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| Cradles plan for unwanted girls | ||
| 2007-02-18 | ||
The Indian government is planning to set up a network of cradles around the country where parents can leave unwanted baby girls.
It is the latest initiative to try to wipe out the practice of female foeticide and female infanticide. A girl child is often viewed as inferior to a boy. A bride's dowry can also cripple a family financially. Research for the year 2001 showed that for every 1,000 male babies born in India, there were just 933 girls. Research published last year estimating that the number of female abortions was as high as 500,000 a year was disputed by the Indian Medical Association. "We will have cradles strategically placed all over the place so that people who don't want their babies can leave them there," Ms Chowdhury told the BBC News website. The cradles could be in places as diverse as the local tax collector's office, or where local councils meet. Ms Chowdhury said parents would be able to leave their babies secretly. The important thing was to save their lives. She said she assumed that most of the babies left under the "cradle scheme" would be girls. "They will be collected and put into homes," she said. "There are plenty of existing homes and we will be adding some more also."
Experts say female foeticide is mostly linked to socio-economic factors. It is an idea that many say carries over from the time India was a predominantly agrarian society where boys were considered an extra pair of hands on the farm. In a separate development, police in the central state of Madhya Pradesh say they have recovered some 390 bones of babies or foetuses from the grounds of a Christian missionary hospital in the town of Ratlam after a tip off. "The question of female foeticide and infanticide is part of our investigation, as is illegal abortions," Superintendent of Police Satish Saxena said, Reuters news agency reports. Last November a Japanese hospital announced plans to set up a "baby hatch" allowing mothers to anonymously drop off their newborns so they could be put up for adoption. The drop-off at Jikei Hospital in southern Japan will consist of a small window in an outside wall, which opens on to an incubator bed, officials say. Once a baby has been placed inside, an alarm bell will alert staff. | ||
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #4 The average jihadi survives 4-6 months after crossing the LOC. |
| Posted by: John Frum 2007-02-18 15:10 |
| #3 go figure, women are the breadwinners whilst the boyz spend their time seething and plotting (and dying) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-02-18 14:58 |
| #2 Kashmiri girls feel the dearth of grooms Baramulla, Feb. 18 (PTI): The wait for marriageable women to find suitable grooms in the Kashmir Valley is getting longer, with the 17-year-old insurgency in the region creating a dearth of bachelors. Until some years ago, most parents ensured their daughters were married off by 25. Now, this has stretched to as late as 35 years and the women - who are also usually the breadwinners of their families - are becoming an increasingly visible group. Aneesa Shafi, Head of Department of Sociology at the University of Kashmir, says "the valley has lost thousands of its young men - all of marriageable age - in the last 17 years. This has created a dearth of suitable grooms. The institutions of family and marriage are the worst hit. "With many youth getting involved in militancy and their future becoming uncertain, it is difficult for parents to marry their daughters to them," she points out. What was earlier a social stigma - having an unmarried girl at home - seems to have become a norm in the valley. With traditional society seeing rapid changes, not just in its politics, but also its social and cultural fabric, these women have learnt to accept their new roles. Ghazala Gul, a post-graduate student at University of Kashmir, says, "For girls in the valley, 30 to 35 is the normal age of marriage. I will marry only after my future is secure." Shafi says, "the priority of these women has changed in the last decade-and-a-half. Marriage is no longer on top of their agenda. It is careers and money which drive these women, who want a secure future." She also blames late marriages on the region's changed economy. "The tourism industry, which employed a majority of youth, has been crippled. A lot of these youth have lost their livelihood." Nusrat Andrabi, an educationist and the only woman member of the Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Waqf board, said "many families lost their sole bread-earner, and women had to take up the responsibility of feeding the family. The roles changed and women now have a greater responsibility of not just cooking, but also running the show." "This dramatic change in the lifestyle of women has exposed them to the outside world. They are taking interest in politics and bureaucracy." Andrabi says, "marriage has taken a back-seat and more and more girls are enrolling themselves for higher studies to secure their future." |
| Posted by: John Frum 2007-02-18 14:43 |
| #1 Some people will have more grandchildren than others. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-02-18 11:07 |