Right to Breathe

Among st the most basic and obvious right that each and every human being has and deserves is the right to life. It is in fact the first and foremost right of every person. Everybody has the right to be born, to learn to crawl, then walk and then run - to grow up, to love, to hate, to laugh, to cry and to just live. But do they? I should rephrase my statement and say that everybody should have that right. Because some people are robbed off it, much before they can even understand what it is to live or even to be born. A very large section of the society in our country is often in danger of this fate. Can you ever imagine yourself doing something like this to someone? No? The person next to you just might. Do you feel disgusted that some people do this and can’t comprehend why in the world would anybody do so? A person perhaps in your neighborhood doesn’t share these feelings.

As inhumane as it sounds, female infanticide and female feticide exist and are widespread in India. It is a harsh reality which makes me ashamed of our society, and so it should make you. Female infanticide is the deliberate killing of a female infant within one year of its birth. It is done either directly or indirectly by deliberate neglect to feed the infant. Female feticide, on the other hand, is the deliberate killing of the female fetus within the womb. It is also known as sex selective abortion. This problem has existed in India for centuries. The most common reason for this seems to be the opinion of a lot of people that girls are simply a burden on the family. Gender bias has rooted itself so deep within us, that people they have the right to decide that it’s better for someone to come into this world because she’s a girl. She won’t carry forward the family name. She would be married one day and belong to some other family. The parents would have to even pay for the marriage to get rid of her. She might even expect them to pay and get her educated. What good will that do anyone? Right? Wrong! In today’s society, girls are as capable as any boy, if not more. There are lots and lots of examples of women who climbed to the top of the corporate world, the political world, the sports world and any other field that you can think of. I won’t mention any of them here because I believe that they are famous enough that you should know of them.

Though some of you might think that though this issue does exist, it’s really not that big because you have hardly heard of something like this done by someone you knew. Let’s just take a look at these numbers. The 2011 Census released by the government, covering the decade starting 2001 shows that 3 million girls fell prey to this evil in the decade. Also it showed that there are now 48 fewer girls for every 1000 boys than there were in 1986. In a time when we think that our country is progressing towards better gender equality, the number of girls per 1000 boys is decreasing. It is now around 914-1000, the lowest ever in Independent India.  This lopsided ratio is even more alarming in the age group 0-6 years. A survey done by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs says that India is the ‘most dangerous place in the world to be born a girl’. It shows that there might in fact be 8 million cases of female infanticide in the decade 2000-2010.

The government banned sex determination back in 1994. There is heavy punishment for killing a female infant. In many rural areas the government even pays a small sum for every female child born. In many villages in Rajasthan, ₹ 1400 is paid for every female baby delivered in a government hospital. It was reported that many women deliver their daughters in these hospitals, take their entitlements and leave the baby behind. In Devda village, there are only 18 girls compared to the population of 25000 men. Sex determination tests are still carried out secretly in many private clinics. In a well-known Abortion Centre in Mumbai, out of the 15,914 abortions performed during 1984-85 almost 100 per cent were those of girl foetuses.

As rooted as this problem is, every citizen of the country can put in their efforts to curb it. The first and foremost thing to do is to decry the practice and spread awareness about it. The circumstances that lead parents to do this must be tackled. The government has taken many initiatives, but it will be completely fruitless if the society as a whole doesn’t condemn this practice. People should realize the consequences of not saving their daughter. If people would only have sons as children, who will you marry your with. That would be a scenario I believe not even the girl hating families would want to come true. If you think that it is just a laughable exaggeration, then please open your eyes. It could very well come true. Just something to ponder upon.