Revisit the spirit of Raksha Bandhan

The festival of brothers and sisters, Raksha Bandhan, is a uniquely wonderful relationship in the universe as it spreads the fragrance of undiluted love. Family is a precious natural resource. Siblings constitute competing, yet complementing, components of every family, which is one of the reasons why each of us recollects the fond childhood memories.

Siblings share emotions and aspirations and as the apples of the parents’ eyes, they live their dreams. Alas, despite the fine relationships that brothers and sisters have, the society is becoming increasingly intolerant, thereby giving rise to discrimination within the family structure that is undermining the spirit of this festivity.

Victimisation of the girl-child is one such horrifying reality. Over a period of time, festivals have changed their character. Likewise, Raksha Bandhan should no longer be viewed as an occasion when a sister reinforces her need for protection from her brother. Rather, it should signify the beauty of fraternal love in particular and universal oneness in general.

Safety and security and well-being of women and girls should be the foremost resolve of every brother on this day. At a time when individual interests dominate, the festival should increase our collective consciousness. The inevitable socio-economic changes are having an adverse impact on the family structure that has guided the civilisation, all along.

Occupational compulsions and economic necessities take us to distant shores, but such festivals remind us of our roots and reassert the preciousness of firmed up family bonds. Women of today do not seek generous protection but a life of dignity and an opportunity to compete on equal terms with their brothers. The patrilocal social relations, the patrilineal economic relations and cultural patriarchy deny the due status for girls and women in India. The daughters have to be given equal share in every will.

The festival should increase our resolve to achieve social and economic equality within a family. Studies reveal the deep-rooted biases against girls in the family. The distorted child sex ratio, and more so the conditional child sex ratio, that measures the relation between boys and girls, especially when the first child is a daughter, exposes the prevalence of obsolete thinking even in the age of instant gadgetry.

Inhuman brutalities like eve-teasing, cyber-stalking of girls and obscenity in various forms still undermine the dignity of women. The festival should not be a mere celebration of love for one’s sister but a loud and clear reiteration of fraternal bonds extending beyond one’s family.

The festival should reassert the rights of women rather than just endorsing a brother’s magnanimity. The true meaning of raksha today should no more be about a brother’s charity or generosity but one that signifies a bond that symbolises an equal partnership for the remaining 364 days of the year!