Save Girl child

Over 10 million female child have been killed in the womb in the last two decades. In the National Capital Delhi, the sex ratio is embarrassingly low at 866 girls against 1000 boys according to the 2011 census. The sex ratio in India is at 940 girls against 1000 boys. The alarming decrease in sex ratio is mainly due to bias against girl child, unsafe atmosphere, loop holes in justice delivery system, corruption in judiciary and police system. The societal behavior change to look at women as a consumer item for enjoyment has taken its toll. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a war cry to protect the girl child. This is a desperate situation which needs desperate action.

Prime Minister Modi has to reverse the societal behavior change with his mass appeal. In USA, the police personnel and administrators officially attend yoga class for productivity enhancement. Yoga can work as an elixir for negative societal behavior. Yoga does not belong to any religion but it is designed to serve human good. India being the source of Yoga gurus for the entire world is doing little to save its own people. Practice of yoga will definitely reverse the societal behavior change and create a safe atmosphere for women. Unsafe atmosphere kills millions of productive hours for women.

Look at the Indian cinema and the advertisement houses who are bent upon to use nudity to market their products. In creative cinema where well thought out sequences lead to nudity is intellectually stimulating. But showing nudity aimlessly which does not serve any creative purpose in cinema has a devastating impact on society. A miniscule percentage of Indians are educated enough to judge what is good and bad. The majority are not well educated to judge what is good for them and for their families. Thousands of terrabites of pornography material are uploaded daily through internet, which are accessed by children also. It has negative affect on their social behavior. Tons of pornography DVDs, CDs and other media are circulated in slums, villages and backward areas. In government schools children upper class watch harmful video in their mobile phones. The teachers have no control over their children. Why can’t schools strictly ban the use of mobile phones by children? If any school student is found with mobile phone the school principal should be issued memo. There is need for immediate crack down on sex websites and the circulation of those spurious media across the country. Free flow of pornography creates unsafe atmosphere for girl child which is one of the reasons why sex ratio has declined in India. The union government has to put complete ban on those harmful media contents.

There is an urgent need to channel youth energy to constructive purposes like pursuing art, culture, science, sports and social work. Every village, every ward and every city should have public play ground to bring back children to active sports. Sports can put healthy minds on healthy bodies. India needs healthy people for productivity and growth and the nation cannot grow with 50% hungry people. All government’s unnecessary expenditure should be pruned to develop play grounds and sports complex. More jobs should be created in handicraft sector, fishery, animal husbandry, tourism and agriculture so that jobs will not be concentrated in a few mono sectors like services, realty, IT and manufacturing only. If government can channel the idle energy into constructive occupations people will not have time to indulge in wrong habits. Government’s primary focus should be on quality Primary and secondary school education for the coming five years. Children should learn what to choose and what to reject at an early stage. Quality schools should be one of the criteria for giving election tickets to councilors, MPs and MLAs.

The NDA government should not hesitate to introduce the moral teachings from different religions in schools. Sanskrit language is the mother of all languages as the language is designed to shape good behavior and instill good thoughts. Indian scriptures are the treasure trove of moral lessons. More than 25 universities in Germany teach Sanskrit as the ancient language gives clue to many scientific discoveries. Today Germany has more Sanskrit scholars than India and the country publish more Sanskrit books than India. Some Intellectual Indians express hatred for good practices in Indian culture. This is nothing but serious delinquencies which is rooted in their poor understanding of Indian culture.

Greed infested medical profession attributes to girl child death in hospitals and nursing homes. Every 12 million girl child born in India, one million do not see the day light. Medical profession should be quarantined from greed and graft. All donation seats should be scrapped as children who pay donation to become doctors turn medical profession into business. Economy of scale should be curbed in medical profession. There is need for dedicated investigation to identify hospitals, private nursing homes and doctors involved in the massacre of female child in the womb.

There is need for stringent law to curb this inhuman practice. Demand for huge dowry and expenditure in marriage is another reason why parents look for boys. Politicians should begin with low cost marriage and organize community marriage which will save parents from debt traps. Telling people to save girl child is good but saving girl child needs resolute action at ground level. People will listen to Prime Minister Modi and clap. But putting serious effort to save girl child is a big challenge. Over the years the mindset of people is changing fast for better. Middleclass families want girl child as they find daughters as more responsible to old age parents compared to sons. Indian history recorded how Indian women became good warriors, wise queens, and scholars who had contributed to good governance. The Kalinga war which had changed the course of the mankind had never ended despite the bloodshed. It was the long forgotten women warriors of Kalinga who continued to fight the Magadha army as back up soldiers. Samrat Ashok had to declare peace and stopped the bloodshed. Seeing the fiercely independent nature of the Oriyas, Samrat Ashok had shifted the stone inscription with details of the Kalinga war to distant places. A new chapter in the history of mankind had begun. Prime Minister Modi’s appeal to save girl child should be followed by resolute action at ground level. Safety of women and their education should be the nation’s priority.

Sudhansu R Das