People who are in the throes of starvation look apathetic, lethargic — almost mechanical in their slow-motion reactions.

Starving people may not look as if they’re in acute pain. But that doesn’t mean they’re not suffering. “I’ve seen kids who are not kids anymore. They’re either irritated and crying, or they’re apathetic and not playing,” says Gallagher. “And their mothers are hopeless and not showing any signs of caring.”

Treatment for someone who has been starved begins with a thorough medical exam. People might need hospitalization or antibiotics to treat underlying illnesses or infections. But therapeutic foods, like a fully nutritious peanut butter paste, dry skim milk and a wide set of vitamins and minerals, work well in the developing world.

And there’s one curious observation that’s been made. It’s not clear why, but the problem of peanut allergies in the West is not an issue in sub-Saharan Africa and other areas where severe malnutrition is most common. “We haven’t come across any allergic reactions to peanuts,” says Gallagher.

This form of domestic violence is the most common. The most common causes of harassment and torture of women are dissatisfaction with the dowry and abusing women for more, arguing with a partner, refusing sex with him, neglecting children, leaving home without telling the partner, improper cooking or on time, engaging in new matters, not caring for my parents-in-law, etc.

Many other factors in urban areas lead to differences at the beginning and then are domestic violence. Violence against young widows is also increasing in India.Other forms of physical abuse of women also include beating, grabbing, burdening them with bullying, public humiliation, and neglecting health problems.

“Domestic violence is a burden on numerous sectors of the social system and quietly, yet dramatically, affects the development of a nation… batterers cost nations fortunes in terms of law enforcement, health care, lost labor and general progress in development. These costs do not only affect the present generation; what begins as an assault by one person on another, reverberates through the family and the community into the future”.

Domestic violence is a global issue reaching across national boundaries as well as socio-economic, cultural, racial and class distinctions. This problem is not only widely dispersed geographically, but its incidence is also extensive, making it a typical and accepted behavior. Domestic violence is wide spread, deeply ingrained and has serious impacts on women’s health and well-being. Its continued existence is morally indefensible. Its cost to individuals, to health systems and to society is enormous. Yet no other major problem of public health has been so widely ignored and so little understood.

What is Domestic Violence?

Domestic violence can be described as the power misused by one adult in a relationship to control another. It is the establishment of control and fear in a relationship through violence and other forms of abuse. This violence can take the form of physical assault, psychological abuse, social abuse, financial abuse, or sexual assault. The frequency of the violence can be on and off, occasional or chronic.

“Domestic violence is not simply an argument. It is a pattern of coercive control that one person exercises over another. Abusers use physical and sexual violence, threats, emotional insults and economic deprivation as a way to dominate their victims and get their way”. (Susan Scheter, Visionary leader in the movement to end family violence)

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 says that any act, conduct, omission or commission that harms or injures or has the potential to harm or injure will be considered domestic violence by the law. Even a single act of omission or commission may constitute domestic violence – in other words, women do not have to suffer a prolonged period of abuse before taking recourse to law. The law covers children also. Domestic violence is perpetrated by, and on, both men and women. However, most commonly, the victims are women, especially in our country. Even in the United States, it has been reported that 85% of all violent crime experienced by women are cases of intimate partner violence, compared to 3% of violent crimes experienced by men. Thus, domestic violence in Indian context mostly refers to domestic violence against women.

Problem Statement

Domestic violence is the most common form of violence against women. It affects women across the life span from sex selective abortion of female fetuses to forced suicide and abuse, and is evident, to some degree, in every society in the world.

The World Health Organization reports that the proportion of women who had ever experienced physical or sexual violence or both by an intimate partner ranged from 15% to 71%, with the majority between 29% and 62%.

India’s National Family Health Survey-III, carried out in 29 states during 2005-06, has found that a substantial proportion of married women have been physically or sexually abused by their husbands at some time in their lives. The survey indicated that, nationwide, 37.2% of women “experienced violence” after marriage. Bihar was found to be the most violent, with the abuse rate against married women being as high as 59%. Strangely, 63% of these incidents were reported from urban families rather than the state’s most backward villages. It was followed by Madhya Pradesh (45.8%), Rajasthan (46.3%), Manipur (43.9%), Uttar Pradesh (42.4%), Tamil Nadu (41.9%) and West Bengal (40.3%).

The trend of violence against women was recently highlighted by the India’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) which stated that while in 2000, an average of 125 women faced domestic violence every day, the figure stood at 160 in 2005.

A recent United Nation Population Fund report also revealed that around two-thirds of married women in India were victims of domestic violence. Violence in India kills and disables as many women between the ages of 15 and 44 years as cancer and its toll on women’s health surpasses that of traffic accidents and malaria combined.

Even these alarming figures are likely to be significantly under estimated given that violence within families continues to be a taboo subject in both industrialized and industrializing countries.

What Leads to Domestic Violence?

Domestic violence against women is an age old phenomenon. Women were always considered weak, vulnerable and in a position to be exploited. Violence has long been accepted as something that happens to women. Cultural mores, religious practices, economic and political conditions may set the precedence for initiating and perpetuating domestic violence, but ultimately committing an act of violence is a choice that the individual makes out of a range of options. Although one cannot underestimate the importance of macro system-level forces (such as cultural and social norms) in the etiology of gender-based violence within any country, including India, individual-level variables (such as observing violence between one’s parents while growing up, absent or rejecting father, delinquent peer associations) also play important roles in the development of such violence. The gender imbalance in domestic violence is partly related to differences in physical strength and size. Moreover, women are socialized into their gender roles in different societies throughout the world. In societies with a patriarchal power structure and with rigid gender roles, women are often poorly equipped to protect themselves if their partners become violent. However, much of the disparity relates to how men-dependence and fearfulness amount to a cultural disarmament. Husbands who batter wives typically feel that they are exercising a right, maintaining good order in the family and punishing their wives’ delinquency – especially the wives’ failure to keep their proper place.

Domestic Violence and its Health Implications

Violence not only causes physical injury, it also undermines the social, economic, psychological, spiritual and emotional well being of the victim, the perpetrator and the society as a whole. Domestic violence is a major contributor to the ill health of women.

It has serious consequences on women’s mental and physical health, including their reproductive and sexual health. These include injuries, gynecological problems, temporary or permanent disabilities, depression and suicide, amongst others.

“Many forms of verbal and psychological abuse appear relatively harmless at first, but expand and grow more menacing over time, sometimes gradually and subtly. As victims adapt to abusive behavior, the verbal or psychological tactics can gain a strong ‘foothold’ in victims’ minds, making it difficult for them to recognize the severity of the abuse over time.” (Witness Justice, MA, USA)

These physical and mental health outcomes have social and emotional sequelae for the individual, the family, the community and the society at large.

Over both the short term and long term, women’s physical injuries and mental trouble either interrupts, or ends, their educational and career paths leading to poverty and economic dependence. Family life gets disrupted which has a significant effect on children, including poverty (if divorce or separation occurs) and a loss of faith and trust in the institution of the family. These sequelae not only affect the quality of life of individuals and communities, but also have long-term effects on social order and cohesion.

In India, one incident of violence translates into the women losing seven working days. In the United States, total loss adds up to 12.6 billion dollars annually and Australia loses 6.3 billion dollars per year.

The physical health consequences of domestic violence are often obscure, indirect and emerge over the long term. For example, women who were subject to violent attacks during childhood are bothered by menstrual problems and irritable bowel syndrome in later life.

Domestic Violence and Reproductive Health

There is enough evidence to support that higher reproductive morbidity is seen among women experiencing domestic violence. Studies conducted in North India have shown elevated odd’s ratio of gynecological symptoms, while comparing women with husbands reporting no domestic violence and women who experienced physical and sexual violence. It may be attributed to the fact that abusive men were more likely to engage in extra marital sex and acquire STDs, there by placing their wives at risk of acquiring STDs. There was also lesser condom use reported among such men.

These make women more susceptible to HIV infection, and the fear of violent male reactions, physical and psychological, prevents many women from trying to find out more about it, discourages them from getting tested and stops them from getting treatment.

Studies in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh have also shown that unplanned pregnancies are significantly more common among wives of abusive men (OR = 2.62). Besides this, research has shown that battered women are subject to twice the risk of miscarriage and four times the risk of having a baby that is below average weight. In some places, violence also accounts for a sizeable portion of maternal deaths. Reproductive health care that incorporates domestic violence support services is needed to meet the special needs of abused women.

Psychological and Emotional Violence

Psychological and emotional violence covers “repeated verbal abuse, harassment, confinement and deprivation of physical, financial and personal resources”.

Quantifying psychological abuse is extremely difficult, and very few studies have been conducted to establish prevalence rates of this type of violence. Qualitative studies that have been undertaken conclude that it is just as damaging to one’s health to be continuously psychologically abused as it is to be physically abused. Undermining an individual’s sense of self esteem can have serious mental and physical health consequences and has been identified as a major reason for suicide. For some women, the incessant insults and tyrannies which constitute emotional abuse may be more painful than the physical attacks because they effectively undermine women’s security and self-confidence.

Violence against women has a far deeper impact than the immediate harm caused. It has devastating consequences for the women who experience it and a traumatic effect on those who witness it, particularly children.

Impact of Domestic Violence on Children

Children who witness domestic violence may develop serious emotional, behavioral, developmental or academic problems.

As they develop, children and teens who grow up with domestic violence in the household are:

• more likely to use violence at school or community in response to perceived threats
• more likely to attempt suicide
• more likely to use drugs
• more likely to commit crimes, especially sexual assault
• more likely to use violence to enhance their reputation and self esteem
• more likely to become abusers in later life

Why Do Women Stay?

Economic dependence has been found to be the central reason. Without the ability to sustain themselves economically, women are forced to stay in abusive relationships and are not able to be free from violence. Due to deep-rooted values and culture, women do not prefer to adopt the option of separation or divorce. They also fear the consequences of reporting violence and declare an unwillingness to subject themselves to the shame of being identified as battered women. Lack of information about alternatives also forces women to suffer silently within the four walls of their homes. Some women may believe that they deserve the beatings because of some wrong action on their part. Other women refrain from speaking about the abuse because they fear that their partner will further harm them in reprisal for revealing family secrets, or they may be ashamed of their situation.

Violence against women is a violation of basic human rights. It is shameful for the states that fail to prevent it and societies that tolerate and in fact perpetuate it. It must be eliminated through political will, and by legal and civil action in all sectors of society.

Addressing Domestic Violence

An effective response to violence must be multi-sectoral; addressing the immediate practical needs of women experiencing abuse; providing long-term follow up and assistance; and focusing on changing those cultural norms, attitudes and legal provisions that promote the acceptance of and even encourage violence against women, and undermine women’s enjoyment of their full human rights and freedoms.

The health sector has unique potential to deal with violence against women, particularly through reproductive health services, which most women will access at some point in their lives. However, this potential is far from being realized. Few doctors, nurses or other health personnel have the awareness and the training to identify violence as the underlying cause of women’s health problems.

The health sector can play a vital role in preventing violence against women, helping to identify abuse early, providing victims with the necessary treatment and referring women to appropriate care. Health services must be places where women feel safe, are treated with respect, are not stigmatized, and where they can receive quality, informed support. A comprehensive health sector response to the problem is needed, in particular addressing the reluctance of abused women to seek help.

Role of Public Health Personnel

Domestic violence against women has been identified as a public health priority. Public health personnel can play a vital role in addressing this issue.

Since violence against women is both a consequence and a cause of gender inequality, primary prevention programs that address gender inequality and tackle the root causes of violence are all essential. Public health workers have a responsibility to build awareness by creating and disseminating materials and innovative audio-visual messages, which project a positive image of girl child and women in the society. An integrated media campaign covering electronic, print and film media that portrays domestic violence as unacceptable is the need of the hour. The role of increasing male responsibility to end domestic violence needs to be emphasized.

Programs are required which intend to address battered women’s needs, including those that focus on building self-efficacy and livelihood skills. The significance of informal and local community networks should be acknowledged in this regard. The survivors of domestic violence can be involved in program planning and implementation in order to ensure accessibility and effectiveness. Rather than spotlighting women as victims in non negotiable situations, they should be portrayed as agents capable of changing their own lives. The public health experts have a vital role to play in networking with NGOs and voluntary organizations and creation of social support networks.

The public health experts have a potential to train personnel specialized to address the needs of victims of domestic violence. In the field of research, public health personnel can contribute by conducting studies on the ideological and cultural aspects which give rise to and perpetuate the phenomenon of domestic violence. Similarly, the execution and impact of programs must be assessed in order to provide the necessary background for policy-making and planning. However, the health sector must work with all other sectors including education, legal and judicial, and social services.

In January, India implemented its first law aimed at tackling domestic violence (The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005) to protect the rights of women who are victims of violence of any kind occurring within the family and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. It also defines repeated insults, ridiculing or name-calling, and demonstrations of obsessive possessiveness and jealousy of a partner as domestic violence. The big challenge in front now is to enforce it in true sense.

“A law is as good as its implementability, despite the lofty aspirations. The responses to the enactment are polarized, with one section fearing its misuse by an elite class in metro cities and another segment predicting its futility for the mass of rural women saddled with the yoke of patriarchy to which courts are as yet alien”

(Flavia Agnes)

A bill alone will not help in preventing domestic abuse; what is needed is a change in mindsets.

Concerted and co-ordinated multisectoral efforts are key methods of enacting change and responding to domestic violence at local and national levels. The Millennium Development Goal regarding girls’ education, gender equality and the empowerment of women reflects the international community’s recognition that health, development, and gender equality issues are closely interconnected.

Hence the responses to the problem must be based on integrated approach. The effectiveness of measures and initiatives will depend on coherence and co ordination associated with their design and implementation. The issue of domestic violence must be brought into open and examined as any other preventable health problem, and best remedies available be applied.

The problem of gender inequality is historical. The sociological reality behind this structure is the transition from a matriarchal society, which is more egalitarian, to a patriarchal society. Although economic and technological progress has changed the social structure, the problem of gender inequality still exists, even in modern, urbanized societies.

The problem of the education system

In all areas of men-dominated society, including the structure of the state, the education system, the health care system, security forces, and the judiciary, there is a male culture and a sense of power. In the education system, equal opportunities must be guaranteed for all children, regardless of gender, and the government should ensure this practice is implemented. The program should be non-discriminatory and textbooks, especially in terms of language, should be prepared under the principles of gender equality.

Gender inequality has been a social issue in India for centuries. That in many parts of India, the birth of a girl child is not welcomed is a known fact. It is a known fact too, that discrimination starts from even before the girl child is born and sometimes she is killed as a foetus, and if she manages to see the light of day, she is killed as an infant, which makes up the highly skewed child sex ratio where for every 1000 boys in India, there are only 908 girls. In such a scenario, it is but obvious that for myriad reasons, many girls across the country are forced to drop out of school.

Patriarchal norms have marked women as inferior to men. A girl child is considered a burden and is often not even allowed to see the light of the world. It is hard to imagine this state of affairs in the 21st Century when women have proved to be strong leaders in every field possible. From wrestling to business, the world has been revolutionised by exceptional women leaders in fields that were until recently completely dominated by men.

But in spite of such progress, even today, the girl child is discriminated against in most Indian households. The birth of a baby boy is celebrated with great pomp and ardour, but the birth of a girl child is received with dismay. The practice of female foeticide through sex selective abortion continues to be practiced in spite of the Prenatal Diagnostic Technique Act of 1994. In India the child sex ratio is at the lowest it has ever been with just 914 girls for every 1000 boys (Census, 2011).

And this discrimination continues in every aspect. Be it education, health, protection or participation, the girl child is always treated unequally. Indian society still hasn’t been awakened to the importance of empowering the women. The statistics still narrate a grim story of female foeticide, girl child discrimination and gender bias .

• 42% of married women in India were married as children (District Information System for Education (DISE) 3)
• 1 in every 3 child brides in the world is a girl in India (UNICEF)
• India has more than 45 lakh girls under 15 years of age who are married with children. Out of these, 70% of the girls have 2 children (Census 2011)

The need of the hour is to make a change in the mindset of the society and destroy the prejudices that damage the future of the girl child . What is required is a concerted effort to sensitise the society in eradicating this issue of gender inequality. It is high time that every child is treated equally and given every opportunity required to grow to his/her full potential.

Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. 

There has been progress over the last decades: More girls are going to school, fewer girls are forced into early marriage, more women are serving in parliament and positions of leadership, and laws are being reformed to advance gender equality. 

Despite these gains, many challenges remain: discriminatory laws and social norms remain pervasive, women continue to be underrepresented at all levels of political leadership, and 1 in 5 women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49 report experiencing physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner within a 12-month period.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could reverse the limited progress that has been made on gender equality and women’s rights.  The coronavirus outbreak exacerbates existing inequalities for women and girls across every sphere – from health and the economy, to security and social protection. 

Women play a disproportionate role in responding to the virus, including as frontline healthcare workers and carers at home. Women’s unpaid care work has increased significantly as a result of school closures and the increased needs of older people. Women are also harder hit by the economic impacts of COVID-19, as they disproportionately work in insecure labour markets. Nearly 60 per cent of women work in the informal economy, which puts them at greater risk of falling into poverty. 

The pandemic has also led to a steep increase in violence against women and girls. With lockdown measures in place, many women are trapped at home with their abusers, struggling to access services that are suffering from cuts and restrictions. Emerging data shows that, since the outbreak of the pandemic, violence against women and girls – and particularly domestic violence – has intensified.

Dowry is one of the worst practices widespread in Indian society. There is a tradition of asking for a dowry at the time of marriage and greed among the groom’s family for quick and easy money. People are also asking for a dowry to keep up status.

The main problems of the dowry system in society are: The bride’s family, which usually belongs to the middle and low classes, face its bitter side. Parents often take out a loan for their daughter’s marriage. Most times, observing the lousy situation of their parents, the bride becomes mentally affected. Sometimes psychological torture caused by dowry leads to suicidal tendencies.

Most of the people are involve in the dowry system, weather they belong to upper-class families or lower class, educated or illiterate they all are involved in it. It is the system of transferring the money or property to the groom’s family from the bride family. The greed for dowry is increasing dad by day. It effects the mental and physical health of a person who is being compelled for giving dowry for their daughter’s well-being. Even the value of a girl is decided by the amount of dowry she has with her. This cause a state of distress and grief for those parents who is giving the dowry. If the dowry is not fulfilling the demands then after marriage the girl is not treated well by their in-laws and can be beaten to death. And also, many girls are left unmarried because their parents cannot afford dowry according to the demand by the groom’s family. The reason why most of the parents don’t wish to be blessed by a daughter is because of the dowry they have to give on her marriage.

We are in 2020. Dowry system was abolished in 1961 in India. The reason for the prevalence of this custom is the patriarchal society that values men over women. In India boys have a rate card in many societies. This is the unofficial price the boy is worth. And that worth is measured by the amount of dowry a boy will get upon marriage. The stronghold of the gender inequality in Indian society makes a bride’s family feel obliged to meet the dowry demands of the man who has ‘agreed’ to take care of the daughter. The second major reason is that the dowry system is too deeply rooted in the Indian culture that it is seen as normal and unchangeable. Even today, if people are reminded that dowry is a crime, they ignore it as an alternate reality which cannot change the age-old customs. Many educated families practice it, willingly or unwillingly, to avoid being criticized for not following the customs. After all who will dare to change the traditions? The third and most important reason is the dominance of the institution of marriage. A woman’s marriage is of the paramount importance in Indian families. If a woman’s marriage requires dowry in return of her secured married life which is a challenge in the world that is unsafe and discriminatory for women, it is never seen as a crime.

Dowry deaths are a result of this stagnancy in the traditions and cultures. Groom’s families take advantage of the stronghold of the dowry system which will ultimately bring them wealth. Often they ‘rightfully’ abandon or abuse the woman for dowry because she and her family did not fulfil their duty. This is a harsh reality that still haunts the lives of the women who are moving ahead towards a respectable, empowered and independent future. This system is the major reason why daughters are considered as a burden for the families. Consequently, families either keep the wealth aside for the daughter’s dowry rather than investing in her education or kill her before birth to get rid of the burden forever.

How far will women bear the weight of patriarchal traditions like these? How and when will the change begin? SheThePeople asked the same question to some young women, here is how they will bring the change:

Avleen, 19-year-old and a student of English Honours, told SheThePeople that a marriage founded on the exchange of dowry is only a business deal. She believes that marriage truly needs love and respect. “If a boy cannot marry me without my money, I don’t need him. I am more capable of doing business with my own money.” She further talked about how she will convince her family to not seek dowry for her brother’s marriage. “I would tell them not to seek dowry because we don’t need money to keep someone else’s girl. If we like her and my brother likes her, then that love is enough for the marriage.”

“Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth.”
The above lines by Chanakya have been the motivation to change the lives of numerous people . Education serves as the key which unlocks the numerous doors leading to success . It also benefits an individual in various ways. Education for a child begins at home and is a lifelong process that ends with death. Mother is the first teacher of a child . Education is important because it is responsible for the overall development of a person and helps you to acquire different skills . Nelson Mandela expressed that Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Through Education the change of even the highest levels can be brought up because it is the only weapon which has the power to change the mindsets of people , can make it more broad in any way desired . Malala Yusufuzai in her speech once said , ” I do not want to kill taliban , I just want Education for his sons and daughters . she belived that with guns we can kill terrorists but with education we can eradicate the base issue i.e. Terrorism . Education improves and refines the speech of a person. People become more mature with the help of Education . It enables a person to be a better and informed decision maker with the use of their knowledge. This increases the success rate of a person not only financially but in all the aspects of life . It makes people have a special status in their own society and everywhere they live in. I believe that everyone is entitled to have education ‘’from cradle to grave’’. There are various benefits of having education such as having a good career, having a good status in society, and having self-confidence. First of all, education gives us the chance of having a good career in our life. We can have plenty of chances to work at any workplace we wish. In other words, opportunities for a better employment can be more and easy. The highly educated we are the better chance we get. Moreover, education polishes our mind, reinforces our thoughts, and strengthens our character and behaviors toward others. It equips us with information in various fields in general and our specialization in particular; especially what we need to master in our job career. Therefore, without education we may not survive properly nor have a decent profession. Furthermore, education grants us a good status in society. As educated people, we are considered as a valuable source of knowledge for our society. Having education helps us teach others morals, manners and ethics in our society. For this reason, people deal with us in a considerable and special way for being productive and resourceful. In addition, education makes us a role model in society when our people need us to guide them to the right way or when they want to take a decision. Thus, it is an honor for us to serve our community and contribute towards its advancement. The ultimate goal should be to make the level of education better than it was yesterday . Swami Vivekanand ji while awakening the world quoted ; “We want the education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one’s own feet.”
This will keep on enhancing the willpower of children to be better everyday .

A principal weapon in sustaining the low status of Dalits in India is the use of social and economic boycotts and acts of retaliatory violence. Dalits are physically abused and threatened with economic and social ostracism from the community for refusing to carry out various caste-based tasks. Any attempt to alter village customs, defy the social order, or to demand land, increased wages, or political rights leads to violence and economic retaliation on the part of those most threatened by changes in the status quo.

Dalit communities as a whole are summarily punished for individual transgressions; Dalits are cut off from community land and employment during social boycotts, Dalit women bear the brunt of physical attacks, and the law is rarely enforced.

“Stronger than lover’s love is lover’s hate. Incurable, in each, the wounds they make.”

― Euripides

Since the early 1990s, violence against Dalits has escalated dramatically in response to growing Dalit rights movements. Between 1995 and 1997, a total of 90,925 cases were registered with the police nationwide as crimes and “atrocities” against scheduled castes. Of these 1,617 were for murder, 12,591 for hurt, 2,824 for rape, and 31,376 for offenses listed under the Prevention of Atrocities Act. Given that Dalits are often both reluctant and unable (for lack of police cooperation) to report crimes against themselves, the actual number of abuses is presumably much higher.

India’s National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has reported that these cases typically fall into one of three categories: cases relating to the practice of “untouchability” and attempts to defy the social order; cases relating to land disputes and demands for minimum wages; and cases of atrocities by police and forest officials. Most of the conflicts take place within very narrow segments of the caste hierarchy, between the poor and the not so poor, the landless laborer and the marginal landowner. The differences lie in the considerable amount of leverage that the higher-caste Hindus or non-Dalits are able to wield over local police, district administrations, and even state governments.

On the night of December 1, 1997,

An upper-caste landlord militia called the Ranvir Sena shot dead sixteen children, twenty-seven women, and eighteen men in the village of Laxmanpur-Bathe, Jehanabad district Bihar. Five teenage girls were raped and mutilated before being shot in the chest. The villagers were alleged to have been sympathetic to a guerilla group known as Naxalites that had been demanding more equitable land redistribution in the area. When asked why the sena killed children and women, one sena member told Human Rights Watch, “We kill children because they will grow up to become Naxalites. We kill women because they will give birth to Naxalites.”

“Wise men are not pacifists; they are merely less likely to jump up and retaliate against their antagonizers. They know that needless antagonizers are virtually already insecure enough.”

 

― Criss Jami

The senas, which claim many politicians as members, operate with virtual impunity. In some cases, police have accompanied them on raids and have stood by as they killed villagers and burned down their homes. On April 10, 1997, in the village of Ekwari, located in the Bhojpur district of Bihar, police stationed in the area to protect lower-caste villagers instead pried open the doors of their residences as members of the sena entered and killed eight residents. In other cases, police raids have followed attacks by the senas. Sena leaders are rarely prosecuted for such killings, and the villagers are rarely or inadequately compensated for their losses. Even in cases where police are not hostile to Dalits, they are generally not accessible to call upon: most police camps are located in the upper-caste section of the village and Dalits are simply unable to approach them for protection.

“Vengeance, retaliation, retribution, revenge are deceitful brothers—vile, beguiling demons promising justifiable compensation to a pained soul for his losses. Yet in truth they craftily fester away all else of worth remaining.”

― Richelle E. Goodrich.

Access to Education
High drop-out and lower literacy rates among lower-caste populations have rather simplistically been characterized as the natural consequences of poverty and underdevelopment. Though these rates are partly attributable to the need for low-caste children to supplement their family wages through labor, more insidious and less well-documented is the discriminatory and abusive treatment faced by low-caste children who attempt to attend school, at the hands of their teachers and fellow students.

Over fifty years since India‘s constitutional promise of free, compulsory, primary education for all children up to the age of fourteen-with special care and consideration to be given to promote the educational progress of scheduled castes-illiteracy still plagues almost two-thirds of the Dalit population as compared to about one-half of the general population. The literacy gap between Dalits and the rest of the population fell a scant 0.39 percent between 1961 and 1991. Most of the government schools in which Dalit students are enrolled are deficient in basic infrastructure, classrooms, teachers, and teaching aids. A majority of Dalit students are also enrolled in vernacular schools whose students suffer serious disadvantages in the job market as compared to those who learn in English-speaking schools.

Despite state assistance in primary education, Dalits also suffer from an alarming drop-out rate. According to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes’ 1996-1997 and 1997-1998 Report, the national drop-out rate for Dalit children-who often sit in the back of classrooms-was a staggering 49.35 percent at the primary level, 67.77 percent for middle school, and 77.65 percent for secondary school.

Rodiya children in Sri Lanka rarely study past elementary levels, if at all. Instead, their parents require them to realize their income-earning potential even as young children, and often prematurely take them out of school. Lower-caste Tamil plantation workers of Indian origin in SriLanka also have low literacy levels. According to a Sri Lankan activist only 65 percent of plantation workers can read or write, compared to a high 90 percent national average. Higher drop out rates among children of plantation workers stems partly from the employment of these children as domestic workers, hotel workers, or sanitation cleaners.

The Buraku of Japan also suffer from lower levels of higher education than the national average, and higher dropout rates than the broader society. In particular, Buraku women report lower levels of literacy, high school and university enrollment, and employment. Special scholarship programs that bolstered national averages of Buraku education are expected to be phased out by March 2002, despite the considerable success they had in bridging the education gap between Buraku and non-Buraku.

In Nepal the literacy rate for Dalits is appallingly low at 10 percent for men and 3.2 percent for women, compared to a national literacy rate that exceeds 50 percent. According to the government’s own fourteenth periodic report under ICERD, “The lowest literacy is among the occupational castes. Women constitute more than two thirds of the illiterates.”

Access to Land
Most Dalit victims of abuse in India are landless agricultural laborers who form the backbone of the nation’s agrarian economy. Despite decades of land reform legislation, over 86 percent of Dalit households today are landless or near landless. Those who own land often own very little. Land is the prime asset in rural areas that determines an individual’s standard of living and social status. As with many other low-caste populations, lack of access to land makes Dalits economically vulnerable; their dependency is exploited by upper- and middle-caste landlords and allows for many abuses to go unpunished. Landless agricultural laborers throughout the country work for a few kilograms of rice or Rs. 15 to Rs. 35 (US$0.32 to $0.75) a day, well below the minimum wage prescribed in their state. Many laborers owe debts to their employers or other moneylenders.

Indian laws and regulations that prohibit alienation of Dalit lands, set ceilings on a single landowner’s holdings, or allocate surplus government lands to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes have been largely ignored, or worse, manipulated by upper castes with the help of district administrations.

Although many of Nepal’s agricultural laborers are Dalits, Dalits also have a startlingly low rate of land ownership-only 3.1 percent of Dalits own more than twenty-one ropanies of land and collectively Dalits own only about 1 percent of Nepal’s total cultivable land. Moreover, 90 percent of Nepal Dalits live below the poverty line, compared to 45 percent of the overall population. Their per capita income amounts to a paltry U.S.$39.60 while the rest of Nepalese average U.S.$210 per year. Nepali Dalits are among the world’s poorest of the poor.

Often, rigid social norms of purity and pollution are socially enforced through strict prohibitions on marriage or other social interaction between castes. While economic and social indicators other than caste have gained in significance, allowing intermarriage among upper castes, in many countries strong social barriers remain in place against marriage between lower and higher castes.

In India the condemnation can be quite severe, ranging from social ostracism to punitive violence. On August 6, 2001, in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, an upper-caste Brahmin boy and a lower-caste Jat girl were dragged to the roof of a house and publicly hanged by members of their own families as hundreds of spectators looked on. The public lynching was punishment for refusing to end an inter-caste relationship. Inter-caste marriages can also lead to large-scale attacks on lower-caste communities. In May 2000 in Hardoi district in Uttar Pradesh, a police constable enraged by his daughter’s marriage to a Dalit was joined by other relatives in shooting and killing four members of his son-in-law’s family. Dalits who marry high-caste persons in Nepal in some cases reportedly have been imprisoned by local authorities because of false cases filed against them by members of the upper-caste families. Dalits are often forbidden from performing marriage or funeral rites in public areas or, in some areas, from speaking to members of upper castes.

In both the Tamil and Sinhala communities of Sri Lanka, intermarriage between upper-caste and lower-caste persons is still socially discouraged. Matrimonial ads in Sri Lankan newspapers placed by Tamils and Sinhalese both routinely specify the caste background of the match that the family is seeking.

In Japan marriage remains a primary source of discrimination for Buraku people today. Suspicions that a person is of Buraku descent often lead to private investigations into his or her family background. These background checks are easy to conduct because family registries are easily obtainable, and Buraku names are distinct and recognizable. Upon discovering that the intended bride or groom is of Buraku descent, the marriage plans are often reportedly cancelled or condemned.

Marriages are still expected to fall along caste lines for the Wolof societies of Senegal; a geer who marries someone from the lower castes may be ostracized. Even amongst the neeno, marriage within one’s own caste is preferred, particularly amongst the griot community. In parts of southeastern Nigeria, marriage to an Osu by a non-Osu is highly discouraged and even condemned by society, while children of such a union are likely to be ostracized and mistreated.

The caste system is a system for determining the class or assigning a status to people from birth. The causes, effects, and solutions of the caste system in India are described below:

The main reason for creating the caste system in India is the caste assignment based on professional specialization. Four classes of the caste system: Four classes include:

• Brahmins – priesthood class.
• Kshatriyas – a class of warriors and rulers.
• Vaishyas – a commercial class.
• Sudras – the lowest of four traditional classes involved in household members and workers, etc.

The caste system has many disadvantages, such as:

• Promotes inequality
• Undemocratic by nature
• False differentiation in superiority and inferiority
• It increases the difference between people from the upper and lower caste.
• People fall victim to the caste.

Education will help people realize the disadvantages of the caste system. There is a need for broad social change for equality. There should include special classes in schools that give children value and moral education.  Thanks to better learning and economic progress, people belonging to different castes mix and cooperate.

India’s caste system is perhaps the world’s longest surviving social hierarchy. A defining feature of Hinduism, caste encompasses a complex ordering of social groups on the basis of ritual purity. A person is considered a member of the caste into which he or she is born and remains within that caste until death, although the particular ranking of that caste may vary among regions and over time. Differences in status are traditionally justified by the religious doctrine of karma, a belief that one’s place in life is determined by one’s deeds in previous lifetimes.

Traditional scholarship has described this more than 2,000-year-old system within the context of the four principal varnas, or large caste categories. In order of precedence these are the Brahmins (priests and teachers), the Ksyatriyas (rulers and soldiers), the Vaisyas (merchants and traders), and the Shudras (laborers and artisans). A fifth category falls outside the varna system and consists of those known as “untouchables” or Dalits; they are often assigned tasks too ritually polluting to merit inclusion within the traditional varna system. Almost identical structures are also visible in Nepal.

Despite its constitutional abolition in 1950, the practice of “untouchability”-the imposition of social disabilities on persons by reason of birth into a particular caste- remains very much a part of rural India. Representing over one-sixth of India’s population-or some 160 million people-Dalits endure near complete social ostracization. “Untouchables” may not cross the line dividing their part of the village from that occupied by higher castes. They may not use the same wells, visit the same temples, or drink from the same cups in tea stalls. Dalit children are frequently made to sit at the back of classrooms. In what has been called India’s “hidden apartheid,” entire villages in many Indian states remain completely segregated by caste.

“Untouchability” is reinforced by state allocation of resources and facilities; separate facilities are provided for separate caste-based neighborhoods. Dalits often receive the poorer of the two, if they receive any at all. In many villages, the state administration installs electricity, sanitation facilities, and water pumps in the upper-caste section, but neglects to do the same in the neighboring, segregated Dalit area. Basic amenities such as water taps and wells are also segregated, and medical facilities and the better, thatched-roof houses exist exclusively in the upper-caste colony. As revealed by the case study below on the earthquake in Gujarat, these same practices hold true even in times of great natural disaster.