Sir — This refers to the article, “Sensitise society to empower women” (October 2) by Abhishek and Valentina Brahma. The writers have done well to emphasise the role of the society in taking the lead to create conditions in order to ensure safety and security of women rather than dismissing it purely as law and order problem.
Unfortunately, it is the latter aspect that gets predominance in the political blame-game, leaving no time for anyone amongst the political or even the so-called liberal socialite class to go into the root cause of the evil that is growing day-by-day.
The Indian society, as is the case with many developing
societies in the world, is in a state of flux, caught as it is in the web of two cultures. On the one hand is what is being labeled as the Western culture, on the other is the perceived Indian traditional culture. Added to this is the changing face of urban areas with large-scale migration from villages and absence of bondages and control of local level civil communities in the din of urban life.
Over and above, is the influence that is being exerted on the raw human mind by television, through a particular type of portrayal of men, especially of women in the programmes followed by the dynamic and attention grabbing sex stimulating advertisements. This has resulted in conveying to the viewers a very different world view of sex and riches than what really exists in normal world. Considering all these aspects in their totality, it appears necessary for the general civil society to play a more pro-active role in studying these issues and advise the Government suitably.