Bareilly: Recent spate of incidences of crime against women in Uttar Pradesh is creating outrage among the public and society. Status of women in the state is deteriorating to the extent that women are dealing with storm of crime against their very existence and survival, finding most mention. It goes without saying that the present scenario is nothing but consequence of low literacy and knowledge levels, unheard complaints, age-old prejudices and patriarchal mindsets. Paying heed to this startling condition of women, Santulan-The Gender Equality program of Divya Jyoti Jagrati Santhan (DJJS), under the divine leadership of Shri Ashutosh Maharaj Ji, has taken up yet another campaign in the state, Bareilly being the focal point this time, with the vision to educate women in gender perspective and disseminate comprehensive knowledge on how women could overcome any untoward discrimination against them.
As the statistics speak, the state is at its worst for women, based on social indicators and demographics as it recorded 14.5% of total crime against women in India during 2016 (ref. NCRB report 2017). Santulan, with a holistic approach towards women empowerment, is aiming at organizing workshops and sensitizing sessions at regular intervals to ensure effective revival of self-consciousness. These workshops and sessions include enlightening discourses by Sadhvi disciples discussing the failure of economic, educational and physical empowerment of women in their status uplift. Emphasis is laid on the spiritual aspect, that awakens an individual at soul level and inculcate true essence of equality and empowerment within to become righteous and conscious of one’s deeds. Sensitizing skit showcasing society’s callousness towards birth of girl child, dance performance portraying grief of a woman as she encounters severe forms of violence, engaging games to gauge intensity of son-preference, and corruption & skewness in mind-sets against women etc. also form part of these workshops.
Another interesting tool of group discussion is being adopted to encourage women to voice their opinions against crime. Participants are divided in groups, cuttings of newspaper articles on crime against women are shared with each group and are asked to discuss on the issue/crime and solution to it. This involved rigorous discussions by women on the prevalent scenario, exchange of personal experiences in similar situations, and how the same can be overcome. The discussion is summarized and presented by representatives from each group expressing the cause, consequence, remedy and perspective on the discussed crime, which also brings out the anguish inside them, which remains unmentioned otherwise.
The workshop is concluded with sensitizing exhibition wherein, along with demystification of myths & misconceptions through explicit posters, counseling is being done by volunteers to nourish and direct minds of attendees in gender just way. Mass distribution of Santulan’s edifying pamphlets is also done to ensure the spread of message to maximum.
Here are some snapshots of numerous initiatives taken by Bareilly center of DJJS in regard to uplift and alleviation of women in Uttar Pradesh…
