Vibha Pandey: Courage personified

Jamshedpur, Feb. 10: Marriage is buying death, says Vibha Pandey, a second year B.Com student of Jamshedpur Women’s College. She feels it is time for girls to get themselves insured before taking the plunge.

The president also supports her ideology. Her impressive article on the topic “What do you think of marriage?'' won her the prize at the 6th All-India Unnati Writing Competition organised by the New Delhi-based Unnati Features.

She is among the three other college students across the country, who have been selected for the prestigious United Nations Population Fund Award to be presented at the India International Centre in New Delhi on February 20. Her award will comprise a trophy and a certificate.

Though she has completed her schooling from an English medium school, she preferred to write the article in Hindi to give it an Indian touch. Vibha is also a good orator and has won several awards in debate competitions organised in schools and colleges. She, along with Nidhi Shukla, another contestant and a computer science student from SE University, Raipur, has been adjudged the winners in the Hindi section of the competition.

The 500-word article began with the positive aspect of marriage but went on to highlight the negative aspects. “More than 30 per cent crime committed these days are someway or the other related to marriage. Even first citizen APJ Abdul Kalam declared in several functions that if he had been married he would not have been as successful as he was today,” she wrote in her article.

“I have only tried to present the facts honestly in my article. Marriage should be considered a pure relationship. But, these days, it has become a curse as it gives rise to crime such as dowry deaths and torture for not being able to give birth to a male child. Are the grand marriage ceremonies organised for this sake?” she questioned.

Vibha’s selection was made by a six-member jury comprising historians, authors and journalists. Co-ordinator of Unnati Features Venkataraman told The Telegraph from New Delhi that Vibha would be bestowed with the “Excellence” trophy, the highest honour. “While the majority of participants presented a rosy picture of marriage, Vibha put forth the hard facts,” she said.