Don't Trust Men - Indian Minister

[Proud2BeHumble]

:salam2:

Dear Brothers and Sister,

You can see how people are suffering after abandoning the laws of Allah.

New Delhi: Indian men cannot be trusted for their sexual behaviour and are fuelling the country's HIV epidemic, a female government minister said yesterday, slamming the country's "hypocrisy" about sex.

Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhury said Indian women should protect themselves from HIV/Aids by keeping condoms as their straying husbands may bring the virus home after visiting other women.

"You cannot trust men or your husbands, with apologies to the men present here," Chowdhury told the inaugural meeting of the National Women Forum, attended by a few men.

"If you believe that men will be careful, then you can forget about protecting yourself."


India has around 2.5 million people living with HIV/Aids - the world's third highest caseload after South Africa and Nigeria - with about 40 per cent of those infected being women.

Activists and officials say many women have been infected after their husbands visited prostitutes. Most wives have little power to negotiate safe sex with their husbands in a largely patriarchal and conservative society.

Chowdhury, one of India's most outspoken ministers, said this needed to change.

"We are so embarrassed to ask about condoms. Women need to get condoms to protect themselves, let the men be suspicious," she said.

"Men will not buy a condom when they come staggering home while drunk," she added, evoking laughter and giggles.

Promotion

This month India launched a $2.8 billion (Dh10.2 billion) plan to fight Aids over five years, a more than fivefold jump in spending over the preceding plan, with a strong focus on condom promotion.

Under the plan, India aims to push usage from 2.1 billion condoms this year to 3.5 billion by 2012.

"We are hypocrites. We have a 1 billion population and don't want to talk about sex," Chowdhury told reporters, referring to the refusal of some state governments to implement sex education ostensibly for going against Indian culture.

With HIV positive women facing stigma and discrimination, the government plans to set up hospices where they could be provided care and support and given skill-based training to make them self-reliant.

Training

"We plan to start hospices in villages for those women who are thrown out of their homes due to their HIV positive status. These women will be provided training so that they could be self-reliant," Chowdhury said.

She said her ministry has set up self-help groups under the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh in which skill-based training is provided to women so they could be economically independent.

Emphasising that condom use should not only be talked about in terms of family planning, Chowdhury said it is a "health measure" that protects one from getting infected with sexually transmitted diseases and HIV.

Advocating "knowledge is power", Chowdhury said women should not feel embarrassed about keeping condoms.

"Those who discriminate against children by denying them admission in schools should be pitied," the minister said.

http://www.gulfnews.com/world/India/10139830.html

 

[Aapa]

Salaam,

Forgive me...the women will find it easier to become economically independent if they first learn to say no to sex outside of marriage. It is that simple.