The Book of my life

I am publishing a book which is based on incidents in my life. The book will be published in the name of 3rd Eye Knowledge Foundation and would be printed in English and then in French. The author of the book is my good friend Karishma Bajaj and it is due for release in January, 2008. The french translation would be done by french expert Snehal Agarwal.

The sale proceeds of the book will go to the welfare of the girl child. Those interested in getting a copy may write to raja@vikasinfo.com for inquiry.

What a pose that too when she is hardly 8 months

She is in her rare moods. She can crawl now and moves around the house on her chest most of the times and when she feels tired sleeps wherever she finds a place for her to do so without disturbing anyone. Thats my girl.

Anandini - the future swimming champion

She enjoys when having bath and wants to just stay inside a tub. May be she will grow up to be a good swimmer. Hope for the best.

Anandini got hurt today

Anandini fell from her bed and got hurt today. However, she is strong enough to withstand pain and didnt cry much. She has been attended to by all at home and is fine now. She is growing fast, is restless and wants to crawl all the time.

EDUCATING GIRL CHILD FOR PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN INDIA

From Jesus to Gandhi, before and after, every sublime soul has beheld divinity in juvenility. Every child comes with a message that God is yet not discouraged of his finest creation human being. Every child (specially the girl child, as she is the one who keeps the cycle of human life going on) is a special and priceless gift that we are bestowed upon with the hope that we would recognize its preciousness, respect its individuality and enable it to fulfill its abundant potential. A child, male or female has the first call upon the resources of the state as it is the future of entire human kind and advancement of the human race depends on its development.

The hallmark of culture and advancement of civilization consists in the fulfillment of our obligation to young generation by opening up all opportunities for every child, without any type of deprivement or discretion to enfold his or her personality and rise to his or her fall stature, physically, morally, mentally and spiritually.

Yet, with the March of human kind this glorious gift has suffered culpable neglect and callous cruelty for a very long time despite protests by humanists, thinkers and sages in every country. When this precious gift is not valued and respected and more often than naught is refused to be accepted (female feticide and infanticide) then are we proclaiming that we are not worthy of receiving this invaluable gift? Or are we suggesting that the earth is no more fit for human life? Or that we are no more hopeful of our future and do not wish human life to exist any more? Do we want that human life should be wiped away from the face of the earth for all times because if we don't accept a girl child how can we expect to keep the cycle of human life going on?

Survival and development of girl child for which educating her is essential is not only the question of her survival only, it is the question of survival of the entire human race and should be looked upon as such. Moreover, when girl child will be properly educated, her mental faculties adequately developed then only in her later life she will be able to realize her true self, contribute to the development of her children, family, society and nation simultaneously maintaining her dignity and true worth by standing up for and demanding her own human rights, their protection and promotion in all fields of activity.

Human Rights of Women: Theory v/s reality

Ours is a deeply perplexing age in relation to rights, on the one hand there is a virtual explosion of human rights enunciations and on the other hand there is a growing disregard of rights and cynicism about over future. The proliferation of human rights instruments seems to have caused critics of human rights to form a right weariness and a right wariness. Thus we are in a situation where there is a notable increase in affirmations as well as violations of human rights, wherein all struggles articulate themselves in the language of human rights and invoke the 'Politics of rights" making human rights into bargaining points for the enhancement of power. Human rights of children and those of a girl child have also become victims of this power game. The only viable long lasting way to protect human rights of children is through educating them and that too with a big emphasis on the education of girl child which should supersede education of male child as a girl educated is a family educated, a family educated is a society educated, a society educated is a nation educated and if all nations are thus educated then in the whole wide world no one will remain uneducated.

Education enlightens and an enlightened woman only can stand up for protection of her human rights and for those of her fellow sisters who may be being deprived and discriminated against due to various religious and socio-economic factors. By educating girl child we set in a process of empowering women, who will be able not only to defend their rights and live with dignity but also to contribute to the development of entire society.

Here the questions arise as to why a girl child is discriminated against and deprived? The root cause of this practice lies in various socio-cultural, economic and religious factors, which make us ignore the rights of girl child and our duty towards them with open eyes.

Preference of Sons over Daughters

Discrimination against girl child is the direct outcome of son preference. Three major factors contribute to this preference.

First, the continued belief is the economic utility of sons as family labor, wage earners as well as support for parents during old age. Dowry also serves as an economic incentive to have sons just as it serves as a disincentive to have daughters.

Second, Socio-cultural factors like patrilineal descent and inheritance as well as other aspects of kinship building serve to create conditions that sustain female disadvantage and inequality.

Third, within religion sons have been accorded the unique privilege of performing various rites and rituals, including the last rites for deceased parents. All these factors create a higher premium on having sons.

Though religious and socio-cultural factors tip the balance in favour of boys especially in traditional societies, it is also true that no society has liberated itself economically, politically or socially without a sound base of educated women. Many country experiences around the world have demonstrated that investment in educating women is the most precious investment a society can make. Still, the gender gaps in education, i.e., the difference between the enrollment ratio of boys and girls and literacy ratio of men and women, exist in all the regions of the developing world. This becomes evident from following data of South Asia as a region and India as an individual country.