Old Restrictions Are Broken

Social awareness and education transformed the old and cruel traditions

 JAISALMER. Birth of a female child was curse in some villages of Jaisalmer district long ago. But with the change of time, conditions are some different now, these villages who were blamed notorious because of the frequent killing of female child are now in support of female child and are doing their best to promote girls education. 

Advocate Inder Singh Bhati, resident of the Basiya village of district said that birth of a child in the Basiya area is now like a boon and parents look after their daughters and feel proud to be called the parents of a girl child which was like a curse long ago. Basiya is a group of 13 villages dominated by Bhati Rajpiuts.

Ex Block Development officer and educationalist Bal Singh Bhati said that this year on the festival of the Raksha Bandhan not a single brother was without Rakhi on the wrist as most of the families of the village have daughters and they tied Rakhi on the wrists of their brothers. Old restrictions are broken and parents are looking after their daughters and providing them good education.

A recent wedding that took place in the Devra village after 124 years is a sign of change and this wedding changed the held social restrictions forever said Narayan Singh, Devra village Ex Sarpanch adding that Devra is not the only village that was notorious dozen of the other villages like Sihar, Randha, Moda, Bahiya, Kunda, Gaj Singh ka Gaon, Tejmalta, Zinzinyali, Mega, Chelak were also listed as killing girl child for years. About ten years before the wedding of a girl happened at the home of Mr Inder Singh and this became national news. Now in this area girl is supposed to be like goddess Laxmi who brings prosperity to home. 

Youth villager of Devra Utam Singh said some time back in Rajasthan's Jaisalmer; men prefer to keep their women behind veils, while their daughters are buried deep inside graves because it was a tradition which was going on. But now the peoples have awareness about the rights of the girls and they want them to get educated and play an active role in the development of the country.

Chandra Prakash Ojha, Teacher of the Devra village said firstly people kill girls overnight by poisoning them with opium, crushing them with stones and starving them, but now, in almost every family there is a female child and about five years before not a single girl student was enrolled but at present there are 57 girls reading in the primary school of the village.

Before the partition there was terror of Afghan invaders called “HURS” and they always kidnapped girls from the villages so to face this, group of 13 villages decided to kill the daughters as they were born. Even the festival of Raksha Bandhan was just a formality as there was no sister in the village to tie the piece of thread on the wrists of the brothers and a Brahmin was supposed to come from city of Jaisalmer to perform the festival customs said Jaisalmer Historian Nand Kishor Sharma

Jaisalmer Former Urban Improvement Trust (UIT) Chairmen Ummed Singh Tanwar said at age of eight, girl’s dowries are ready and after five years, they would be married. Once girl child married, their life will be restricted to four walls like the life of their mother. A social awareness and education transformed the old and cruel traditions of the society and as a result a positive change can be seen everywhere.

"I had seen girls getting killed every day here. It's the dowry that makes them kill,” to kill the girls has become a history now and at present people do not make any difference between a boy and a girl said Meera Kanwar a lady from village.

Jaisalmer Education Officer Prabhlal Panwar said that couple of girls of the many such villages is now in higher secondary school and some other girls also dream to join administrative services.

Rekha Kanwar a student of the Village Devra said she wants to be an officer in the army as she just got a certificate of national cadet core. And to fulfill her dream she is reading in a hostel far from her village.