JOIN USOur Republic is 60 but Gandhiji’s dream of Gram Swaraj is a dream that will be never realised. India may have progressed, but we in Bharat have become poorer. Our land is becoming barren, thanks to use of chemicals in agriculture. Our ancestors believed in leaving the earth better for their existence, but what we will leave to our children is a disaster.
Lakshmamma, Doddmadenahalli
The dream of women owning property, I fear will remain unattainable. Without equal property rights and ownership, what is the meaning of the talk of gender equality in the Constitution? Even as women are progressing in all fields, violence against them is increasing.
Kalamma, Honnsetthalli
In the name of development, our natural resources are being depleted beyond sustainability. Water sources are declining. Ground water has been exhausted. Rock quarrying has destroyed environment. Sand mining has deprived tanks of their water retention capability. Hundred-year-old trees are being cut to widen roads. Who will bring back the trees? Our children will get to see trees only in pictures.
Manjulamma, Keelaholali
The poor had some hope that in the NREGS at last they could have two square meals for 100 days in a year. But the politician-contractor mafia has managed to subvert even this programme. There is rampant corruption. In my village, a JCB owner in collusion with local politician has swallowed Rs 18 lakh which should have gone to the poor. Many people have not been paid for months. We have repeatedly protested, but to no avail.
Mangamma, Doddamadenahalli
Agrochemicals have destroyed our agriculture and our health. We are contracting sicknesses which we had not even heard of before. People have BP, diabetes and women suffer from gynaecological illnesses. The public health care is in a shambles. The doctors, nurses and the staff promote private practitioners. Fake drugs abound. Why can’t government hospitals promote indigenous drugs, which served us well for centuries?
Chinnakka, Angondahalli
Grama Panchayats have begun to fail the communities. Members are unresponsive. Staff corrupt the members. GP offices are closed most of the time. Reservation for women has been ineffective because of the nexus of staff and male members. The system does not train women. How can they be effective? But they are the answer to corruption. With more women in GPs, we will see more transparency and accountability in GPs.
Lakshmamma, Chowdehalli
Violence against women, sexual harassment is increasing. The electronic media is responsible for such a trend since it projects women as sex objects. TV serials are unspeakably anti-woman. Now some of these channels are even spreading scare that the world will end in two years. I am not educated and even I can see this is a fraud. Why can’t the government punish them?
Rudramma, Veerashettahalli
As girls are becoming educated, we see some evils not seen before. Violence against women, dowry harassment, sexual harassment etc. We met the Chief Minister and asked him to use the DV (Domestic Violence) Act effectively. He nodded wisely,
and then whispered to his secretary, “What is this DV Act?” If the ruler
of the State does not know about anti-VAW laws, what hope do we have?
C R Venkatamma, Channapura
Every time the government boasts of having done much for women, I feel disgusted. I am a member of a Self Help Group, and when we go to the bank, the officers give us no respect. They throw a thousand rules in our face. When rich, well known defaulters enter the bank, they are treated like royalty. We, the poor repay loans promptly are treated as criminals.
Meenakshamma, Avani
The current political climate in our State is perhaps the most anti-woman ever. Six women MLAs, and the only woman minister in the Cabinet was removed. More than ever before, officers are insensitive to women and even abusive. I see a strange paradox. Half of the women in the panchayat raj institutions are going to be women. And yet at the higher levels of our governance, no women. Why?
Papamma, Minijenahalli