'The mother of democracies still fails her daughters'

Bengaluru: "When viewed through the lens of women’s rights, true freedom and independence remain unattainable,” stated Brinda Adige, a women’s rights activist from Karnataka. She added, “The day women can genuinely exercise their agency and rights guaranteed by our Constitution will be the day we can honestly declare that the ‘mother of all democracies’ treats its women as equal citizens.”

Even as the nation marks 79 years of independence, women in India are still far from attaining true freedom. Since pre-independence times, women have been oppressed, violated, and pushed to the margins. The horrific crimes committed against women, then and now, remain a grim reminder of how far the country is from equality.

In 2022 alone, India recorded a crime rate against women of 66.4 incidents per 100,000 women. Karnataka’s rate stood at 54 per 100,000 women in the same year. “Give us the space to speak for ourselves. Whether you listen or not, we do not care.

But do not tell us to shut up. Do not say silence is good. Do not tell us what we should do,” asserted Adige. In India, women are still silenced, trampled upon, and denied the right to exist on their own terms. “So many years have passed since independence, and we still have bonded labour in this country.

Women continue to be engaged in manual scavenging. We still have women who are paraded naked. There’s still high levels of violence against women. How can we say we are truly independent or free?” asked Beena Pallical, General Secretary of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights in India.

Pallical, a voice for Dalit women and other marginalised communities, highlighted their intersectional struggles. “True freedom remains elusive until every Dalit has access to education and every child from Dalit and Adivasi communities survives without malnutrition.

Until these basic rights are ensured, our struggle to break free from the bondage of caste will continue,” she said.