A poster in Mumbai says, “Better to pay `500 now than `50,000 later as dowry.” An abandoned mother lying on a pavement with young child and a new born baby on a rain soaked night in Kolkata, shrugs off any help the local NGO offers with the words, “Don’t bother for them, better they die... they are girls.”
According to reports, the most number of female foeticide cases happen in the National Capital region. We often dismiss the issue of the discrimination towards the girl child as a problem that is confined to some remote corner of rural India. Scratch the surface and a horrifying truth stares at us. The truth clearly points at the prejudices that exist in an India that claims to be urban and progressive.
A seminar —Where Have All the Girls Gone? — on the diminishing girl child ratio in India, was recently organised by American Centre, Kolkata.
The urban and rural milieu that gathered at the event, perhaps were aware, that an instant solution is a far fetched idea for a problem that has been prevailing in our society since centuries. Yet there was a common consensus that the issue requires urgent attention.
“In a poor family, dowry is the most dreaded word that revolves around a girl. The moment a girl is born, she is perceived as a financial burden and hence discrimination starts from the very beginning.
Infact, in rural areas, killing the girl child is simply a matter of passing a hundred rupee note to a mid-wife, and the job is done,” said Dr Soma Mukhopadhyay, researcher, folk and tribal art cultural centre, govt of West Bengal.
Delving in the legal aspect, Krishnendu Bhattacharya, a lawyer from Kolkata pointed out, “The legislators have made an attempt to eradicate the problem. But all the legal legislations and acts, remain mere words until a practical shape is given to it.”
“In India, sex determination through pre-natal tests are banned and medical termination of pregnancy based on the diagnostic that reveals the sex of the child is a punishable crime. Yet some of the members of the medical fraternity blatantly violate the rules, “ he added.
“In every three minutes, a dowry death happens in India, another alarming reality is the dwindling number of females in our population, making the male to female ratio drop to 1000:914. In China, where the preference for a male child is rampant, there is an estimated 14 million unmarried Chinese men,” reasons Somenath Pyne, secretary, Freed IVLP alumnus. Sunanda Mukherjee, chairperson of West Bengal state women’s commission, raised a pertinent question, that was directed at age old customs and traditions of our society.
“The social history clearly shows its leaning towards the male child. Even a blessing is gender centric, it is always said Putro vati bhava (be blessed with a son), no one has ever said, putri vati bhava. Prejudiced minds that existed in the old society whose remnants still exist in the modern age have labelled women as a cause of dispute and even war. Some have even gone to the extent of associating her with hell. Unless these prejudices are wiped out, change cannot be pivotal. It may sound harsh, but it is not just the family, sometimes even a mother is not happy that she has given birth to a daughter.”
Prof Madhumita Roy, director of women’s studies at Tufts University in the US, shared an interesting fact, “In the northeast region’s, predominantly tribal culture, it’s a matriarchal society and women are the earning member of the society , the male and female ration is much better there.”
Debashree Chatterjee, officer-in -charge, North Port police station, suggested that incentives like, “Providing extra money or ration to the mother when a girl child is born can be a positive step. Extending academic support can also boost her prospects in a society that has failed to give woman her due.”