A picture of a book, stating ‘merits and advantages’ of the dowry system, has been doing the rounds on social media, prompting people to wonder the kind of message such reading material is sending to youngsters and the society at large.
According to social media users, the viral page is from Textbook of Sociology for Nurses by T K Indrani, has a section under the subhead, “Merits of Dowry”. Nursing students use the book as reading material, and the cover of this book says it is written as per the Indian Nursing Council syllabus.
Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi was among the social media users who called out the bizarre information in the textbook. Chaturvedi called upon Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to remove such books from circulation and underlined that their presence in our curriculum is a “shame”.
“I request Shri Pradhan ji to remove such books from circulation. That a textbook elaborating the merits of dowry can actually exist in our curriculum is a shame for the nation and its constitution,” she wrote.
I request Shri @dpradhanbjp ji to remove such books from circulation. That a textbook elaborating the merits of dowry can actually exist in our curriculum is a shame for the nation and its constitution. https://t.co/qQVE1FaOEw
— Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) April 3, 2022
“Dowry is helpful in establishing new household” with furniture, appliances such as refrigerators and vehicles, the section from the book states.
Further, it then goes on to list girls getting a share of parental property in dowry as another “merit” of the regressive practice, which has been banned in the country for long but continues nonetheless. Dowry, presently, remains a major demand over which women are harassed, physically assaulted, killed and driven to suicide.
An “indirect advantage” of the dowry system is that parents have now started educating their girls so that they have to give less dowry, the section goes on to state.
The dowry system can help marry off “ugly looking girls”, the last point in the section states.
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