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Save the Girl child :
Gurjeet Singh 's cycling mission:
Pic courtesy : Gaadi.com |
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It is
interesting indeed, the kind of innovation that gets created by necessity, in
the face of not just adversity, but what seems like insurmountable odds. Today I’m
thinking of a long standing problem for India-Female feticide and what can stop it? Lots of people, policy makers and common men
included have put their heads to the issue which is not new, but seemed to have
gained momentum in the last few decades. The dwindling female:male ratio of the
Northern states bearing testimony to the fact that people had become quite
adept at using modern techniques to find creative ways of solving traditional ailments. So quick ultrasounds at doctor or quack clinics, to reveal the gender
of the foetus, followed by a quicker abortion if it was female, did the job. And
was well concealed. With the inevitable result that the offspring was always
male (Some of my so-called well-wishers, obviously not knowing much about me, and
displaying pity after the birth of my first daughter, had suggested this
route). With the dwindling female:male sex ratio reaching alarming proportions,
to the extent that three Hariyanavi* brothers had to share a wife, a la Draupadi, the
policymakers were forced to sit up and take notice.
And what
better way to do that than to try and stem the issue? So ultrasound clinics
were banned from revealing the gender of the unborn child, with strict penalties
and surveillance in place for doctors. And abortions coming under the scanner
too. All these had their impact,
somewhat reducing the gender
selection dilemma. But, surprisingly the problem seems to continue, perhaps abetted by even more innovative means, which may have been discovered by desperate people not wanting a female offspring at all.
What is
heartening to note, is the amount of attention this issue is getting. Last
week, a cyclist from Punjab," Gurjeet Singh" started a country wide cycling trip to raise
awareness of the issue- his mission "Save and Educate the Girl child" . A heart warming
gesture indeed. A slew of other awareness initiatives are to be seen;
funnily enough some creative radio jingles by the “Ministry” encouraging people
to have more girls. A man, ostensibly “ Mr Gupta” proudly proclaims, on a ministry sponsored advert - “ I have two girls, both
are chartered accountants. And they help me run my company- my turnover has
gone up five times. And now I have named the company “Gupta and daughters”.
Laudable indeed, Mr Gupta and the ministry of women and whatever, but is this
enough? Goading people to have daughters by naming their companies so and so.
Or, is something much more drastic, something really innovative needed to stop
this poison?
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| Pic courtesy: Care India |
My thought
is, India needs to dig deeper, find the root of the issue and then pull it out.
In a patriarchal society, even primitive at times, men hold the upper hand. Be
it freedom to move around, dress and loiter (to prove this point , a group
WEloiter has been setup,where women are simply loitering about the way men do
in India, thus asserting their rights to this activity, hitherto the prerogative
of some useless men), ownership of assets, or simply the family name, women are
always disadvantaged, with very few exceptions (Such as the Nair community of
Kerala). So, in effect, we may need to do more to reverse the tide.
Being a
woman should simply be the “best “ that can happen. Be in in property, taxes,
employment, education, civil rights or anything else you can think of, the
policymakers will have to make it unfairly advantageous to be a woman. Swinging
the scale somewhat to the other side.
Just to get the balance right, which you can achieve only after
rebalancing, and tilting the other way. Some measures that are in place already- free
education, the tax free interest deposit account for girls for upto Rs. 1.5
lakhs , all good, but need to be upped. Why not make property transfer to a woman
free of stamp duty ? That way, a lot of property will get registered in a woman’s
name. And as we all know, property equals power. Reinvigorate the parliamentary
reservation bill for women which is still gathering dust. Puny measures will
not help in solving the issue, but bold, innovative steps are what are needed.
Dear
readers, If you have any suggestions about how we can unfairly advantage women,
do write to me .. Amblingindian@gmail.com. I will be happy to compile an innovative list of
ideas for the cause of women in India and post it too.
Regards,
Aina Rao,
The amblingindian.
* men from Haryana, a state in the North of India
