Poverty, ignorance and tradition push Lambada tribals to adoption market

Savli sold two of her girls during the last four years, unable to feed them. “What should I do? I have no money to feed them and we rarely get any help from the government,” she says. She wants a male child so did not go in for tubectomy. She continues to give birth — girl after girl.

She is just one of the several Lambada women who either “give away” or sell their children to agents of dubious child care centres — two of which were busted last fortnight in Hyderabad.

Similar stories are played out in many tribal villages in Devarakonda, Halia, Chandampet, Dindi and Chivemula. Tucked between hillocks on one side and perennially-dry Dindi river bordering Mahboobnagar district on the other, these hamletslack basic facilities like power, roads, drinking water, schools and medicare. Abject poverty, total illiteracy, complete ignorance and, above all, a strong belief in traditions and customs are clearly visible.

“I am a tuberculosis patient. With five girl children, how do I run my family?” says Sapawat Manya of Nakkalagandi Tanda, who sold his one-month-old daughter to an agent.

This was the case which helped the police in busting the racket. On a tip-off, police took Manya and his wife Wali into custody on March 1 and their questioning helped in tracking down some agents.

From Telidevarapalli, police estimates say, five children were sold. It was this village which probably showed the way of selling infants.

In March 1997, two girls were rescued by Gramya Resource Centre for Women, a non-governmental organisation, on coming to know that their parents were about to bury them alive due to poverty.

The NGO handed over the girls to a reputed orphanage in Hyderabad and, in turn, the orphanage gave thecouple some money for purchasing medicines. The girls were later adopted by a Spanish couple. Within no time, six more girls found their way to the orphanage.

From here, this became a clandestine business. An employee of the orphanage, K Jyotirmayi, who was removed from service for obvious reasons, got in touch with some Lambadas. This opened the floodgates and scores of children were purchased. The local police and the CID, which is probing the case, have so far identified 19 cases of sale of children in the area.

Poverty, ill health, large family, debts running into thousands of rupees and the desire to have a male child to carry forward the family name’ are the main reasons for selling the girl child.

Devarakonda DSP Sardar Hari Singh said that all the identified agents have been questioned and their statements recorded. “We booked suo motu cases in Devarakonda and Chandampet police stations and the probe is on,” he said.

The general belief among the locals is that the trade has been going onfor the past five years and at least 200 children may have crossed the district border.

A majority of the parents do not want their children back. For instance, Nenawat Somli of Venkatigani village, who sold her one-month-old girl, bluntly says that she cannot take the child back. “I have no milk to feed the baby and I don’t think I can recognise her,” she said.

However, there was an isolated case where the mother and grandmother of a three-year-old girl wanted the child back. “I can identify her. I want her back. Please help us,” Waditya Bichia of Bridge Tanda pleads with folded hands. According to her, her daughter-in-law had sold the girl after the death of her son. “Shall I have to repay the Rs 1,500 given to me, if I have to get my child?” she asks. But even a few hundred rupees are out of their reach.