WUNRN
INDIA:
Harsh Reality of India's Unwanted Girls 22
October 2007 |
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Earlier this year in the
southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, farmer Ram Kumar made a shocking
discovery. Sticking out of the earth was a tiny human
hand. Barely audible, were the cries of a newborn
baby. "There was a girl wrapped in a cloth
and buried deep in the ground," said Ram Kumar. "The baby should not have been alive
but somehow it was." The two-day old baby was rushed to a local
hospital to recover from her ordeal. Her grandfather meanwhile confessed to
the girl's attempted murder. With seven daughters to provide for, he
claimed he could not afford the burden and expense of having yet another girl
in the household. Doctors named the girl Bhoo Laxmi, the
earth goddess. She is one of thousands of baby girls who every week are
abandoned, aborted or killed, simply because of their gender. Dowry burden Boys are still prized more than girls
because they will carry on the family name and traditionally provide for
parents in their old age.
"From an early age,
girls are made to feel they are a burden," says Sandhya Reddy, who runs
the Aarti Children's Home in the nearby town of Kadapa. The majority of abandoned children in the
home are girls. "Parents worry about finding the money
to pay the wedding dowries of daughters," she says. Demanding dowry has been banned for 50
years in India but it is a tradition that lives on across all social classes.
So great is the burden that girls are seen
to place on a family, that some believe it is better that they are never
born. In the past, infanticide was seen as one
solution. Now with advances in medical technology, many parents are resorting
to ultrasound scans to determine the gender of the baby. If it is a girl, parents often pay for an
abortion. Sex selection tests and abortion on the
basis of gender have been banned for 15 years in India. But the law has
simply forced the trade underground. UN figures state that 750,000 girls are
aborted every year in India. Nagalakshmi, who lives on the outskirts of
Kadapa, is three months pregnant and has paid to find out she is carrying a
girl. She is determined to abort. Her husband Nityapujaiah says that, as
labourers, they cannot afford to have a girl: "I know it's a sin to
abort but what can we do?" he says. Tolerated abortion Some Indians turn a blind eye to the
growing incidence of sex selective abortions, believing it is better that a
girl is killed before birth rather than after.
But in July 2007, dozens of
aborted female foetuses were uncovered in a well belonging to a clinic that
was carrying out illegal sex selection tests and abortions in the state of
Orissa. After women's groups took to the streets in
protest, half a dozen illegal clinics were shut down. But the reality is that, with sex selection
happening behind closed doors, this trade is difficult to control. Sex selection is not just restricted to the
poor. It is also routine among India's moneyed
middle classes, though rarely spoken about. In the prosperous city of
Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Gujarat state, Pooja Salot is one woman
who has dared to speak out. Married to a multi-millionaire
industrialist, Pooja had twin girls 10 years ago. Then when she got pregnant
again, she claims her husband turned violent. "He didn't want another girl. I was
forced to have an ultrasound scan," says Pooja. Then, when I was five
months pregnant, I was forced to abort." Pooja claims that abortions of girl
children are commonplace among her wealthy friends. "For them a girl
will just take money with her to her in-laws. She won't bring wealth
in," she says. Sex selection is worst of all in the
wealthy states close to the capital Delhi. In the state of Haryana, many
people have had the money to pay for ultrasound testing for the past two
decades. Shortage of brides
Sex ratios are now some of
the lowest in the country, with official government figures showing that
there are only 840 girls for every 1,000 boys. Despite government efforts to end sex
selection, it has meant there is now a marked shortage of brides. Twenty-four-year-old Rameher had to travel
nearly 3,000 kilometres (1,800 miles) to find his wife. He could not get married in Haryana due to
a shortage of women and his parents were obliged to make contact with
families in poorer states like Jharkhand. "I was afraid that God hadn't destined
a wife for me and that I would be a bachelor all my life," says Rameher.
"Rameher is lucky," says his
father Kehar Singh. "There are many men who cannot get brides even in
this way because they have no money. They will die unmarried." Kehar says he will have to do the same for
his other three sons. Back in Kadapa, 20-year-old Ramadevi has
just given birth to a baby girl. Before the baby was born, she said she would
have aborted the girl if she had had the money. She did not want a girl and did not know
what she was going to do with it. Brimming with pride, she explains how she
has decided to keep the baby. "Love just poured out of me," she
says. "However difficult it is, I will take care of my baby. I've got
that feeling." It has meant survival and hope for one more
baby girl. |
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