She has right to live too!

Hi Friends.

On a serious note today:-

Did you know that one an average 14 out of every 1000 girls born in India are a victim of Female Infanticide or Foeticide?

In India girls are considered a burden to the family they are born into. And why you may ask! Blame it on the dowry system prevalent in India that requires the family to pay out a great deal of money when a female child is married.

For families leading a 'hand to mouth' existence, the birth of a girl child can signal the outset of extreme financial troubles. The ratio of girl children to boy children in India is decreasing at an alarming rate (almost at a rate of 3% each year).

However this anti-female bias is by no means limited to poor families. Much of the discrimination is to do with cultural beliefs and social norms. These norms themselves must be challenged if this practice is to stop.

To effect this change is the vision of ViDYA - an initiative taken up by few of my colleagues. Today I have pledged my allegiance to this group.
If we can help save one life, I would consider it to be an enormous achievement - both on the personal as well as the social front.

ViDYA is backed by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which aimed to run similar projects but was crippled due to lack of resources.
We are currently a 14 member team who have volunteered to work on this project. While we would be getting all the valuable information and guidance from UNFPA but we are still short on funds.

As for our action plan, we are targeting Mandya district as it has the highest proportion of female infanticides and foeticides. The latest studies shockingly reveal that, on an average, there are 18 girl children killed for every 1000 born.
This is 4% more than the national average. I know these figures might already give you goose bumps as they did to me, but what is more revolting is that of the 18 per 1000 killed, over 70% of it is infanticide. I don't know how people have the heart to strangle their own children to death.

The government is trying to protect a female foeticide by not allowing parents to determine sex of the foetus with the aid of modern technology.
Before this ban was imposed, the diagnostic clinics that boasted ultrasound scanners used to lure people with catchphrases such as 'Spend 600 rupees now and save 50,000 rupees later!'.
The ban has certainly reduced the volume, but some people still practice it under some pretext or the other.

Preeti Singh for The Tribune writes
"To be fair, there are stringent laws to protect the female child whether in the womb or after birth. But these laws remain on the statute books as there is no specific administrative machinery to oversee their implementation at the ground level. Ironically, some diagnostic clinics, having installed ultrasound machines, display a board warning their clients that tests meant to determine the sex of the foetus are against the law.
However, the business of detecting the sex of the child goes on inside the clinic under one pretext or the other, the most common being to detect Down’s Syndrome. This is permitted by the law."

I assume that we all understand the gravity of the situation.
Now, What is ViDYA going to do for this?

We plan to

• Have seminars and road shows in select villages in Mandya district


• Spread awareness by speaking to the teachers at various schools


• Design and distribute pamphlets spreading the message


• Promote our cause through media mention in local newspapers and local cable channels


• Conduct multiple awareness camps in order to spread the message


• Try to get some more volunteers (Maybe, even residents of Mandya)


• Gather funds for this cause through multiple channels.


• Provide sponsorship for 20-30 girl children (The number will depend on the funds/sponsors we get. The more the better!)


• Once these steps are successfully completed at Mandya, we plan to spread this to Mysore and then to other parts of Karnataka.

Friends, if like me, you too feel strongly for this project I urge you all to participate. If you are in around Bangalore/Mysore you can join us.
If not, you can still help this cause by pledging some money for ViDYA.
Please speak to your family and friends and explain to them the seriousness of the situation. There have been reported incidents of a girl being married to more than 1 person in the states of Haryana and Punjab.
In some of the regions there are only less that 800 girls for every 1000 boys. This is quite an alarming statistic.

If you, or people you know, are willing to set aside some money for us; please mail to me at roshan_abraham@hotmail.co.uk with the subject line as ViDYA:Donate:Rupees
(if you want to pledge in INR) or ViDYA:Donate:Pounds(if in GBP).
I was unable to set up a paypal donate button on my blog-site due to some technical issues, so please bear with me and mail me your pledges.
We can then later discuss how to channel it to ViDYA.
If you are willing to volunteer, please mail at the same email address with the subject line as ViDYA:Donate:Weekends

Looking forward to a large participation.

Cheers,
TLT