Srinagar, Feb. 23 -- THERE are several consequences of the dowry system prevailing in our society. Firstly, the dowry system prevents women from getting married when they want to and this delays their chances of getting married. When poor parents somehow manage to arrange some dowry from whatever they can afford, the thirst of greed never ends and divorce is not theoption for the poor. For a girl, it turns the festivity and charm of married life into hell. Behind feel good pictures of brides dolled up, there are years and years of a parent's earning that they could have easily invested in something meaningful but they didn't have the choice to do that.

If we talk about Kashmir, dowry includes cash, furniture, copper utensils, crockery, c...