BANGALORE: A small child lies wrapped in a blanket in a platform of a railway station. It stays there braving the severe cold and the sun, fighting for it’s survival. Its instincts are forced to develop at an age when it isn’t even aware of its existence. If it’s lucky, very lucky, a humanitarian might just rescue it. ‘A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on’, said Carl Sandburg. But, most people seem to have forgotten of the fact as they just walk by, ignoring this little bundle of joy. The only thing that probably worsens the situation is the fact that almost more than 93 per cent of the time, that baby happens to be a girl.As the country gears itself to celebrate ‘World Girl Child week’, one wonders whether the extent of discrimination against the girl child has decreased. City Express asks psychologists and maternity doctors whether the trend has changed and if not, when this bigotry of gender towards the hand that rocks the cradle is going to be stopped. Psychologists and gynaecologists say that the trend has definitely changed if not visible to the eye. Kamini Rao, a gynaecologist, said, “The trend is definitely for the better. But one has to realise that this is a system that has stayed for years and hence, a few more years are required for the change to be seen. Also, the funds allotted for the programmes to save the girl child, most of the time, do not even reach the target group. But optimism is the best way to approach the issue as I definitely believe that the change will soon be seen.”BOSCO, a NGO based in Gandhinagar, Bangalore works for the betterment or for that matter, even the survival of these children. With a booth at City Railway Station, they rescue several children on a regular basis. The in-charge at the station, Devraj, says, “In my experience of working with the NGO for 15 years, I have borne witness to change with the times. First, the number of girl children left here ran in high numbers. Although it is prevalent, it has reduced drastically.” From here, these children are taken to Chennai where they are given counselling which hopefully, in turn, gives them a new lease of life.On a national level, India accounts for the termination of almost ten million foetuses in a period of 20 years. The Government of India campaign towards saving the girl child runs with the slogan of ‘a happy girl is the future of the country.’ The 2011 census figures once again proved the necessity for everyone to wake up to the situation and it did so the hard way. With the decline in child sex ratio having come down to the deplorable level of 914 girls to every 1,000 boys, it proved that female foeticide, despite us having entered into the second decade of the 21st century, is still widespread.There are several accounts of how these girl children, at first unwanted, have grown up to be beautiful young women loved by the people who had once despised her very existence. Ruchi Pandey is one such girl. After her birth, her grandparents were immensely sad to hear that the child was born with XX chromosomes. But now a budding dancer and an extremely motivated social worker, the pride her grandparents have in her now in indeed heartwarming. Another major concern with the girl child is the issue of human trafficking and prostitution. Anne Lynam Goddard, the President ChildFund international, who visited Bangalore recently, emphasised on the need of interaction when it comes to issues like this. She remarked, “While from the outside, gender equality presents a very rosy picture of having been eradicated, the hassles are very much prevalent in many parts. There is a need for people to come out and voice their opinions so that people around them take action. Work is needed from the grassroot level for the problem to be solved.”Dola Mahapatra, national director of ChildFund, said, “The disparity is clearly seen when we look into the statistics of the 2001 and 2011 census. While the number of girl children have to be more than the boys, the drastic decrease should leave us worrying about the future.” As the city makes their way into the future living in the world of an alternate reality, with many concerns such as this left behind, without a care in the world, these children's cries asking not to be murdered doesn’t deserve to go unheard.
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