Nobody’s Children
The other day
three girl siblings aged between 1 to 3 years were left abandoned by their
mother at the Jammu railway station. A sweeper took the children into his
immediate custody and thereafter the police, J&K administration and others
lead the rally of saviors each clamoring for their own space in the news
headlines.
The publicl comment was on the parent’s inability to care for the children and abandoning them because they were girls. Some commented on how poor the family must be to abandon their own children, others scolding them for having children when they cannot afford a decent living to them, some others wondered if one or more of them were in any way handicapped. Everyone wants to help out and childless couples making a beeline for adoption. The father even after being traced refused to take the children.
The publicl comment was on the parent’s inability to care for the children and abandoning them because they were girls. Some commented on how poor the family must be to abandon their own children, others scolding them for having children when they cannot afford a decent living to them, some others wondered if one or more of them were in any way handicapped. Everyone wants to help out and childless couples making a beeline for adoption. The father even after being traced refused to take the children.
The numerous
other similar stories churning in everyday circles in modern India is forgotten
in the din of this one event that captures the lens of the newsmaker. A
substantial number of girl children are left to fend for them selves, so many
are consigned to the hospital dumps developed and underdeveloped foetus in hospitals and private
clinics all across the country. The girl child who was not given a chance to
evolve into a contributing citizen simply because the parents never thought on
the lines of development for the female child or did the age old thinking
process of these parents obscure the achievements of the female population in
modern India?
Saina Nehwal our world No. 3 Badminton player confesses that at the time of her birth her grandmother refused to see her just because she was a girl, and the uncles with whom she does not have a very comfortable relation refused to acknowledge her existence merely because she was born a girl and did not fit into the custom embedded beliefs that only a boy could further the family’s name and bring laurels to it. Why is this happening in the India of the 21st century? Why does this happen in a country outpacing the rest of the world in development and progress? Why is the girl child still a burden? Why?
The answer is simple. Yes India is developing fast, yes India is on the threshold of being a potent world power, and yes we are claiming our rightful place in the United Nations Security Council. But the development we tout is only apparent in the middle class and above. The downtrodden, the tribal and villages in far flung areas have yet to witness a surge in education or development. To them the girl is still a burden one that has to be given away. They do not see a Mother Teresa, an Indira Gandhi, a Saina Nehwal, the Honorable President, a future crusader in short a future in the girl child.
This is essentially because they have not heard of these stalwarts mentioned above and that is because they lack the basic education to read about these figures and dream about idolizing them. Education is lacking because these areas are far flung and inaccessible for most parts of the year and the ones accessible are too remote to warrant a trekking expedition. How can education reach areas that are not developed? And without education how can we change these pre conceived mindsets?
I am reminded of a Maid servant we had once who came from a remote area far away from the developing city of Ranchi in Jharkhand. She had to get off at a bus stop which was a Haat (village market meeting once or twice a week). Being a female she could only reach this place on a weekly market day when the place would be bustling with people from other villages. Another reason for getting down at this bus stop on a particular day was because she would have company. Some village folks from her village would be there at the Haat and after the days business she could have company for the trek home which took more than a day across small mountains and terrains you and me term inhospitable and points where we would gladly abandon our trekking expedition (should we ever venture to such areas).
I was told that all they get in the village is paddy and they eat rice with a sprinkling of salt. Sickness would invariably lead to death, since no doctor would visit such a far flung area and the cost (in terms of time & effort) to get the patient across to the nearest health centre would be detrimental to the patient’s survival. A seriously ill patient would have to be strapped on his bed and be taken by relatives and villagers across this tedious trek to the health centre. Death is a normal affair and not too many tears are shed. My maid servant lost a brother while she was working with us and she came to know about it only after she reached home for her holidays.
Such is the sad state of affairs in the countryside that you need hardy boys to do all the manual work, the girl child is therefore a burden. The girl child is also a burden in terms of the cost involved in having to send her off via marriage. Infrastructure development must reach out to such areas. Education and basic health care must be supported by the administration on a war footing. The handful of NGO’s cannot fill the wide gap left open by decades of indifference by the ruling elite of this country.
Saina Nehwal our world No. 3 Badminton player confesses that at the time of her birth her grandmother refused to see her just because she was a girl, and the uncles with whom she does not have a very comfortable relation refused to acknowledge her existence merely because she was born a girl and did not fit into the custom embedded beliefs that only a boy could further the family’s name and bring laurels to it. Why is this happening in the India of the 21st century? Why does this happen in a country outpacing the rest of the world in development and progress? Why is the girl child still a burden? Why?
The answer is simple. Yes India is developing fast, yes India is on the threshold of being a potent world power, and yes we are claiming our rightful place in the United Nations Security Council. But the development we tout is only apparent in the middle class and above. The downtrodden, the tribal and villages in far flung areas have yet to witness a surge in education or development. To them the girl is still a burden one that has to be given away. They do not see a Mother Teresa, an Indira Gandhi, a Saina Nehwal, the Honorable President, a future crusader in short a future in the girl child.
This is essentially because they have not heard of these stalwarts mentioned above and that is because they lack the basic education to read about these figures and dream about idolizing them. Education is lacking because these areas are far flung and inaccessible for most parts of the year and the ones accessible are too remote to warrant a trekking expedition. How can education reach areas that are not developed? And without education how can we change these pre conceived mindsets?
I am reminded of a Maid servant we had once who came from a remote area far away from the developing city of Ranchi in Jharkhand. She had to get off at a bus stop which was a Haat (village market meeting once or twice a week). Being a female she could only reach this place on a weekly market day when the place would be bustling with people from other villages. Another reason for getting down at this bus stop on a particular day was because she would have company. Some village folks from her village would be there at the Haat and after the days business she could have company for the trek home which took more than a day across small mountains and terrains you and me term inhospitable and points where we would gladly abandon our trekking expedition (should we ever venture to such areas).
I was told that all they get in the village is paddy and they eat rice with a sprinkling of salt. Sickness would invariably lead to death, since no doctor would visit such a far flung area and the cost (in terms of time & effort) to get the patient across to the nearest health centre would be detrimental to the patient’s survival. A seriously ill patient would have to be strapped on his bed and be taken by relatives and villagers across this tedious trek to the health centre. Death is a normal affair and not too many tears are shed. My maid servant lost a brother while she was working with us and she came to know about it only after she reached home for her holidays.
Such is the sad state of affairs in the countryside that you need hardy boys to do all the manual work, the girl child is therefore a burden. The girl child is also a burden in terms of the cost involved in having to send her off via marriage. Infrastructure development must reach out to such areas. Education and basic health care must be supported by the administration on a war footing. The handful of NGO’s cannot fill the wide gap left open by decades of indifference by the ruling elite of this country.
he progressive
India is marching ahead, but the gap between the have and the have not is
increasing, more so in areas that lacks in basic development programmes.
Development does not reach the grass roots or where it is intended to reach, it
gets eaten up along the way. Eaten up by the delivery machinery which consists
of the Politician, bureaucrats, and the local leaders’ masquerade as their well
wisher? Development is undertaken in an already developed area; the shoddy
treatment meted out to the suffering majority in far flung areas is accepted as
routine.
Till such time development does not reach these areas and till such time as the rulers and the conscious citizens of this country do not take note, the girl child will always be under rated and treated differently and the myths is society surrounding them cannot be erased. Till such time there will be everyday stories such as these and after the initial pitch we will all go back to our respective business only to wake up when another such incident is reported on our news channels overlooking the fact that such stories are happening day in and day out without being the focus of media attention as this little story in Jammu.
Hopefully the little ones will turn out lucky because they have been discovered and we will clamor for them to satisfy our conscience. But what about the unlucky ones? What about them who have not been discovered? Those who are never reported but remain a fact of daily life? That is where our efforts and thoughts as a nation should be and that is where the development has to take place. Only then can we boast to be a developed nation and consciously claim our rightful place on the world stage. Until such time they will remain nobody’s children.
Till such time development does not reach these areas and till such time as the rulers and the conscious citizens of this country do not take note, the girl child will always be under rated and treated differently and the myths is society surrounding them cannot be erased. Till such time there will be everyday stories such as these and after the initial pitch we will all go back to our respective business only to wake up when another such incident is reported on our news channels overlooking the fact that such stories are happening day in and day out without being the focus of media attention as this little story in Jammu.
Hopefully the little ones will turn out lucky because they have been discovered and we will clamor for them to satisfy our conscience. But what about the unlucky ones? What about them who have not been discovered? Those who are never reported but remain a fact of daily life? That is where our efforts and thoughts as a nation should be and that is where the development has to take place. Only then can we boast to be a developed nation and consciously claim our rightful place on the world stage. Until such time they will remain nobody’s children.
Robin Varghese
Mail to: robin_vargh@yahoo.com
(Article written
after reading a news report of abandoned girl child at Jammu Railway station)
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