Babawayil: forging progress

The great thing about Google Earth is that it’s democratic. Everyone’s on it. My house is on it. Your house is on it. So are the houses of the richest and most powerful people in the world. So is the village of Babawayil, nestled in the Himalayan foothills in Indian-administered Kashmir. Go there, with your google, and visit it. Have a good look in all humility. Because the residents are doing something very special indeed. They’ve abolished marriage dowries.

The whys and the hows are beautifully explained by Aakash Hassan in The Guardian,[1] and there’s no way that we can improve on this beautifully heartening piece of writing. Suffice it to say that the reform has reduced the sufferings of women enormously. A good, hard headed, practical action, obtained through the carefully-obtained consent of the people concerned. Let’s hope the idea spreads.

Let’s hope too that the same moral courage and initiatives are shown as the world’s leaders gather in Glasgow for the COP26 Summit next month. Do we, gentle readers, imagine them to be the equals of the villagers of Babawayil? Are we?

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/oct/12/evil-customs-why-a-kashmiri-village-abandoned-dowries

#COP26 #climatechange #globalwarming #humanrights #Kashmir