OK. I admit it. I am a lazy bum. I wrote my very first blog entry two months back and since then, I haven't looked back. Literally.
But the truth is that I did not have anything to say. Yes, I have moved to a new city. Yes, I am back to being a student after three years. Yes, I am finally doing what I have sub-consciously always wanted to do. But I did not have anything to say all this while. Not until today, that is.
A couple of things have transpired in the last week. Innocuous things. A Workshop and A Book.
The said Workshop was on 'Sex Selection and Female Foeticide', conducted last week by the Forum Against Sex Selection (FASS) and Men Against Violence and Abuse (MAVA), in association with YWCA's Public Awareness and Social Issues (PASI) program. The said Book is called 'Bitter Chocolate' by Pinki Virani, of 'Once Was Bombay' and 'Aruna's Story' fame.
First, the Workshop.
So, the initial part was a bit dense with everyone discussing about laws, like the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 that made abortion an 'acceptable means' of family planning. But with the development of technologies like sonography/ ultrasound and the absence of regulation on the use of such technologies for foetal sex determination, sex- selective abortions became the 'in thing'. To put a stop to this, the Pre- Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act was enacted in 1994. But the alarming rise in foeticide and the resultant fall in sex ratio continued unabated, especially in states/ U.T.s like Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, and Maharashtra (no surprises here). And then came another Act. The Pre- Conception Pre- Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, enacted in 2003, which called for a blanket ban on sex selection.
Just when it was becoming too much for my brain to take, came Varsha Deshpande, a Satara- based lawyer and social activist. She is known for conducting 30-odd sting operations in Maharashtra alone, exposing many 'God-like' Indian doctors and parents, who are hell bent on killing the girl child. And so she talked about the sting her team conducted in Munde Hospital in the Bheed district of Maharashtra.
Before the sting and the subsequent raid at Munde Hospital, the cost of an ultrasound was Rs. 500. Pregnant women were taken to a room for sonography in batches of 5- 10, where they were assigned 'numbers':
19 => 1g (the number 9 being equivalent to small case 'g' in written form) => 1 girl ('g' for girl) => abortion, with the girl (foetus sounds too object-like here) being fed to the two labradors kept in the hospital compound for this very purpose.
16 => 1b (the number 6 being equivalent to small case 'b' in written form) => 1 boy ('b' for boy) => no abortion.
29 => 2g => 2 girls (twins)... and you can figure out the rest.
So, the premises were raided post-sting operation. Ultrasound machines were sealed. Dr. Munde was arrested and released on bail soon after. And business went on as usual. An ultrasound now costs Rs. 5000 (higher risks, you know) and the dogs have been relocated to Dr. Munde's fields to feed on the foeti.
Amazing story, no? Especially when heard from the horse's mouth. Made everyone's blood boil. There was pin-drop silence in the room.
It also made me realize how privileged I am to not be one of India's 'Missing Girls'- fed to dogs, thrown in rivers, buried in fields... foeti disposed off like old, broken toys. Disgusting. Deplorable. Makes you lose all faith in humanity. Or maybe there is NO humanity. There is just money. Plain profit. Blinding greed.
WE, of the 'upper' caste and class 'fame', can't even blame 'THEM', of the 'lower' caste and class 'infamy'. For it is the rich and powerful, residing in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and the 'sugar belt' of Maharashtra, among others, who are willing to shell out lakhs to get rid of girls in favour of boys.
So, what does one do? Write blog entries? Enact more Acts? Resort to dharnas and other such methods? Spread awareness? Conduct stings?
Yes. And much more.
For it will take years and years (approximately 300 years, to balance the sex ratio in Maharashtra, provided every pregnant woman, from this moment on, has, and is allowed to have a girl child) and generation after generation of concentrated efforts on our part to undo the damage. And the first step begins with US, you and I, our homes, and our families. Patriarchy and the preference for the male child are such deeply rooted evils in our society that it seems next to impossible to fight them and uproot them. The least we can do is educate our children. And I am not talking about schooling, followed by under- grad and post- grad. I am speaking about educating them on the VALUE and DIGNITY of human life, of children, of girls. So that they don't grow up, to be re-incarnations of the Mundes and murder their girl child, but welcome her as an equal human being.
I don't proclaim to have a set solution. For I myself, am still trying to fathom the depravity of such acts. It is not like we have not heard of female foeticide or learned about it in school. It just takes a powerful personality like Varsha Deshpande to hit where it hurts the most and drive the message home.
As for 'Bitter Chocolate'... It is a haunting account of Child Sexual Abuse in India and I am still only half-way through it. So more on that later. Night!
But the truth is that I did not have anything to say. Yes, I have moved to a new city. Yes, I am back to being a student after three years. Yes, I am finally doing what I have sub-consciously always wanted to do. But I did not have anything to say all this while. Not until today, that is.
A couple of things have transpired in the last week. Innocuous things. A Workshop and A Book.
The said Workshop was on 'Sex Selection and Female Foeticide', conducted last week by the Forum Against Sex Selection (FASS) and Men Against Violence and Abuse (MAVA), in association with YWCA's Public Awareness and Social Issues (PASI) program. The said Book is called 'Bitter Chocolate' by Pinki Virani, of 'Once Was Bombay' and 'Aruna's Story' fame.
First, the Workshop.
So, the initial part was a bit dense with everyone discussing about laws, like the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 that made abortion an 'acceptable means' of family planning. But with the development of technologies like sonography/ ultrasound and the absence of regulation on the use of such technologies for foetal sex determination, sex- selective abortions became the 'in thing'. To put a stop to this, the Pre- Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act was enacted in 1994. But the alarming rise in foeticide and the resultant fall in sex ratio continued unabated, especially in states/ U.T.s like Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, and Maharashtra (no surprises here). And then came another Act. The Pre- Conception Pre- Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, enacted in 2003, which called for a blanket ban on sex selection.
Just when it was becoming too much for my brain to take, came Varsha Deshpande, a Satara- based lawyer and social activist. She is known for conducting 30-odd sting operations in Maharashtra alone, exposing many 'God-like' Indian doctors and parents, who are hell bent on killing the girl child. And so she talked about the sting her team conducted in Munde Hospital in the Bheed district of Maharashtra.
Before the sting and the subsequent raid at Munde Hospital, the cost of an ultrasound was Rs. 500. Pregnant women were taken to a room for sonography in batches of 5- 10, where they were assigned 'numbers':
19 => 1g (the number 9 being equivalent to small case 'g' in written form) => 1 girl ('g' for girl) => abortion, with the girl (foetus sounds too object-like here) being fed to the two labradors kept in the hospital compound for this very purpose.
16 => 1b (the number 6 being equivalent to small case 'b' in written form) => 1 boy ('b' for boy) => no abortion.
29 => 2g => 2 girls (twins)... and you can figure out the rest.
So, the premises were raided post-sting operation. Ultrasound machines were sealed. Dr. Munde was arrested and released on bail soon after. And business went on as usual. An ultrasound now costs Rs. 5000 (higher risks, you know) and the dogs have been relocated to Dr. Munde's fields to feed on the foeti.
Amazing story, no? Especially when heard from the horse's mouth. Made everyone's blood boil. There was pin-drop silence in the room.
It also made me realize how privileged I am to not be one of India's 'Missing Girls'- fed to dogs, thrown in rivers, buried in fields... foeti disposed off like old, broken toys. Disgusting. Deplorable. Makes you lose all faith in humanity. Or maybe there is NO humanity. There is just money. Plain profit. Blinding greed.
WE, of the 'upper' caste and class 'fame', can't even blame 'THEM', of the 'lower' caste and class 'infamy'. For it is the rich and powerful, residing in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and the 'sugar belt' of Maharashtra, among others, who are willing to shell out lakhs to get rid of girls in favour of boys.
So, what does one do? Write blog entries? Enact more Acts? Resort to dharnas and other such methods? Spread awareness? Conduct stings?
Yes. And much more.
For it will take years and years (approximately 300 years, to balance the sex ratio in Maharashtra, provided every pregnant woman, from this moment on, has, and is allowed to have a girl child) and generation after generation of concentrated efforts on our part to undo the damage. And the first step begins with US, you and I, our homes, and our families. Patriarchy and the preference for the male child are such deeply rooted evils in our society that it seems next to impossible to fight them and uproot them. The least we can do is educate our children. And I am not talking about schooling, followed by under- grad and post- grad. I am speaking about educating them on the VALUE and DIGNITY of human life, of children, of girls. So that they don't grow up, to be re-incarnations of the Mundes and murder their girl child, but welcome her as an equal human being.
I don't proclaim to have a set solution. For I myself, am still trying to fathom the depravity of such acts. It is not like we have not heard of female foeticide or learned about it in school. It just takes a powerful personality like Varsha Deshpande to hit where it hurts the most and drive the message home.
As for 'Bitter Chocolate'... It is a haunting account of Child Sexual Abuse in India and I am still only half-way through it. So more on that later. Night!
Excellent read.Keep blogging and documenting your experiences!
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