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Activists want a ministry for men: Times of India

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Monday, 15 December 2008

Activists want a ministry for men: Times of India

Meenakshi Sinha | TNN

New Delhi: Men’s rights activists want domestic violence laws to be gender-neutral. Armed with statistics of high suicide rates among men, their wish list includes a ministry for men’s welfare, a national commission for men and a review of the antidowry law, which they claim is grossly misused.

“Men are suffering from ‘legal terrorism’ at the hands of some women. If you can have a ministry for animal welfare, why not one for the welfare of men’’ asks Swarup Sarkar, coordinator, Save Family Foundation, Delhi.

According to the 2007 National Crime Records Bureau, 57,593 married men have committed suicide compared to 30,064 married women. Men’s activists say while these figures should be self-explanatory, women’s suicides are often ascribed to marital woes while men’s cases are mostly put down to financial problems.

Sarkar feels men need a ministry to look into their specific issues on the lines of ministry of women and child development. The proposed ministry’s main concerns would be to redress legal issues that are otherwise tipped in favour of women, he added.

Sandeep Bhartia, president, Gender Human Rights Society, also wants a national commission for men on the lines of the National Commission for Women. “It is the need of the hour,’’ he says. Bhartia gets a minimum of two-three cases per month of men claiming spousal harassment.

Men’s activists also feel that since multiple organizations, both indigenous and from abroad, cater to women “to attract international funding’’, they are under pressure to tell a one-sided story. “At present, there are about 30 new proposals by NCW and WCD,’’ says Bhartia, who feels that it’s time some organization is required to tell the story from men’s perspective.

Agrees Kamal Vikram, member, GHRS. “Men are suffering in silence. It’s the only country where the father is not considered important for the child,’’ he says.

These men want a platform to discuss and redress their problems and be part of a solution. “We want to be heard,’’ says Kamal. And for this, they’ve repeatedly petitioned the government.
The group says it has found support in this endeavour from fellow organizations like SIF (Save Indian Family), an online group that claims to have more than 3,000 members. Others include MASI (Mothers and Sister Initiative), an NGO of women members only and SFF (Save Family Foundation). All these organizations claim to be gender-neutral in their fight for justice.

“We are not saying women’s issues should be ignored, but men’s genuine problems should also be understood,’’ says Bhartia who’s lined up programmes on men’s rights across cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune and Nagpur.

Review Gender Biased LAW to Promote Family Harmony and Stop Legal Terrorism

We wonder Whose life is in More Danger in India : Men or Women?

Crime Bure data 2005 : Married Men Sucide : 52k vs Married Women Sucide 28K.Still there is no LAW to Protect Men why?

2006 Crime Bure Data : Married Men Sucide:55452 vs. Married Women Sucide:29869.

2007 Crime Bure Data : Married Men Sucide:57593 vs. Married Women Sucide:30064.

Will Our LAW Maker change the LAW 304B( dowry death) to 304C( Sowry Death) and 498A ( harrasement to wife) to 498B ( Sowry harrasement by wife)

More men committed suicide in India than women: Report

NEW DELHI: India reported 122,637 suicides last year — an average of 336 every day — with more men ending their lives than women, the latest report

of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has revealed.

Although suicide was a nationwide phenomenon, five states — Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka — registered consistently higher number of suicidal deaths during the last few years. Overall, 2007 recorded an increase of 3.8% over the previous year's figure of 118,112.

Poverty was surprisingly not the major reason for suicide with more people ending their lives due to family (23.8%) and health problems (22.3%) than bankruptcy or sudden change in economic status (2.7%), love affairs (2.8%), dowry dispute (2.6%), unemployment (2%) and suspected/illicit relation (1.1%). Only 2.3% of people committed suicide due to poverty.

A definite trend is also noticed among different states which, perhaps, speaks volumes about the `psychological state' of people than their actual difficulties which they might be facing before being prompted to take the extreme step.

The latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), released last month and covering the year 2007 has revealed much more. Incidentally, it is not the comparatively poor states like Bihar, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh which witnessed suicides in higher numbers. The dubious distiction, in fact, went to well-off states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Out of the total 122,637 suicides committed in the country last year, the highest, 15,184, was reported from Maharashtra followed by Andhra Pradesh (14,882), West Bengal (14,860), Tamil Nadu (13,811) and Karnataka (12,304). These five states accounted for 57.9% of the total suicides reported in India. The remaining were reported from the other 23 states and seven Union Territories (UTs). UP, the most populous state (16.6% share of population) reported comparatively lower percentage, accounting for only 3.2% of total suicides.

As far as suicides committed by farmers (16,632) are concerned, Maharashtra (4,238) surpassed all other states with its Vidarbha region becoming the focal point.

According to the NCRB's report, Karnataka saw 2,135 farmer suicides, Andhra Pradesh (1,797), Chhattisgarh (1,593), Madhya Pradesh (1,263) and Kerala (1,232). Although the overall figure shows a slight fall from 17,060 in 2006, the broad trend remained unchanged with indebtedness becoming the main cause.

The number of farmers who committed suicide in Maharashtra accounted for more than a quarter of the total suicides reported in the state.

Referring to the sex profile of persons committing suicide during 2007, the NCRB report said social and economic causes led most males to kill themselves whereas emotional and personal causes mainly drove women to end their lives.

Sex wise figures show that the male-female ratio of suicide victims for 2007 was 65:35. However, the proportion of boys-girls suicide victims (upto 14 years was 48:52. The proportion of female victims was comparatively higher under the heads dowry dispute, illegitimate pregnancy, not having children, divorce, physical abuse, cancellation/non-settlement of marriage and suspected/illicit relation.

The NCRB, for the first time, gave statistics of family members committing suicide jointly under a common pact. Total 264 deaths were reported under this category where 118 males and 146 females committed suicide. The highest number of such cases were reported from Kerala (39) followed by Andhra Pradesh (34) and Madhya Pradesh (12).

According to NCRB, the means adopted for suicide varied from easily available means such as consumption of poison and jumping into a well to more painful means such as self-inflicted injuries, hanging and shooting.

Last Updated ( 2008-12-16 05:27:17 )