India to launch 'cradle scheme' to prevent female infanticide

The Indian Government will launch a novel "cradle scheme" – a series of orphanages – in a bid to reduce the number of sex–selection abortions and female infanticides that have ravaged the population of girls in the Asian nation.

India is facing a serious problem regarding the male–female gender ratio. In a nation where cultural preferences favour boys, some Indian states such as Punjab and Haryana face male–female ratios as low as 798 girls born for every 1,000 boys leading to a host of other social problems.

According to a UNICEF report released in December last year, 10 million girls have been killed by their parents in India in the past 20 years, either before they were born or immediately after, persuading the government to call it as a 'national crisis.'

According to the new scheme, instead of abandoning or aborting the baby girl, parents are encouraged to hand over the baby to the state instead which would look after her.

For the same–said purpose, empty cradles or crèche would be placed outside every government district headquarters so that unwanted baby girls could be placed there by their parents without compromising on their identity.

The plan would be implemented soon by the Ministry for Women and Child Development in collaboration with local governments, Renuka Chowdhury, Minister for Women and Child Development, said.

"It's shocking figures and we are in a national crisis if you ask me," Renuka Chowdhury said, noting that girls are seen as liabilities by many Indians, especially because of the banned but rampant practice of dowry, where the bride's parents pay cash and goods to the groom's family.

Men are also seen as breadwinners while social prejudices deny women opportunities for education and jobs.

In some states, the minister said, newborn girls have been killed by pouring sand or tobacco juice into their nostrils.

"The minute the child is born and she opens her mouth to cry, they put sand into her mouth and her nostrils so she chokes and dies," Chowdhury said, referring to several cases in Rajasthan.

"They bury infants into pots alive and bury the pots. They put tobacco into her mouth. They hang them upside down like a bunch of flowers to dry," she added.

"We have more passion for tigers of this country. We have people fighting for stray dogs on the road. But you have a whole society that ruthlessly hunts down girl children," she noted ruefully.

According to the 2001 census, the national sex ratio was 933 girls to 1,000 boys, with northern states faring the worst. The worst–affected state is Punjab (798 girls to 1,000 boys) followed by Delhi (821 girls to 1000 boys) and Haryana (861 girls to 1000 boys).

Overall, India has 927 girls for every 1,000 boys under the age of six, as opposed to the worldwide average of 1,050 girls.

Chowdhury said the practice was spreading to more states. "It's alarming that even liberal states like those in the northeast have taken to disposing of girls," she said.

The ratio has fallen since 1991, due to the availability of ultrasound sex–determination tests.

Although these are illegal they are still widely available and often lead to abortion of girl foetuses.

According to social activists, there are many loopholes that allow those who provide tests to remain free. Since the law was enacted in 1994, only one doctor has been convicted.

Chowdhury said the fall in the number of females had cost one percent of India's GDP and created shortages of girls in some states like Haryana, where in one case four brothers had to marry one woman.

Economic empowerment of women was key to change, she said.

"Even today when you go to a temple, you are blessed with 'May you have many sons'," she said.

"The minute you empower them to earn more or equal (to men), social prejudices vanish," she asserted.

The practice of killing the girl child is more prevalent among the educated, including in upmarket districts of New Delhi, making it more challenging for the government, the minister said.

"How do we tell educated people that you must not do it? And these are people who would visit all the female deities and pray for strength but don't hesitate to kill a girl child," she said.

Hence, the 'cradle scheme,' she explained.

“We want to put a cradle or 'Palna' [crèche] in every district headquarters to tell parents to have their children and leave them to us," Chowdhury said.

"What we are saying to the people is have your children, don't kill them. And if you don't want a girl child, leave her to us," the minister explained.

"Don't kill your children because there really is a crisis situation. It doesn't matter if the scheme encourages more abandoned children. It is better than killing them," Chowdhury added, responding to those worried whether the new scheme would encourage parents to abandon their newborn babies.

The minister said parents could have a change of heart later and take their children back.

"It is a matter of international and national shame for us that India with an (economic) growth of 9 percent still kills its daughters," she said.

Chowdhury said her ministry was also planning to set aside one day in the year and declare it as "National Daughter's Day."

However, Chowdhury did not say how much the orphanage plan would cost or when or where the first orphanages would open but affirmed that the money had been allocated in the next budget for it. It was not clear when the first orphanages will open.

The new programme has the strong support of the Catholic Church in India, with the Archbishop Oswald Gracias of Mumbai called it a "continuation of the good work being done by the Church for life."

According to the archbishop, the initiative of cradles to protect little girls was necessary "because in our social context, strong gender discrimination persists."

"The Indian Church has been working on this front for decades: the sisters of Mother Teresa and other religious congregations accept unwanted babies, keeping a cradle outside the door of their institutions," the archbishop said.

He said the programme would go hand in hand with the efforts the Catholic Church has already undertaken.

"We make accessible orphanages, day care centers and hostels where infants can be taken care or and brought up with tender loving care," he said.

"While we appreciate this initiative of the government, we reiterate our policy against the grave evil of abortion. We make accessible orphanages, day care centres and hostels where infants can be taken care or and brought up with tender loving care," he said.

The Church "values and treasures each and every life, male and female, from conception to its natural end," he said, adding that Catholic personnel impart ethical and moral teachings against the "evil practice of infanticide" in health structures "where unscrupulous doctors are often at work."

Although as a functionally preventive measure, the cradle or 'Palna' scheme might indeed reduce the number of unwanted baby girls being killed after birth, social activists are wary about its effectiveness.

Some have even called the government proposal "absurd." According to them, it would send the wrong message and fail to arrest abortions.

"Most of the girls are killed before birth, not after birth. So, where is the option of abandoning girls if they are not born at all?" said Sabu George, who has researched female foeticide for two decades.

George said some girls abandoned under a similar scheme in Tamil Nadu in the 1990s died at poorly staffed and managed government hospitals.

In Tamil Nadu, the juvenile sex ratio has fallen sharply from 948 in 1991 to 931 in 2001.

Moreover, what happens to the abandoned baby afterwards is of concern, both in terms of her immediate nurture and future, sociologists have warned.

Would the government take full responsibility for her upbringing and education? If so, has it arranged for necessary infrastructure, safeguards, and caregivers to support the scheme?

Besides, plans need to be formulated to determine what to expect of prospective parents who wish to adopt the abandoned baby girl from the government agency that is part of the 'Palna' scheme.

Drawing up an individual's economic profile is easy, but clearly, in the case of adoption, economic potential alone is not enough, they have warned.

Also, post–adoption, health and social workers would be expected to monitor the child's progress, at least for a few years.

If organised charities were to be involved, it raises the question as to whether these are extended and possibly more expensive bureaucracies.

According to the sociologists, the approach to gender bias has to be holistic, considering that it is a society where people think nothing of eliminating female foetuses; even prenatal diagnostic techniques are marshalled to prevent conception of a female baby.

Palna will do nothing to prevent foeticide, nor will it help transform a gender–biased mindset, they have claimed.

At best, it could herald a fresh initiative to address all of these problems through not only charitable schemes, awards and punishments, but by the political class setting a positive example by nominating more women candidates in elections.

Discrimination against girls stems from the traditionally low value attached to females in Indian society. Girls are seen as a burden on the family, requiring a large dowry, which many poor families cannot afford. Females are generally the last to be educated or to get medical treatment.