Satyamev Jayate (3): Episode 1 Daughters are Precious

(Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zitona/)

Like many I was eagerly looking forward to the telecast of the first episode of Satyamev Jayate on 6 May, 2012. However, being in Sweden meant that I would not be able to watch it the moment it premiered. Luckily an official channel on youtube and a site for the programme were launched so that I could at least see it the same day.

         The episode opened with Aamir Khan telling us viewers how his personal pride for our nation's progress is mingled with a sadness at the things that are severely lacking. He lets us know what Satyamev Jayate aims to do. Following this brief description we were taken into a studio filled with an audience.

Theme of the episode
Standing centre stage Aamir Khan as the host brought to our attention the special place we have for our mothers in our lives. The sacrifices she makes for our well being are not hidden from us. In India many are known to worship goddesses like Durga, Kaali and Saraswati whom they call Maa or mother. Despite this today mothers are being ill treated.

Stories
During the show we were introduced to Amisha Yagnik, Parveen Kaur and Mitu Khurana who each tell their awful stories.

        Amisha was made to undergo multiple abortions by her husband and in-laws whenever they found that she was carrying a female child in her womb. After some years of such struggle and much against their wishes when she did manage to deliver a baby girl, they took away the child from her to force her to give a divorce. Later with a lawyer's help Amisha got her daughter back and has since then been taking care of her.

        Parveen Kaur's husband wanted a son to carry forward his family name, but when that did not happen after a couple of attempts he one day assaulted her while she was sleeping. He bit her face and left it mutilated. The photos of the nose-less Parveen on a hospital bed silenced the audience.

        For those who were under the impression that such incidents happen only in villages or in poor and uneducated families, hearing Mitu Khurana's account was an eye opener. Mitu, a doctor married one from her profession. Her father-in-law was a professor of history, mother-in-law a vice principal of a school and of her two sister-in-laws one was a teacher and another a Ph.D. After an ultrasound revealed she was going to have twin girls they began torturing her to have an abortion. The effect was such that she was about to give up her life when her father came to her rescue and took her with him. However, after the two girls were prematurely born Mitu went back to live with her husband and in-laws only to find no help. Worse was to come when on the pretext of assisting Mitu, her mother-in-law pushed the cot carrying one of the babies down the stairs. Luckily the baby was securely tied and did not get hurt.

The cause
How female foeticide came to spread on such a large scale across the length and breadth of India was explained by Dr. Puneet Bedi, a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology in New Delhi. He informed that in the 70s our country's problems were blamed on its large population. A scientific paper suggested that the population could be brought under control if the "unwanted girls" were selectively aborted as most families yearned to have a boy. A program was started in the government hospitals where women were encouraged to do so. The eventual easy availability of ultrasound to determine sex of the foetus and the large monetary returns abortions brought, turned it into a 2000-3000 crore (200-300 million) rupees business. Later as various organisations protested the program was stopped in the government hospitals, but it continued to thrive in the private sector.

In news
Next Aamir Khan talked with two Sahara Samay reporters Meena Sharma and Shripal Shaktawat from Jaipur who seven years back had carried out a sting operation which caught on camera 140 doctors from about 40 cities involved in the racket of killing the girl child. Video recordings of doctors promising that the girl will not be born alive and suggesting ways of covering up in case she is, like by throwing the baby in a river or burying it were shown. Yet with all the evidence none of them had been punished. Not only that all the cases (at the time of the episode) against the accused doctors were being considered separately and the hearings being held in different courts causing Meena and Shripal a lot of distress.

The effect
The episode highlighted that a direct effect of female foeticide is the large difference between the number of boys and girls. There are districts and towns with hordes of unmarried men which has led to more crimes such as buying and selling of girls, kidnappings and gang rapes. The women who are bought are treated badly at home and are not given any rights whatsoever. Sometimes they are forced to have sexual intercourse with all the unmarried men in the house.

Turning it around
During the episode Nawanshahr in Punjab was presented as a shining example of how a change can be brought about. The first issue that Mr. Krishnakumar took up when he joined as Deputy Commissioner of the district in 2005 was to correct the dwindling girls:boys sex ratio. To this end he held seminars and workshops for doctors and mid-wives, warning them of severe consequences lest they were found guilty. He got students and various institutes to join hands with him and organise rallies and street plays to raise awareness. A phone helpline was started to provide support to pregnant women and help them if they were being ill treated or forced to find the sex of her child. All these efforts led to a 71% increase in the sex ratio in 2011 compared to 2001.

Action
In the end of the episode Aamir Khan offered a simple solution to overcome the problem of female foeticide. He said that all of us as individuals come together to form a coherent strength. So all we need to do was to decide that from that moment onwards we will not be part of a society that kills the girl child and that we will not allow it at least within our families and friends.

My comments
For long daughters have been called paraaya dhan (not one's own money) in our country. The perception is that as she will eventually get married, the family she is born into is not her actual family. So it is the boy who takes forward the family name and when the parents grow old it is supposedly the son alone who can take care of them. Further, age old traditions of having to give a large dowry during a wedding and of only the son being able to perform the last rites in certain religions have led people to preferring a male heir.

Earlier we would often find stories in the newspapers of just born baby girls being dumped in the trash. But with medical technological advancements came the ease of sex determination and abortion. Though presently it is illegal in India to determine the sex of an unborn child, such practices still happen. As was told in the episode some doctors work in packages offering to find the sex of the foetus and aborting it if it is a girl.

Initially I was in shock when I heard Mitu Khurana's story as her husband and in-laws were highly educated. However, having given more thought to it since I saw the show I realised that education does not automatically give a person a conscience and nor does it stop him/her from sinning. After all aren't all the involved doctors educated? Isn't it the families with the means that offer a bribe and buy accomplices? A lot can happen and remain hidden behind the closed doors of palatial homes.

Sometimes we read or hear a lot about the wrongdoings taking place but do not register their significance. In this regard the sad and scary consequences of female foeticide were well brought out in the episode. Indeed it is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed. Clearly, its root lies in the negative mindsets of the society for a girl child. Perhaps that is why Aamir Khan's appeal for us to individually decide to put a stop to it within our personal circles makes perfect sense. Who else but us can better convince those around us? Let us not be afraid of or shy away from taking a stand.

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P.S.: For the O ri chiraiya... song that came at the end of the episode see my next post.