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One of the biggest menaces of the Indian society is the dowry system.

This fact that it is condemned by every modern citizen of this country and yet it still flourishes at a very large scale in our society is a testimony of how deeply rooted this system is in the Indian society. Dowry (dahej) is one of the most ancient practices of India and Oxford dictionary defines it as an amount of property or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage. But the origins of dowry are far nobler than we imagine. Dowry was started by wealthy businessmen, kings and other influential people of the society as a means to give girls their due in the ancestral property as in those times, even till recent times, all the money and property went to the sons only. Later on it was used to provide seed money or property for the establishment of a new household. Till then the amount and contents of dowry were decided solely by the parents of the bride. But now dowry is demanded by the grooms parents and marriage takes place only if a certain amount of dowry is paid by the brides parents. Today dowry is given as compensation to the grooms parents for the amount they have spent in educating and upbringing their son. It is also considered a status symbol, especially in the high class, and generally the items of dowry are flaunted and hyped by both parties. The effects of dowry system are many and varied but in almost all cases it is the girls side which has to face the repercussions while the boys side walks away from the issue unharmed, with their heads held high. When demands for dowry are not met, the bride is subject to torture, and often even killed. Most of the dowry deaths occur when the young women, unable to bear the harassment and torture, commit suicide. Most of these suicides are by hanging oneself, poisoning or by fire. Sometimes the woman is killed by setting her on fire which is known as bride burning and is disguised as accident to avoid criminal charges and punishment. The Indian police say that they receive over 2,500 reports of bride-burning alone every year while the number of dowry deaths is about 9000. These numbers increase at a rate of 1-2% every year. It is also a reason why many parents dont want to have daughters, because of the dowry they will have to shell out at her marriage, and the stress they go through due to never-ending demands from her in-laws. In fact dowry deaths of a newly married bride are regularly in the news. Bride price, also known as bride wealth, is a reversal of the dowry system. Its an amount of money or property paid by the groom or his family to the parents of a woman upon the marriage. In ancient literature, bride price has often been explained as payment made in exchange for the brides familys loss of her labour and fertility within her kin group. The agreed bride price is generally intended to reflect the perceived value of the girl or young woman. This practice though less prevalent than dowry is still practiced in some rural areas of the country. But it is even worse than dowry as this practice thinks of girls as items that can be sold or bought. The government has taken many steps to stop the abominable practice of dowry. The Dowry Prohibition Act, passed in 1961, prohibits the request, payment or acceptance of dowry, where dowry is defined as a gift demanded or given as a precondition for a marriage. Asking or giving of dowry can be punished by an imprisonment of up to six months, or a fine of up to

Rs.5000. many anti-dowry legislations have also been made to tackle the dowry system. The media has also done its bit by showcasing the cases of dowry and its ill-effects. Today dowry is not the innocent practice that it started out as but has turned into a social menace that cannot be reverted back to its original form; hence it must be eradicated from our society permanently.
Causes of Dowry Poverty is the main causes behind dowry because most of the people in Bangladeshi are poor. They often take dowry to reduce their Poverty. Because of the Illiteracy, most the people are unaware of effect of dowry. Narrow mentality behind the dowry system. Negative attitude towards the women Lack of womens Education in Families is the reason for giving dowry. Lack of decision making power of womens in family because in Bangladesh families are ruled by father .Because of that the position of woman in a family is much disagreed. Women are less independent then men.In Bangladesh; most of the women are housewives and have less economic power to control the family. Because of dependency women become a burden in a family. Some time bridegroom wants money to do business or want to make his life settle with that money. In a town, people think that giving dowry in a marriage creating more status in society. Women spend a good life in husbands house if dowry paid in marriage. In a village, most of the people think Dowry is their legal right which has to pay the daughters family in a marriage. In a village, Poor parents consider any expenses for educating a girl unproductive as she leaves their family after marriage. In the village if brides are not beautiful to look at or if they get late married then they are to give a lot of money as dowry to the bridegroom. The giving of a dower seems to be an established Bangladeshi cultural institution. The wife is expected to bring suitable gifts (monetary or otherwise) with her to her new home or shoshurbari. Dependence on husband and living on their income, social corruption and so on are the main causes of dowry. Effect of Dowry in economy and Daughters family: More than 35 million people in Bangladesh, around a quarter of its population, face acute poverty and hunger. Dowry payments of more than 200 times the daily wage and costly medical expenses are major causes of this chronic poverty says research from the University of Bath. It is the poor who really suffer economically and socially as a result of the practice of dowry. The custom of paying a dowry to the future husband's family when a daughter is married is illegal in Bangladesh, but is still practiced by most families living in rural areas. Payment is normally upwards from 20,000 Taka (around 190) and since

typical earnings are only 100 Taka (94 pence) per day, this can be a major contributor to poverty for many families with daughters. The trend of rising dowries, commonly referred to as dowry inflation, has received much attention, as payments can represent multiple years' worth of a family's income and often cause severe destitution of households with daughters of marriageable age. Through this custom the bride has to give a large amount of money, furniture, ornaments and many things to the bridegroom. It is a very terrible situation for the society. Women & their family suffer a lot for this dowry system. The money of dowry is often raised by the sale or mortgaging of land at low prices. It also includes livestock, trees, household goods and family jewelry and as well as loans from NGOs and moneylenders at high rates of interest. Effect of dowry in womens life: Disputes over dowry payments have led to numerous cases of dowry violence against brides, resulting in injuries and even death. There are many severe consequences resulting from the payment of dowries. First, failure to meet the dowry demands or the new demands often results in verbal and physical abuse of the wife. Physical abuse includes beating; burning with cigarettes, withholding foods, sleep deprivation and denial of medical treatment. The abuse may be meted out by the husband or members of his family, especially his mother. Verbal abuse may include starting rumors about the character or behavior of the wife and often the girls feel unable to disclose the situation to her parents. If the physical abuse continues and worsens, this may lead to the wife committing suicide. Additionally, a common result of unmet dowry is sending the girl or woman back to her parents house. When this happens everyone considers that it must be the fault of the girl or woman saying such things as: She could not adapt to her husband or She cannot look after her husband properly. So, once again both the girl and her parents suffer from rumors and criticism. This also affects the reputation of the younger sisters. Apart from the social stigma attached to the girls being returned to live with her parents there are other problems. Her brothers and their wives may resent her presence, particularly if she has brought children with her. She is seen as a drain on the household resources and may be verbally, and even physically, abused by her own family. Dowry-related violence is particularly problematic in Bangladesh. A survey conducted by Naogaon Human Rights Development Associations (NHRDA) revealed that 84% percent of the cases it received in 2000 were dowry related wife battering

cases. In 2001, 173 girls and women were killed due to dowry demand with 79 of these victims below the age of 18. Repression of women for their inability to bring adequate or repeated installments of dowry from their poor parents and resultant deaths or grievous injuries is rather disquietingly frequent. Other Effects of dowry: It has become very difficult to find a suitable match for a girl without paying handsome dowry. It has soured the relations and there are tensions, ill will and disharmony in the families. Marriage has become a kind of business and exploitation of the parents of a girl. Thus, bridegrooms are bought and sold like commodities and the girls sacrificed on the altar of marriage. It is a much-unexpected situation for the brides family members. They are to collect a huge amount of money for their daughters or sisters marriage. Sometime they are to take loan, sell their lands, furniture, ornaments and even their own house to collect the money. They are to lose many things and face many problems for this dowry system. For this dowry system divorce, doing suicide, mental and physical tortures, number of broken family are increasing day by day. It is also affecting on the new generation. They cannot give attention in their education; can not contribute in any development activities. It hampers their mental development.

steps against Dowry: Start practicing dowry prohibition in your family. Educate the members of your family with the provisions of law that demanding and accepting or giving dowry is an offense. If in any family there is a growing dispute between the in-laws and the lady, try to intervene to sort out the differences and educate them about the evils of dowry system. If they fail to listen to you, please inform the jurisdictional police and counseling centers. Provide support and shelter to the lady in distress. If you cannot, please contact the Women organizations who can provide support in such cases Gather like-minded people who are fighting against this evil and gather public sympathy and support to ex-communicate the families where the evil persists In case you have any suspicion of ill treatment of a lady in any house, immediately inform the local Police. Ladies in distress, generally avoid showing their

resentment to ill-treatment till it reaches a dangerous point leading to their being burnt to death Encourage women folk to raise their voice about their rights and to fight against dowry system. It shows that only law is not enough to protect the women against injustice. It needs social awareness and effective measures. The registration of marriage should be made compulsory. The women and their parents should refuse the men who want dowry. Men and women should promise against the dowry system. We should create a movement and strong public opinion against the dowry system. Besides, government and NGOs should be involved in the movement against the course. People who practice dowry system should be socially boycotted. Dowry is a very harmful system in our country .Because of dowry women are badly treated in their laws house .Sometimes they are killed, injured, abused and so on. We should stop the system for our future success. To stop this we should telecast the bad effects of dowry in mass media. To increase social value, womens education, reduce poverty and so on. To ensure the legal action against dowry. If we ensure these steps, we can stop dowry in our country. Remedies against the dowry system and its evil effects on society:

As early as 1939, the evils of the dowry system were felt. Sporadic State legislations were not do to prevent the widely prevalent dowry system. Subsequent to independence, the Government of India began to enact legislations empowering women in India. 1) In the Hindu Succession Act, 1955, a woman was placed on equal footing with men, entitling them to have property rights. The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, tries to do away with the system of dowry by declaring that both taking and giving dowry as a crime. It stipulated punishments up to 2 years for dowry harassment and up to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for deaths caused by dowry harassment. Certainly, these enactments act as a deterrent against the system of dowry. However, by and large still the system of dowry prevails and the culprits go scot-free since no body comes forward to prefer a complaint against them.

2) It requires concrete and sustained efforts to campaign against the system of dowry and eradicate it once and for all from the society:

i) It should begin from the schools and colleges in which the student community should be properly educated against the evils of dowry system and they should even take a vow that they will not give or take dowry from their prospective spouses.

ii) Promoting love marriages on the one hand helps to abolish the caste system and on the other hand it helps to throw away the dowry system into the dust bin.

iii) Spreading the message against the dowry system by conducting periodical legal aid camps and offering counseling to the victims as well as the general public will help to spread the awareness among them against the dowry system.

iv)Creating more stringent provisions in the dowry prohibition act like awarding a higher punishment to those who take or give or even demand dowry. Imposing punishments like imprisonment to those who cause the death of the victim by dowry harassment is a way of giving stringent punishment.

v) The root cause for the existence and continuation of the dowry system is that parents of the bride despite being poor agree to the unreasonable demands for dowry made by the parents of the bridegroom. Therefore, they should make it a policy that they will never agree or make any compromise on the issue of giving or taking dowry, how long their daughter may remain unmarried.

It requires commitment to eradicate the system of dowry. Perhaps a whole generation may have to suffer to get rid of this evil system. Instead of suffering from dowry harassment or losing your precious lives, it is better to remain unmarried for a common cause and for the benefit of the posterity.

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