NEW DELHI. 18 February: The Indian government plans to set up a series of orphanages (børnehjem) to raise unwanted baby girls in a bid to halt the widespread practice of aborting female fetuses, media reported Sunday.
Also Sunday, police arrested two people at a hospital near the central Indian city of Bhopal after the discovery of nearly 400 bones from fetuses (fostre) and newborns, believed to be unwanted baby girls, in a pit behind the hospital.
Dubbed the “cradle scheme,” the governments plan is an attempt to slow the practice that international groups say has killed more than 10 million female fetuses 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, said.
– What we are saying to the people is have your children, do not kill them. And if you do not want a girl child, leave her to us, Chowdhury noted, adding that the government planned to set up a center in each regional district.
Many districts in the huge country of more than 1 billion people routinely report only 800 girls born for every 1.000 boys. According to the latest Indian census figures, the number of girls per 1.000 boys fell from 945 to 927 between 1991 and 2001.
Asked if the scheme would not encourage parents to abandon female infants, Chowdhury said: – It does not matter. It is better than killing them.”
Discrimination against girls stems from the low value attached to females in Indian society. Girls are seen as a burden on the family, requiring a huge dowry that many poor families can ill afford. They are generally the last to be educated or to get medical treatment.
Kilde: The Push Journal
