[ALOCHONA] Re: India baby girl deaths increase

Zoglul Hossein writes:   The approximate number of induced abortions performed worldwide in 2003 was 42 million. The abortion of female foetuses seems to have increased with ultra sound prediction of gender, as it was rare before the late twentieth century. "Societies that practice sex selection in favour of males (sometimes called son preference or female deselection) are quite common, especially in China, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, New Guinea, and many other developing countries in Asia and North Africa". In China it happened because of one-child policy. But now, after ultra-sound gender test on foetuses being banned, female deselection is rare. In India relevant laws have been passed and the government is organising orphanages for 'unwanted' female children, but whether this will stem the trend can only be known in the future.    It was reported last year, 'the Indian government plans to set up a series of orphanages to raise unwanted baby girls in a bid to halt the widespread practice of aborting female foetuses, according to a senior government official. Dubbed the "cradle scheme," the plan is an attempt to slow the practice that international groups say has killed more than 10 million female foetuses in the last two decades, leading to an alarming imbalance in the ratio between males and females in India, Renuka Chowdhury, the minister of state for women and child development, told the Press Trust of India news agency.'   But Renuka Chowdhury of Telugu Desam Party has made a name for other things such as, "Renuka is well known for her female chauvinist attitude and sexist remarks against men. She has been warned by the Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh and Railway Minsiter Lalu Prasad Yadav several times."   She has also made a name for lavish dinner parties. As reported, "Renuka's dinners are lavish. Apart from popular Scotch Whisky brands, her menu comprises a wide variety of dishes – ranging from vegetarian to non-vegetarian and from Indian to Continental. Above all, she engages beautiful girls to take care of the needs of V VIPs, which is why there is so much demand for her parties!"   These are not the people who would solve social problems. India, or for that matter the whole world, needs to change the socio-economic order we live in. The greatest obstacles to changes for the better are imperialism and hegemonism, which mercilessly dominate and plunder other countries, and in trying to do so, they unleash all the dark and evil forces..  --- On Sat, 6/21/08, Isha Khan <bd_mailer@yahoo.com> wrote: From: Isha Khan <bd_mailer@yahoo.com> Subject: India baby girl deaths increase To: dhakamails@yahoogroups.com, notun_bangladesh@yahoogroups.com, alochona@yahoogroups.com, mbimunshi@gmail.com, zoglul@hotmail.co.uk, rehman.mohammad@gmail.com, abidbahar@yahoo.com, khabor@yahoogroups.com Date: Saturday, June 21, 2008, 8:22 PM India baby girl deaths increase There is a cultural preference for male children in India The number of girls born and surviving in India has hit an all time low compared to boys, ActionAid says. A report by the UK charity says increasing numbers of female foetuses were being aborted and baby girls deliberately neglected and left to die. In one site in the Punjab state, there are just 300 girls to every 1,000 boys among higher caste families, it says. ActionAid says India faces a "bleak" future if it does not end its practice of cultural preference for boys. Girls 'condemned' ActionAid teamed up with Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to produce the Disappearing Daughters report. More than 6,000 households in sites across five states in north-western India were interviewed and statistical comparisons were made with national census date. The real horror of the situation is that for women avoiding having daughters is a rational choice Laura Turquet, ActionAid Under "normal" circumstances, there should be about 950 girls for every 1,000 boys, the charity said. But it said that in three of the five sites, that number was below 800. In four of the five sites surveyed, the proportion of girls to boys had declined since a 2001 census, the report said. The research also found that ratios of girls to boys were declining fastest in comparatively prosperous urban areas. ActionAid suggested the increasing use of ultrasound technology may be a factor in the trend. The document says that Indian woman are put under intense pressure to produce sons, in a culture that predominantly views girls as a burden rather than an asset. It says many families now use ultrasound scans and abort female foetuses, despite the existence of the 1994 law banning gender selection and selective abortion. The charity also blames other illegal practices - such as allowing the umbilical cord to become infected - for the growing gender imbalance. "The real horror of the situation is that, for women, avoiding having daughters is a rational choice. But for wider society it's creating an appalling and desperate state of affairs," Laura Turquet, women's rights policy official at ActionAid said. "In the long term, cultural attitudes need to change. India must address economic and social barriers including property rights, marriage dowries and gender roles that condemn girls before they are even born. "If we don't act now the future looks bleak," Ms Turquet said. Some 10 million female foetuses have been aborted in India in the past 20 years, the British medical journal the Lancet has said.   http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7466916.stm

__._,_.___

[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com

Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___