female infanticide

SHISHUHATYA
Krishna was one of the serials I regularly watched in the 90’s. That’s how I chanced upon Kamsan, the villain. The scene that was to haunt me was the one in which he kills the babies born to his sister Devaki. He would smash the newborns onto a rock. Such scenes were quite horrifying for me to bear, so I would shut my eyes tight and close my ears with my hands.  It made me aware of the barbarous act called  infanticide.. In those days when surfing wasn’t so common, it was newspapers that quenched the thirst for facts. The Hindu ran stories such as on human trafficking, rebirths, naadi jyotsam, sati practice etc. I was glad to find an article on female infanticide. Going through it, I developed a big hatred towards the Punjabis. How could they just kill the female foetus and if not the foetus, the new born babies?

Next in line [to the newspaper] were the movies. Tamanna directed by Mahesh Bhatt followed a theme on similar lines. Young as I was, I developed a liking towards Pooja Bhatt for the story she told. Just 3 years back, I came across Mathrubhoomi- a nation without women directed by Manish Jha. An intense movie which was disturbing to the core.  If Tamanna dealt with the emotional aspect, Mathrubhoomi dealt with the practical aspect. More than female infanticide it portrayed the adversity of gender imbalance.

SOME STATISTICS

All these at the back of mind fuelled me to do some googling on the same. Statistics can be really boring, but this is worth knowing. In Punjab there are only 874 females per 1,000 males. Kerala holds a better position. The ratio is 1,058 females per 1,000 males. This was in 2001. The next census is up in 2011. Will then know if the condition is any better!

It is interesting to note that this is not a recent development. It was practiced from ancient times on. Most of the tribes resorted to infanticide as part of their custom and also as a means of controlling the population. The Carthaginians practiced it to please their gods. The only culture that was dead against it seemed to be the Egyptians despite the famines that hit them.

 There have various reasons attributed-  doing away with illegitimate children, as a means for population control, as part of customs and taboos, psychiatric issues, sex selection. In India more so because of the dowry system and the patrilineal system. And if you are thinking this is not part of the educated urban population, hear this- there are reports of sex selective abortions among Indians abroad. They specially come to India to have the job done, because of the anti abortion laws in the cities they reside.

AND THEY SAY THERE ARE SOLUTIONS!!

I am omitting the solutions part here, one reason being that I never intended to make this post so long. And also, do we have to go through the solutions to decide if we support taking someone’s life, male or female, born or unborn?  Don’t we have something called conscience?

To conclude, a peek into the long–term consequences. The thirst for women would be so acute, that women trafficking, forced marriages and prostitution would be on the rise. So infanticide or no infanticide, it would be the womenfolk who suffer!