Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, April 5: The National Commission for Women (NCW) wrote to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday, requesting his intervention and remedial action against a dowry-related sociology textbook for nurses.
A letter was also sent to Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, requesting that to take action in the case and notify the Commission within seven days.
“As stated in the media reports, the material suggests that getting a share of parental property in dowry is one of the “merits” of the regressive practice. In the book’s cover, it is reported to be written according to the syllabus of the Indian Nursing Council. The page is from the Textbook of Sociology for Nurses by TK Indrani, under the heading, ‘The Merits of Dowry’,” NCW in its letter stated.
“The matter is of serious concern and the Commission has taken cognizance. It sends a very wrong message to the students about the prevailing menace of ‘dowry’,” the letter further read.
Earlier, the Indian Nursing Council criticised the “derogatory content” in a Sociology textbook for nurses that lists the benefits of dowry, stressing that it does not promote any author or publication and has not authorised any author to use the Indian Nursing Council’s name in their work.
Notably, a chapter in a nursing sociology textbook caused a debate Wednesday, claiming that the dowry system is actually beneficial to society and even aids parents of “bad looking girls” in getting them married off.
Author TK Indrani Lays’ work, ‘Textbook of Sociology for Nurses,’ is part of the curriculum for second-year B.Sc. students.
Taking note of the content, INC also issued a clarification and said that it only prescribes syllabus for nursing programs, and the same is listed on its website.
Meanwhile, Priyanka Chaturvedi, a Shiv Sena MP, has raised the issue and written to Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan over the textbook’s contents.
