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Voice
of America
Washington, DC 20237 Tel: (202) 619-2538
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Voice
of America
Washington, DC 20237 Tel: (202) 619-2538
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VOA's Rashmi Shukla and Jagdish
Sarin Win
The Cowan Award for Humanitarian
Reporting
On the Dowry System In India
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Washington, D.C., September 22, 2000 -- The Voice of America's Rashmi Shukla and Jagdish Sarin broadcast a series on the scourge of the dowry system in India that has led to the systematic torture, and sometimes, the death of Indian girls and women. According to law-enforcement officials and social agencies, one woman dies every 102 minutes in India because of dowry. Shukla and Sarin, from VOA's Hindi Service, were awarded the Cowan Award for Humanitarian Reporting for this powerful 7-part series on the dowry system in India. Accepting the award, Shukla and Sarin paid tribute to the courage of the victims of Dowry, and their family members, in coming out to tell their stories. Shukla said, "we accept this award in the name of all those women who have suffered because of the custom of dowry." Talking about the response from the audience, Sarin said, "it is gratifying that after listening to the VOA Hindi series, many young men and women in India have pledged not to demand or pay any dowry when they get married." Dowry is a word alien to many Western ears but familiar to virtually every Hindu family. Today's system of dowry forces parents of the bride to give expensive gifts, such as houses, cars, furniture, and large sums of money to the family of the groom at the time of the wedding. The demands for dowry of the groom's family often do not end at the wedding but even continue afterwards. In a series of dramatically revealing interviews, Shukla and Sarin were able to convince victims of dowry violence and their family members to talk. Those willing to speak to VOA risked being rejected by society, and becoming victimized for speaking openly against the perpetrators. The series, entitled "Dowry: The Continuing Curse," generated hundreds of letters from VOA listeners. Some listeners related their own painful stories. Some said they were so disturbed by what they heard on the program that they signed a pledge never to ask for or receive dowry. Some acknowledged that they were so ashamed to have taken dowry that they were going to donate what was left to charity. The Cowan Award is presented each year to the VOA broadcaster who has contributed the most to international understanding of human rights and humanitarian issues. The award is named for former VOA Directors Louis Cowan and Geoffrey Cowan, the second and twenty-second Directors of the Voice of America, respectively. The award carries a $5,000 cash prize endowed by the Cowan family.
The Voice of America broadcasts more than 900 hours of original programs each week to an estimated worldwide audience of 91 million people. VOA programs are broadcast in 53 languages via radio, television, and Internet. VOA Hindi has two airshows everyday: one hour in the evening and 30 minutes in the morning. Though the primary target audience is the 400 million Hindi speakers in India, VOA Hindi programs are also carried by affiliate radio stations in Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Suriname, Fiji, Australia, and by several radio stations in Canada for their local Hindi speaking immigrant communities. Contact: Joe O'Connell
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