India, March 2 -- We often speak of Lines of Control in geopolitical terms, visible demarcations between nations guarded by the army and shaped by history. But other invisible lines of control are far more intimate and intimidating. For women, they are drawn across their bodies, choices, ambitions and voices.

They are enforced not by barbed wire but by regressive belief systems, not by the Constitution but by primitive customs.

The story of empowerment of women in India is therefore not a story of confrontation but of gradual expansion - expansion of education, of opportunity and of confidence. India is a Republic that gave itself the promise of equality under the Constitution of India. Let us remind ourselves that the Preamble of the I...