Social evils like dowry must be eradicated, says Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

Dowry is a social evil and it is the responsibility of all of us to put an end to it for the fruits of development to reach everyone, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said here on Tuesday.

Launching his social reforms campaign after a gap of over a month, the chief minister said people must come forward to ameliorate the wrong practice.

The dowry system is one of the vilest practices in today's society. It is the responsibility of all of us to put an end to it. People must come forward to stop this, and then only society can be reformed, Kumar said.

The social reform campaign of the chief minister was suspended following the outbreak of the third wave of coronavirus in the state.

Kumar urged people, particularly women, to make efforts to eradicate social evils like child marriage, dowry, and all sorts of addictions including liquor consumption, saying the objective behind development is worthless without social reforms.

I attend only those wedding ceremonies in which no to dowry' is prominently mentioned on invitation cards, he said.

Addressing the gathering attended by a large number of women associated with the state government's Jeevika (Bihar Rural Livelihoods Projects) self-help groups working in the field of socio-economic uplift, Kumar reminded the people that he implemented a prohibition on the request of women in April 2016.

Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi) had talked about the ill-effects of liquor on the human body and society. I implemented prohibition on the demand of women and we have to take it forward. The World Health Organisation (WHO) report published in 2018 has also revealed how alcohol consumption causes deaths, diseases, and accidents, the chief minister said.

The latest survey shows that 1.6 crore people have abandoned consuming alcohol since the state came under total prohibition, Kumar said.

On the empowerment of women, the chief minister said that 50 per cent of seats were reserved for women in the Panchayati Raj institutions in the

state as a result of which a large number of women were elected as mukhiyas, sarpanches, and ward members.

Bihar has become the first state in the country to appoint a large number of women in the state police force, Kumar said.