Respect for Women is our glorious tradition; any act against this is reprehensible: Ashok Mahindru

Mr. Ashok Mahindru, well known and respected philanthropist from the business fraternity in his recent article at a weekly magazine expressed his opinion that India has a glorious tradition of respecting women, and any act against this is condemnable and reprehensible. 

Mr. Ashok Mahindru, well known and respected philanthropist from the business fraternity in his recent article at a weekly magazine expressed his opinion that India has a glorious tradition of respecting women, and any act against this is condemnable and reprehensible. Mr. Ashok Mahindru gave examples of Goddess Durga to emphasize that in our country women have always been given respectable position and worshiped as Goddesses. Any crime or violence against women, Ashok Mahindru termed as an unpardonable crime against entire humanity. 

To change the present situation though, Mr. Ashok Mahindru feels that besides the government the society at large should also change its attitude towards women and give due respect to them. He also said that in our tradition women have always been given prominence over men, which can be seen in our religious texts where we take Sita’s name before Ram and Radha’s name before Krishna. 

Ashok Mahindru commended the fact that today women have proven their ability and prowess in handling any responsibility in the country, world, and society at large. Women have ably overseen high ranking positions like, Chief Justice, Prime Minister and even President of the country in India. Ashok Mahindru also cited examples of the three prominent states of the country Delhi, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal having women Chief Ministers presently. 

Mr. Ashok Mahindru believed it was a mistake for people to think of women as incompetent or weak. Belittling women shows narrow-mindedness and modern society should rise above such narrow-mindedness to give women the opportunity to grow in every field, Ashok Mahindru said. 

While condemning any act of violence against women Mr. Ashok Mahindru said that such reprehensible incidents can never lessen the respectable position women have, and will keep on having in this country. Ashok Mahindru underlined that empowerment of women is the way for the nation’s development. 

Mr. Ashok Mahindru has been carrying forward his father Y. P. Mahindru’s dream of actively participating in the process of Social Change. He is leading various not-for-profit organisations like Vedic Kanya High School for Girl Child Education, and Run For Vision Foundation (www.runforvision.org) and Y. P. Mahindru Niramaya Eye Bank in eye donation, under the Mahindru Charitable Trust.

Ashok Mahindru likes the idea behind Parle-G New Official TVC - Roko Mat Toko Mat

Really good idea. Bachpan se bada koi school nahi, curiosity se bada koi teacher nahi. This is the core philosophy of Mr. Ashok Mahindru that guides Vedic Kanya school. As Ashok Mahindru says, let the kids and their imagination run free.

Improvement in girl child education Government report CHILDREN IN INDIA 2012

Mr. Ashok Mahindru after carefully going through the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India has seen the encouraging data of an improvement in school enrolment of girls in recent times. This shows the encouraging trend of the growing outreach of the schools to the girls. Following are the excerpts from the report Mr. Ashok Mahindru underlines:

The share of girls in the total enrolment at primary and upper primary level was 19% and 46.5% respectively in the year 2005-06; this increased to 48.5 and 48.1 at primary and upper primary levels respectively in 2009-10.

Gender parity index (GPI) has also shown significant increase, particularly at the upper primary level. Gender Parity Index (GPI) in enrolment at primary and secondary and is the ratio of the number of female students enrolled at primary and secondary levels in public and private schools to the number of male students. In general, at the national level, the number of girls enrolled in all levels, i.e. primary, secondary and higher education is less than their counterparts. However, the female-male ratio in education has been steadily improving over the years. In primary education, the GPI ratio has gone up from 0.76 in 1990-91 to 1.00 in 2009 -10 showing 31.6% increase and in secondary education the increase is from 0.60 in 1990-91 to 0.88 in 2009-10 thereby showing 46.7% increase.

 As on 2009-10, the GPI at Primary level ranges from 0.87 in Bihar to 1.13 in Damn & Diu. At Primary level, 7 State/ UTs have gender parity.

As on 2009-10, the GPI at Secondary level ranges from 0.64 in Rajasthan to 1.36 in Damn & Diu. At Secondary level, 21 States has gender disparity while only one State (Karnataka) has gender parity, and for the remaining States/ UTs have gender disparity against male children. The increasing level of dropout rates in higher classes as evident from table 5.6 is a cause of worry.

                                                                                                    

The programme and policy initiatives like Sarva Shikha Abhiyan (SSA) and Right to Education (RTE) have contributed to the universalize elementary education in the country and are expected to infuse new life in the schooling system in the coming years.

However, the issue of drop outs continues as a major issue in all levels of education. Also the Net enrolment Ratio in upper primary level is far from satisfactory. Urgent and more focused measures are required to address and tackle these enduring issues in the education sector of the Country.

Mr. Ashok Mahindru feels there should be further improvements in these data in the next report if both government and non-government institutions work towards it cooperatively.

Importance of Girl Child Education & Vedic Kanya High School

Ashok Mahindru firmly believes that it is the conservative cultural attitudes that prevent some girls from attending school. In addition, economically weaker sections find difficulty in imparting education to children. Women have a much lower literacy rate than men. Far fewer girls are enrolled in the schools, and many of them drop out. Government and Corporates should join hands to provide subsidized and free education to girls from weaker sections of the society. 

Vedic Kanya High School was started by my father, Late Mr. Y. P. Mahindru who migrated from Lahore (erstwhile Pakistan) in 1947 and finally settled in Gurgaon in 1950 where he restarted his business.

In 1955, serving and changing lives of less fortunate being close to heart, he chose girl child education and eye care as focus areas. He decided to work informally with likeminded individuals within his circle. He also motivated his family members to provide physical support.

He formed two different groups – one for girl child education and the other for eye care. He was Founder member of Vedic Kanya High School in Gurgaon, in 1959. Presently 825 students are enrolled with more than half of them availing free education, books & uniform.