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Journalism of Courage
The tug of war over a baby boy in Jodhpur frames an old problem policy has failed to address
The sorry saga of the newborn girl in Jodhpur who nobody wanted came to an end of sorts on Thursday after a DNA test confirmed the identity of her parents. The couple,after being mistakenly informed by the hospital staff that they had had a boy,were embroiled in a tug of war with another couple over a baby boy born on the same day. It was an ugly manifestation of the well-documented Indian preference for boys.
Sex selective abortion is a serious problem in India,and has played a part in skewing sex ratios in the country. But the data on child mortality sex ratios,and this spate of abandonments,suggests that a policy limited to targeting sex determination tests will not work. The deeply-embedded prejudice against the girl child cannot be fought only by cash schemes either: well-off areas like South Delhi and Punjab have some of the lowest sex ratios in India. What we need is a wider strategy that addresses itself to attitudes.
