5 days ago
Concerns raised regarding age limit set by govt for Devadasi survey
Mangaluru: Poornima Ravi, director of the 78-minute documentary titled 'God's Wives Men's Slaves', on the plight of Devadasis in Karnataka, released about two years ago, has raised concerns regarding the age limit set by the govt for the proposed survey.
Poornima, a guest faculty and working on the PhD thesis, 'Representations of the Devadasi Tradition in Select Indian English Narratives' under the guidance of Dr Nayana Kashyap from the department of English, FMKMCC, Madikeri stated that as per the budget speech for 2024-25, administrative approval was granted to conduct a re-survey to collect accurate data on the social and economic conditions of former Devadasi women and to facilitate their rehabilitation.
Additionally, in accordance with the directive issued by the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission on June 23, this survey is scheduled to be completed by the end of Oct. The surveys conducted in 1982, 1993-94, and 2007-08 remained incomplete primarily due to the imposition of an age limit. "This resulted in younger Devadasis being excluded from the survey, leading to their continued struggles and hardships," she said.
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Now, the state govt is repeating the same mistake. This time, too, it has been decided to limit the survey to Devadasis above the age of 41. "In reality, many girls who were dedicated as Devadasis at a very young age are still below 40 years old. This came to our attention during the production of our documentary," Poornima said.
Furthermore, there are complaints that, even today, young girls are secretly being dedicated to this practice. Against this backdrop, imposing an age limit on the current survey will once again result in injustice to the victims of the Devadasi system. The tearful saga of the victims of the Devadasi system knows no end. Even today, they lead lives of extreme deprivation in society. The curse of their existence also affects their children and grandchildren, who continue to suffer.
In this context, the state govt must immediately conduct the Devadasi survey without imposing an age limit and ensure justice for all victims, she urged.
