Since ancient times enlightened minds like those of Lord Buddha, Mahavir, Ashoka and Raja Ram Mohan Roy tried to make a difference to society. NOT because of laws, but because their mind, their soul told them to do so. No laws compelled them to risk their lives, risk being hated in society to stop these heinous crimes. It was their own free will that inspired them, that told them that these social practices are nothing but flagitious crimes and need to be stopped.
Kiran Bedi, one of India’s most well known officers, started a yoga program in a women’s jail. WHY? Because she knew that jail will not change the convicts. A spiritual change is required to change a person’s minds.
Swami Vivekananda once rightly said;
”Committing these social crimes is not written in any of the holy books. It is a mental disease.”
The legislation cannot remove the hatred from the hearts and minds of individuals. The law has no right to stop people from thinking what they want. So what IS the way to stop social evils? The only way is to bring about a change in their THOUGHTS! It is these very thoughts that initiate these heinous crimes, and no law in the world can change a person’s thoughts.
You need to provide education and social awareness in rural areas. Prejudices are the chains forged by ignorance to keep men apart. We need to create awareness amongst the people and free them of their ignorance. We need to inform them what their rights as human brings, as citizens of the world’s biggest democracy are.! People need to rid their minds of superstitions.!
In recent years, the nation has witnessed the increased visibility Non Governmental Organizations who, without the help of the law, have intervened, in significant ways, on the behalf of the common citizens to ensure the protection of their rights! It is not the legislation or the police which help these people, it is these NGOs who protect people’s rights and get them justice! It is only because of the NGOs that we can so much as IMAGINE our country eradicating all these social evils.!
The opposition says that it is the laws which are protecting the people? Laws existed even when Jessica Lal was murdered, but did that stop Manu Sharma from killing her? NO.! Laws existed when Salman Khan hunted down a black buck, but did that stop him from killing the black buck? NO.! What the opposition does not realize, or is not willing to accept is that no matter what sort of laws exist, no matter how strict they are, these crimes WILL continue to exist! It is not the laws that’ll change people, OR the way they think. It is the people themselves who need to change! With this, I rest my case.
2 options:
1) As B.R.Ambedkar once said : “” This clearly shows that even if 1 person in India tries to do something right in this direction, 100 people try to pull him down. Therefore, we, the youth of India with our education and knowledge need to stand up for this cause-which my friends will bring out the true meaning of social reform.
2) Samuel Taylor Coleridge once rightly said and I quote: “Every reform, however necessary, will by weak minds be carried to an excess, that itself will need reforming.”
Therefore, these weak minds need to be empowered by education and it is up to the youth of India to help reform these weak minds first and perhaps then we can hope for a better future, with all the social reforms in place. Thank You.
