Bride Selling: A National Shame

by Saraswati Swain

Recently a news item on the sale of young girls in the Haryana market was flashed in the The Times of India with a photograph vividly revealing this. This brazen and despicable act is comparable to a cattle mart. A girl’s highest selling price of Rs 1000 is less than that of a cow! This incident coming to the limelight following a survey by a voluntary organisation is not an isolated one. Such events are taking place in many parts of our country even today, that is, more than six decades after our independence. It is a matter of grave concern that far from attaining a better socio-economic order, we are living in a society where girls are traded just like commodities. In this context the question is mooted: are we heading towards a progressive civilisation?

In this respect our State, Odisha, is not much lagging behind either. We have already experienced incidents like trafficking of girls from Kendrapara district and large scale foeticide of the female embryoes at Nayagarh and at the highly educated coastal district of Jagatsinghpur, besides Bhubaneswar in the recent past. The State administration, though aware of the situation, is apathetic to it, shying away from the problem in the fear of exposing its failure in dealing with the situation.

Wide abuse of the ultrasonography technology in determining the sex of the embryo resulting in termination of the female foetus has become a cause of concern. We have become a slave of our own sophisticated technology. With economic development and liberalisation of the economy, the modern portable ultrasound machine is now easily available in villages due to better communication and the ushering in of the cheap “Chinese make” into our market. Ironically, there is a high correlation between education and termination of the female foetus. The incidence of female foeticide is higher in areas inhabited by the educated population. It is also common among the elite. This heinous practice is high in States like Haryana, Punjab and Delhi where the income level is much higher. In this milieu, it is apt to say: we are literate, but not educated.

Not long ago we have observed the ‘World AIDS Day’ all over the country with the prime objective of creating awareness among the people about the viciousness of the disease and showing the way to curb it. The way the observation of the Day was highlighted in the print and electronic media is heartening and commendable. But we are forgetful of the problem that demanding more stringent positive action is needed than control of AIDS or swine-flu. The number of causalities from AIDS and swine-flu is much less compared to the number of foeticide and infanticide of girls taking place in the country. Every day we resort to this despicable crime by killing 2000 of them.

A recent study published in The New Indian Express highlights an alarming decline in the sex-ratio in Odisha. It is estimated that our State is going to be another Punjab by the year 2030. The difference between male and female child population is increasing rapidly in Odisha in recent years. In the year 1981 it was 25,000 while it increased to 2.23 lakhs in 1991 and again to 2.23 lakhs in 2001. If it increases in the same rate, this difference would be 3.5 lakhs within a year. This difference invites a debate in view of the fact that biologically the life-expectancy at birth of females is higher than that of males.

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Gender discrimination is a traditional ill prevailing in society. The mind-set of preference for the male child has caused abhorrent acts like negligence of girls, disregard for their dignity and status, and even terminating them from the mother’s womb. Some have very aptly stated that the female foetus is not safe even in the mother’s womb. The ominous effects of such crimes have been pouring in for some years. According to the UNFPA 1997 report, about 48 million women disappeared, because they were not allowed to be born. Similarly, according to the UNICEF report, out of 8000 abortions caused in Bombay, only one was a male feotus. The female population is declining day by day due to the termination of the female foetuses. As a result, cases of polyandry have come to the fore in some parts of the globe, due to the crisis emanating from the unavailability of brides. In countries like Serbia and China the brides are being imported from other neighbouring countries resulting in female trafficking in exporting countries. Thus they are being traded like merchandise. The incident reported in The Times of India is a blatant illustration of it.

A study carried out by the voluntary organisation Dristi has put question-mark on the status and safety of women in society. The study says that girls from West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Rajastan are being bought and trafficked to Haryana for conducting ‘marriage’. Scarcity of young girls is a problem in Haryana. The Chief Minister of the State has admitted that the sex-ratio is acute in some districts of the State. The hydra-headed horror is spreading now to the other States of the country.

It is high time for us to act. We must find a solution to this problem without sitting with our hands crossed. Or else it would be too late for us to control the menace. We must stand solidly and work together for the dignity of the girl child. We must change the social stereotype of our girl child whom we consider a burden. Demanding or giving dowry cannot be checked only through law. It should be considered a social stigma. Undue preference for the male child should be also discouraged. Society must ensure that the girls are provided equal opportunity in every sphere. Each and every representative of society, the social activist, the statesman, the educationist, the intelligentia, the media and the common man must join hands and act on a war-footing to thwart this conspiracy against the girl child. For it is not merely a question of dignity of girls, but in a wider sense, a question of humanity. In this connection the remark of Mahatma Gandhi on the status of women is worth quoting:

“We must realise that the country suffers from partial paralysis as long as we fail to welcome the birth of a girl in the same way as of a boy.”

Unless this diagnosis of Gandhiji goads us to start the treatment before it is too late, the Indian nation is doomed.

Dr Saraswati Swain, a former Professor, Social and Preventive Medicine, is the Secretary-General of the National Institute of Applied Human Research and Development, Kalyaninagar, Cuttack.