By Dr. Ranjana Kumari, Director of Centre for Social Research. 

Every newborn girl child will now be adopted by the Government of India. This is the India Planning Commission’s vision, in a new bid to tackle the country’s declining sex ratio. The Commission’s proposal renders the government responsible for the protection of pregnant mothers and their unborn daughters in rural areas, through involvement of health workers and local NGOs, and cash incentives for mothers and midwives.

The Planning Commission suggests monitoring all pregnancies in India by detecting the sex of the child early on and then subsequently supporting parents expecting a girl. Health workers will assist the mother through every stage of her pregnancy and track the growth of the child until she reaches two years of age.

At present, sex determination tests are illegal in India.  When taken with the intention of preventing female births, such tests constitute a violation of the most fundamental human right, the right to life, and are a clear manifestation of violence against women.  Nonetheless, the void between the number of female and male children continues to expand, and India bears the shame of having the worst sex ratio in the world. 2011 Census data reveals the number of girl children (aged 0-6) has decreased from 927 to 914 girls per 1000 boys in the last decade. This is a good indication of the extent to which sex-selective abortions and other harmful practices are carried out in India, regardless of preventative legislation.

The Planning Commission is therefore highly critical of the ban on sex determination tests and proposes relaxing the law to make way for an alternative, more effective solution. However, their proposed alternative will only aggravate the problem. The idea of conducting sex determination tests in rural India is, for lack of a better word, ridiculous. This proposal is not only short-sighted because it overlooks the strong prevalence of pre-natal sex selection in urban areas, but also for failing to address the socio-economic and cultural context of the declining child sex ratio. In light of poverty, patriarchal social structures and traditions, or a combination of all three, parents-to-be continue to go to all lengths to avoid having a girl child. As a result, between 1980 and 2010, somewhere between four to twelve million Indian girls were aborted because of their sex. The question is therefore, when the parents themselves do not want to give birth to girls, how effective can the government really be in persuading them to change their mindsets? Determining the sex of every unborn child in India would make women very vulnerable to pressure and violence from family and community members, potentially leading to an increase in abortion and suicide rates.

Sadly, while the ban on sex determination tests was at one time a landmark achievement,  the Indian girl child is now being treated as a pawn in a game of statistics and unethical lobbying, not as a human being. Now is not the time to relax India’s law on the prohibition of sex determination tests.

By Kara Brown, a Centre for Social Research Intern in the Media & Communication Division. Kara is a recent graduate from the University of Glasgow, Scotland.

To be honest, I really didn’t know what to expect before moving to New Delhi to join the Centre for Social Research team. Although I secretly feared that I’d find the extent of poverty and crime against women here discouraging, I was also determined to avoid forming any pre-conceptions. Two months into my internship, I had the privilege of visiting one of CSR’s four Crisis Intervention Centres (CICs) in Delhi, where grassroots-level work to end violence in families and communities takes place.

Accompanied by friends and family visiting from as far as Scotland, England and Germany, a handful of CSR staff headed to Chattarpur, in the southwestern most reaches of New Delhi, for the monthly Parivartan Mahila Swawlamban Samiti (Women’s Change Committee) meeting on Tuesday 30^th August. Women and girls, some as young as 8 years old, from all four of our CICs across the city had gathered in Chattarpur to greet us. A few introductory songs and dance performances later, and Chattarpur head counselor Rekha opened up the floor to a question and answer session between our guests and community members. After one teenaged girl raised her hand to ask my own mother if she’d had an arranged marriage, the entire crowd cheered, squealed in excitement and applauded when my mother shyly answered that she’d had a love marriage.

Next, we ran an art workshop where we asked everyone to paint or draw their hopes and dreams for the future. All of the women who come to our CICs for assistance have been through unthinkable traumas in their past, and many are still suffering in the present. On that Tuesday afternoon, however, in a little shaded corner of Chattarpur, after finishing their jobs and household chores, hidden away from the hustle and bustle of Delhi life and the hardships they face every day, the women and girls were all sitting there smiling, singing and laughing as they dreamed up futures of happy families, brilliant careers, palm trees, beaches and endless good weather.

One young woman in particular caught my attention. During the earlier discussion, she rocked back and forth with her arms wrapped tightly around her knees. She showed signs of someone who had experienced the kind of difficulties I have only read about in books: the type of childhood stories that would no doubt reduce you to tears. However, as guests and community members alike took turns to introduce themselves, she had confidently introduced herself to the group and told us that she has been coming to the Chattarpur CIC for a long time. As everyone separated into smaller groups and jostled for a portion of the art supplies, this girl began to draw one of the most colourful and expressive pictures of all. If I did have any pre-conceptions of a bleak future for the women and girls of India, or the frustrations that come with working to change mindsets in a society steeped in patriarchy, they disappeared at least for a while that afternoon in Chattarpur. These young women, with the help of an invaluable support network around them, are finding the strength to believe in themselves and gradually working towards making Delhi a safer place to live. They give me hope for the future generations of men and women in India and organisations working in the field of human rights and development, like CSR.

As some of the middle-aged women and primary school girls began approaching our guests in order to explain and eventually gift us their artworks, a few of the teenagers grabbed a set of drums and broke into song. Some of the younger girls pulled the CSR office staffers and our guests out of our seats to dance and insisted that we couldn’t leave before they’d painted mehndi (henna) designs on our hands and feet. While the henna on my own hands has since faded, it remains clearly etched in my mind just how supportive the women and counsellors in the CICs are of each other, and how warmly and selflessly they welcomed a group of strangers into their community.

By Rana Kattan, a Centre for Social Research intern in the Media and Communication Department. Rana is a recent graduate of McGill University in Canada.

It was definitely the hottest day I’ve seen so far. Armed with a bottle of sunscreen, chilled water and a cap protecting my head, I was anticipating a scene unlike any I’ve been exposed to before. With minimal expectations and preconceptions, I was only certain we were headed towards one of our four Crisis intervention Centres in Delhi, particularly the one in Uttam Nagar, West Delhi for a community meeting to discuss women’s health, network progress and education.

The narrowing streets with filled with children playfully running, sweet shops on the pavement, dogs and cattle dozing the heat away signaled that we’ve reached our destination. I stepped into the centre itself, which young women covered like a carpet and was greeted by the crowd with wide, enthusiastic eyes. Stationed at the other end of the room were the CSR counselors. Two large fans ventilated the room, but were hardly sufficient to combat the heat. Interestingly enough, that didn’t seem to dampen the young women’s eagerness to listen and participate in today’s discussion. Once all was settled, the CSR counselors brought fourth the topics on the agenda: starting with women’s health concerns, as my fellow interns interpreted for me. Although the girls seemed thrilled to voice their opinions, the topic took a turn when a man and women entered the room to join the counselors at their desk.  While it was difficult for me to fathom what they had come for, a scan of the young women’s facial expressions indicated they shared my curiosity.

As the man proceeded with his speech, I was able to detect the words “English Language”, “Computer Education” and “Personality Development”. I asked one of our Indian interns, Pallavi, for the interpretation necessary for me to connect the dots. Then, I understood that these newcomers represented an NGO named “Etasha” and were here to share with the local community the services they targeted at young women (especially those from a disadvantaged background and lacking access to a proper education despite passing the required examinations). These services included vocational training a, as well as a more inclusive, career guidance program for which the vast majority of attendees (seemingly between 14 and 20 years old) were eligible.

At this point, the floor was yielded to a woman Ms. Anindita Kar Gupta, who explained the concept and emphasized the importance of organised sectors, focusing on the service sector (such as areas of customer care) and how Etasha provided placement for young graduates in these sectors. Perhaps merely due to the fact that she was a woman, a factor that served as a strong common bond with the young listeners, the audience instantly perked up, seeming more open and interactive with her. The offering of refreshments and freshly cooked Samosas (a personal favourite) marked the end of the CIC meeting, with the young women quickly rushing back to their interrupted daily routines. The key representatives from the two NGOs remained behind to roughly sketch a collaborative action plan and stipulate the responsibilities of each party.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to pick up any Hindi from that trip. However, applying my observation skills enabled me to squeeze out some valuable life lessons. These young women set an example of how persistence and determination can yield vast crops out of tiny seeds and minimal resources, while CSR and Etasha’s unfaltering commitment and cooperation symbolized the fertilizers constantly nourishing the growth and development of these seeds.

By Dr. Ranjana Kumari, Director of Centre for Social Research

Incorporating a sexual education course in Indian schools has been an issue of debate for years. Those against a comprehensive sex education curriculum argue that information on sexual activity will encourage adolescents to engage in sexual promiscuity, ruining the Indian moral values they have been taught. What critics seemingly overlook is that India’s rich culture includes nearly 2.5 million HIV/AIDS infected people, not to mention high rates of teen marriage and therefore, teenage pregnancy.

A comprehensive course on sex education would create awareness about sexually transmitted diseases and contraception, which would increase safer sex practices, a statement that has been supported by research. MAMTA Health Institute for Mother and Child, an internationally recognised NGO based in New Delhi, conducted a four-year study that demonstrated the importance of proper sex education. Of the five hundred Haryana students who participated, merely five percent of rural girls and 10 percent of urban girls claimed to know about condoms. After the comprehensive classes, nearly 78 percent of the rural students and 33 percent of the urban stated that they would decline sex without a condom, a considerable increase.

However, when the National Education Ministry and National HIV/AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) introduced an education programme for 15 to 17 year adolescents that included a unit on contraception and STDs, the programme was swiftly banned by several states. Among the states that banned the programme were Maharashtra, Gujurat and Karnataka, which have the largest HIV/AIDS infected populations in India.

The term “sex education” is misleading, which is why everyone thinks the course is about teaching kids sexual activity. In reality, sexual education is actually about better understanding our bodies and ourselves. It’s purely scientific, and sex education should be taught to students as soon as they begin to undergo puberty. Not only do young people need to know the changes that are happening to their bodies, but also this information is especially critical for women who are married at a young age. In India, nearly half of all women between the 20 and 24 are married by the time they are 18. This common practice of teenage marriage increases the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS due to a lack of awareness.

Sex education should become compulsory in every school in India to avoid boys and girls engaging in sexual activity that leads to dangers like HIV, unwanted pregnancy and unhealthy lifestyles. Politicians and conservatives who claim that Indians do not engage in premarital sexual activity are simply behind the times. In a poll conducted by India Today, one in four women in India between the ages of 18 to 30 has had premarital sex, and one-third of the entire population infected with HIV/AIDS are in the 15-29 age group.

Certain NGOs and non-profits understand the reality that more and more Indian youth are engaging in sexual activity, and that more often than not, they have a lack of knowledge about the potential consequences. Organisations such as Delhi-based Talking about Reproductive and Sexual Health Issues (TARSHI) has been running a helpline for years regarding information on sex education and has responded to nearly 60,000 calls. Another organisation, The Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA), has been working with adolescents to teach them about bodily and sexual development through the use of sophisticated programs. While these initiatives are benefiting thousands of young people, the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic and other factors regarding sexual activity suggest that a comprehensive sexual education programme should be implemented in all schools.

The 2011 National Indian Census revealed what many of us already knew: Pre-natal sex selection still exists, and may be getting worse. But even those girl children that are not aborted, one health-related phenomena continues to claim more lives in India than HIV/AIDS and Malaria combined: stillbirths.

Stillbirths disproportionately affect the poor worldwide, with 98 percent of stillbirths occurring in low- to middle-income countries. More than two-thirds of stillbirths occur in rural families with little or no access to decent maternal care. While there are many causes of stillbirth, including maternal infections and maternal health problems such as hypertension, many deaths could be prevented if women had access to adequate health care.

A recent 18-country study from the medical journal The Lancet revealed that stillbirth losses affect 2.6 million families worldwide. This means that every day around 7,200 babies are stillborn.  Around 1.2 million babies die each year during labour, with such deaths often being associated with lack of adequate obstetric care. Unfortunately in India, 40 percent of women do not have access to skilled care during childbirth.

Out of all estimated stillbirths worldwide, 23.2 per cent occur in India, which means an average of 1,680 every day. In addition, the rate of stillbirths here has remained relatively steady throughout the 1990s and 2000s. The true extent of the tragedy is hard to estimate: Most stillbirths go unreported and their causes unrecorded.

By Dr. Ranjana Kumari, Director of Centre for Social Research

A daughter is said to be the happy memories of the past, the joyful moments of the present, and the hope and promise of the future. Commemorating National Girl Child Day, we all at Centre for Social Research would like to highlight how girl children in India remain less celebrated every other day of the year.

The practice of sex-selective abortion in India has buckled the natural sex ratio in favour of males. Today, India has one of the most skewed sex ratios in the world, with less than 925 women for every 1,000 men. According to federal government statistics, more than 10 million girls have been “missing” in India over the past two decades because of pre-natal sex-selection (previously called sex selective abortions or female foeticide). Even India’s capital has not been spared: Delhi ranks third in the country after Punjab and Haryana in terms of sex selective abortions, where rich urban families are sometimes far more intolerant of girl child than their rural counterparts. The problem is not just about preference, but also the aid families are given by modern medical technology and the greed of the medical fraternity.

Even after 60 years of independence of the country, it is disheartening to see that the women of our country are still struggling to live an independent carefree life. Detained by the primitive mindset of societal norms, women of our country are still striving to breathe freely.

In order reduce the problem of pre-natal sex selection, CSR launched the Meri Shakti Meri Beti project in 2009. Looking at the success of the project the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (GOI), has assigned CSR to replicate the project in the Ambala and Kurukshetra districts of Haryana with 20 more villages and 10 blocks. We’ve adopted a participatory approach that includes state level, district level and block level functionaries, MLAs/MPs, Panchayat heads, community and religious leaders, college associations and NGOs

Celebrating ‘National Girl Child Day’ alone cannot pay homage to the life of a girl. It is the duty of each individual in society to emphasize the importance of the girl child and stop discriminating between a girl and boy. A daughter is an infinite gift who will one day play the role of a wife and give life to another soul in the society.