In 1961, India abolished dowry in the Dowry Prohibition Act 1961, however, the practice is still a prevalent one in the country.
Many people have criticised the laws for having several loopholes, being misused, or being ineffective in really curbing the evil social practice since many people across the country are still engaging in it and dowry deaths and murders are occurring to date.
In such an environment, one tweet talking about a ‘Dowry calculator’ feature being shown on Shaadi.com founded by Anupam Mittal went viral. But what exactly is this feature?
What Is This Dowry Calculator?
User @DoctorHussain96 posted on X/Twitter on 19th May 2024, “Initially was shocked to see Dowry calculator in http://Shaadi.com A segment of the site show users how much they are worth in the ‘dowry’ stakes.
When you enter your details like educational qualification and income, you are in for a surprise. Instead of showing their dowry worth, the ‘calculator’ shows the visitor stats about dowry deaths in India. Respect and wonderful idea @AnupamMittal”.
The post talks about a feature available on the matrimonial site Shaadi.com where on the surface it says to be a ‘dowry calculator’ where people can check their dowry worth. The option reads, “How much dowry are you worth?” and once the person clicks on it they are shown a form asking for basic details like age, profession, monthly salary and more.
When a person has filled out all the listed details and clicks on the ‘Calculate Dowry Amount’ button it leads them to Shaadi.com’s social initiative page Shaadi.org showing the horrifying statistics about the practice of dowry which is still active in India despite being legally banned.
Read More: Is The Indian Law Allowing Child Marriage And Dowry In The Hindsight?
It further stated, “Is her life worth the price? Let’s make India a dowry-free society. Be the change. Make a difference”.
The page shows the number as 91,202, which is actually the number of dowry deaths that were reported in India from 1st January 2001 to 31st December 2012, along with other stats like how an average Indian household usually gives over Rs. 30,000 in dowry or the number of reported dowry deaths in each state.
This feature is not a new one at all but has existed since 2015 as per the site, when on 28th April 2015 the official Twitter/X account posted a tweet writing, “Want to know how much Dowry you’re worth?” with a link.
According to the Shaadi.org site, “The Dowry Calculator initiative garnered over 70 million impressions across social media and has already been tried in over 160 countries. It received over 280 thousand page views, with an average time spent of one minute”.
The post quickly went viral with people reacting to it in various ways. While some talked about how dowry was evil and it is sad to see it still being practised in the country, others brought up how the people using this calculator should be avoided.
One user wrote, “Shameful to see that people are still taking dowry in some form or other! In my and my husband’s family, there has been no talk of dowry, even in our great-grandfather’s days! All women have been educated since that time!”.
Another replied, “Logged in accounts using the calculator should be reported to authorities. All accounts should require a signed affidavit saying they won’t accept dowry in any form”.
One user wrote, “People who sell their bodies on a nightly basis are called prostitutes and unfortunately some men have no shame in selling their whole lives for a price. Such people should be sold like cattle in a marketplace. This sort of entitlement is the reason for dowry deaths”.
Another wrote about their own experience stating, “Once a potential suitor’s mother told my friend’s family: “50 lakh ki shadi chahiye Hume. De sakte ho to hi aage baat badhana. Of course, baat aage nahi badhai. But, this is how Frank and shameless some parties can be” while one praised the initiative writing, “What a great way to raise awareness. And put the right level of shame on the offender”.
As per Statista, in 2022 India saw nearly 6.4 thousand dowry deaths being reported, which while a decrease from the 2014 number of 8.5 thousand, is still not very low as there was just a difference of around 2 thousand in almost 8 years.
This just shows that India still has a long way to go before completely abolishing the practice of dowry and the social and mental pressure it puts on the women and their families, along with a sense of entitlement from the groom’s family.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: Livemint, NDTV, Firstpost
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Dowry, Indian Wedding, Shaadi.Com, Anupam Mittal, Dowry Calculator, Dowry Prohibition Act, Dowry Calculator shaadi.com, Dowry india, Dowry deaths, Dowry practice, wedding, indian marriage, women
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