Modern Indian women want to stay single & unwilling to give birth: Karnataka minister
Karnataka health minister Dr K Sudhakar made the remarks during the World Mental Health Day at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Sciences (NIMHANS).
Calling it a paradigm shift which is "not good", Karnataka health minister Dr K Sudhakar on Sunday said modern Indian women want to stay single and are unwilling to give birth even after marriage and desire children by surrogacy, news agency PTI reported. He went on to lament the “western influence” on Indian society, asserting people don't want their parents to live with them anymore.
"Today, I am sorry to say this, lots of modern women in India want to stay single. Even if they get married, they don't want to give birth. They want surrogacy. So there is a paradigm shift in our thinking, which is not good," he said during the World Mental Health Day at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Sciences (NIMHANS).
"Unfortunately, today we are going in a western way. We don't want our parents to live with us, forget about grandparents being with us," the minister added.
Speaking about mental health in India, Sudhakar said every seventh Indian has some kind of mental issue, adding, stress management is an art and Indians can fall back on tools of yoga and meditation taught by our ancestors.
"Stress management is an art. This art we need not learn as Indians. We need to preach to the world how to handle stress, because yoga, meditation and Pranayama are the wonderful tools which our ancestors had taught the world thousands of years back," he said.
Sudhakar later thanked Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya for providing Karnataka 1.5 crore Covid-19 vaccines every month since September, leading to increased inoculation coverage in the state.
The minister also applauded the Centre for administering 94 crore vaccines ever since the country undertook the Herculean task of vaccinating the entire population free of cost."We are the only country which is offering vaccines free of cost. Elsewhere, people are made to pay between ₹1,500 to ₹4,000 per vaccine," Sudhakar said.
(With agency inputs)
