Professor Sharada of York University Canada Shares Thoughts on National Girl Child Day India
According to former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, "Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenges of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance."
- (1888PressRelease) January 25, 2012 - On December 19, 2011, a historic milestone for girls' rights was achieved when the UN General Assembly formally declared October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child. Considering the importance of the Girl Child in the larger interests of the nation building task, Government of India in the year 2009 had declared that January 24 be observed every year as National Girl Child Day. It was on this date in 1966 Smt Indira Gandhi became the first woman Prime Minister of India.
A powerful indicator of social health of any society is CSR which is the number of girls per 1000 boys in the 0 - 6 Age group. According to the 2011 census, CSR for India today stands at 914 as compared to 927 in 2001, 945 in 1991 and 976 in 1961.
Among the States/Union Territories the top ranking CSR is reported by Mizoram (971), followed by Meghalaya (970), Andaman & Nicobar Islands (966), Puducherry (965) and Chhattisgarh (964). On the contrary, states and union territories which have reported lowest CSR are Haryana (830) followed by Punjab (846), Jammu & Kashmir (859), National Capital Territory - NCT of Delhi (866) and Chandigarh (867). The state of Haryana has recently announced cash incentives to top three districts in the state which improve CSR.
In the eight Empowered Action Group - EAG states of India, CSR for 2001 and 2011 are Chhattisgarh (975, 964); Jharkhnd (965, 943); Orissa (953, 934); Bihar (942, 933); Madhya Pradesh (932, 912); Uttar Pradesh (916, 899); Uttarakhand (908, 886); and Rajasthan (909, 883). The extent of CSR decline for Rajasthan is indeed alarming.
Considering that the decline in CSR has spread to 22 states and 5 Union Territories with highest decline in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, Govt. of India on 30 Nov 2011 announced the setting up of a Sectoral Innovation Council on CSR to look at the entire gamut of issues in this context with a purpose of identifying interventions which have worked and those which did not and also to suggest innovative strategies, approaches and methods to tackle the problem in a time bound and effective manner and submit its recommendations within eight weeks.
Dr.Sharada Srinivasan, Assistant Professor, International Development Studies at York University, Toronto, Canada is a well known researcher in the area of female infanticide and had authored the book "Daughter Deficit: Sex Selection in Tamilnadu" which had received wide media coverage recently. She holds a B.A. (Psychology) from Madras Christian College Chennai, M.A. (Social Work) from Tata Institute of Social Sciences - TISS Mumbai, M.A. and PhD from Institute of Social Studies - ISS Netherlands. Her research interests include Gender discrimination, gender-based violence, sex selection, young people and development. On this occasion, she conveyed the following message to the faculty and students of Shridhar University Pilani Rajasthan.
"Stemming from a deep unwantedness of daughters, sex selection is today a national problem. Sex selection is not distant, reported in the media; it is in the first instance an extreme form of gender discrimination and an act of violence. Governments need to do a lot more, demonstrate seriousness, urgently. While it is easy to point a finger at someone else, there is a lot that each one of us must do individually and collectively to create a welcoming environment for daughters. As parents, sisters and brothers, we need to respect, nurture and value a girl child for what she offers her family-- love, affection and care ….. not all of which can be measured in monetary terms. Treat her as you would like to be treated, with dignity and love. On campus and in other public spaces, men, do not intimidate her, there is no courage in such cowardly acts. Treat women as your colleagues, not as competition or as objects that can be dispensed with. Sex selection is not a woman's problem. It is yours too and you can act decisively to put an end to it. To universities such as yours and to esteemed faculty members, we need curricula and pedagogy that are gender-sensitive; that do not reproduce male bias; and instead appreciate and bring visibility to what women contribute as daughters, mothers, wives and countless other roles. What do all these have to do with preventing sex selection? EVERYTHING. The day a woman feels valued and proud of her life, and safe in her home and in public spaces, she will want to be reborn a daughter.... sex selection will come to a halt. That day is still a distant prospect. It doesn't have to be this way; YOU CAN CHANGE IT."
Highlighting the above details, with emphasis on the decline in the CSR both in urban and rural areas of many states and union territories which speaks about the pathetic status and low desirability of girl child in Indian society, Prof BR Natarajan Pro Vice Chancellor Shridhar University Pilani urged the faculty and students to carry the message of importance of girl child to the society at large and urged each one of them to play a responsible role in stopping gender discrimination.
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