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The Rediff Special/Shobha Warrier

'The girls take an oath that they will not be involved in female infanticide either directly or indirectly'

Andal Damodaran, honorary general secretary Indian Council for Child Welfare spoke to Shobha Warrier about the measures taken by her organisation to check female infanticide.

Whom do you target, young girls or young women?

We target school children by giving them books, uniforms, etc so that they don't drop out from school. We talk to them about their value in society. They are very responsive and as all children are, they are very idealistic. Talking to married women or reprogramming their ideas is a bit difficult as ideas are already connected in their minds. That is why we decided to target the 12 to 16 year olds through our adolescent training programmes in which we teach them about self confidence, hygiene and health. Nobody talks to these girls about their personal health, menstruation and family planning.

Do you talk to the girls about female infanticide?

We do. In the end, they take an oath saying they would not be involved in female infanticide either directly or indirectly. They are quite enthusiastic about the oath. These women are very strong, aggressive and self-confident. We have found that given a little incentive, they will really come up as they have the potential in them. I have a lot of hope for this community. I am optimistic about the young girls. But again ours is a micro level project.

But female infanticide has come down from 200 to 22 this year.

Yes. I am quite sure it will be much less if we take our statistics this March. It is all due to awareness, economic independence and empowerment of women. Now they feel ashamed when this happens in their community. They tell us with pride, we don't do it, others might do it. Also, it is partly because we are policing them.

Why did the Cradle Baby scheme started by Jayalalitha fail?

I am not for a scheme like that. You are saying dump your baby if you don't want it. That is no solution. In fact, you are encouraging female infanticide, cementing the fact that the girl child is useless. We also have a receiving centre but we tell people to use it as the last option. We keep the babies for 90 days so that the parents can come and take the child back. If they don't come back, we transfer the baby to an adoption centre. In one whole year, we receive about 10-12 babies.

  If the ICCW's work is at a very micro level, more active work in Dharmapuri district is being done as part of the Tamil Nadu Area Health Care Project funded by DANIDA. A dynamic group comprising of Project Director, Danida Healthcare, Sheela Rani Chunkath; Professor of Economics at IIT, Madras, Dr Venktatesh Athereya; Director of Health Services in Dharmapuri Dr Alphonse Selvaraj; Medical Officer Dr S Nalini; District Public Health Nurse Alphonse Mary; and Bhagvathi Venktat, are some of those engaged in healthcare and literacy work in Dharmapuri.

Sheela Chunkath has done a remarkable job by collecting and following the Infant Mortality Rate of the state; their work has progressed in close link with the IMR. The IMR for any year is defined as the number of infants per thousand live births who die before completing a year the same year. Needless to say, IMR is closely linked with the health and attitude of society.

For example, the IMR of Tamil Nadu was 54.9 in 1995 whereas the male IMR was 52.7 and female 57.3. But to understand the attitude of people and how closely linked infant mortality is with social practices, one has to look at the statistics below:

District	Male IMR	Female IMR	Total IMR
Dharmapuri	69.0	130.8	98.1
Madurai	69.2	100.3	84.5
Salem	67.3	95.6	80.2
Kanyakumari	19.1	17.7	18.5
Tamil Nadu	52.7	57.3	54.9

Source: DPH survey 1996

Now if we take India as a whole, the Infant Mortality Rate of India (1997) is 71, while in the advanced countries it is below 10! In India only Kerala has an outstanding record of having an IMR of 11 which is very close to many industrialised nations.

The advantage Kerala had was that the government's thrust was on education and healthcare way back in the fifties itself. History has shown that only through empowerment of women can any society change.

Taking a leaf out of the Kerala model, Tamil Nadu is also trying to spread awareness about literacy, healthcare and social duties in areas where female infanticide is rampant. It has chosen street theatre as its tool. Young men and women from villages are selected to stage street plays, which are revolutionary in content.

State	Year	Birth Rate	Death Rate	IMR
India	1995	28.3	9.0	74
	1996	27.5	9.0	72
	1997	27.2	8.9	71
Kerala	1995	18.0	6.0	15
	1996	18.0	6.2	14
	1997	17.9	6.2	12
Maharashtra	1995	24.5	7.5	55
	1996	23.4	7.4	48
	1997	23.1	7.3	47
Punjab	1995	24.6	7.3	54
	1996	23.7	7.4	51
	1997	23.4	7.4	51
Tamil Nadu	1995	20.3	8.0	54
	1996	19.5	8.0	53
	1997	19.0	8.0	53
Madhya Pradesh and Orissa are the least advanced sates.
Madhya Pradesh	1995	33.2	11.2	99
	1996	32.3	11.1	97
	1997	31.0	11.0	94
Orissa	1995	27.8	10.8	103
	1996	27.0	10.8	96
	1997	26.5	10.9	96

Source: Sample Registration System, 1998

In a play called Valliyin Vazhakku, Valli succeeds in making the panchayat punish the young man who molested her. The man is forced to fall at her feet, asking for forgiveness. In Kolli Vai, the daughter lights the funeral pyre of her father even when the son was alive, thus challenging patriarchy. It might surprise many, but these revolutionary ideas came from the young girls and boys themselves.

'Again a girl! Are you not ashamed of yourself?'

'Female infanticide contributes to about 8 per cent of infant deaths'

The Rediff Specials

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