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Inspired by the Prez
There was a spring in my steps as I walked down the aisle of Rashtrapati Bhawan. Having met many famous people over the years, I was surprised at my own excitement.
There was a spring in my steps as I walked down the aisle of Rashtrapati Bhawan. Having met many famous people over the years, I was surprised at my own excitement. But the moment I entered the President’s study, I knew what this was about. The discussions that followed in the next 15 minutes made me doubly sure — what fascinated me more was the person Kalam, not the President. Simple and straightforward, Kalam had some social issues weighing on his mind — corruption and female foeticide.
After I presented him with a special issue of the Lucknow edition of Hindustan Times, carrying the inspiring answers to questions posed to him by students through our columns during his visit to Lucknow, he casually asked me about my work profile. My cryptic comment, “I am a political commentator but, of late, fed up with dirty politics of UP, am focusing on social issues.”
“Then there is more that we can discuss. You know the rampant problem of female foeticide in our country, especially in more progressive states of Haryana and Punjab. We need to combat this practice, check it,” the Prez said.
“What about UP? How bad is it there?” was his next query. I told him about the worsening situation in the so-perceived ‘progressive’ western UP with the malady more widespread in literate and prosperous homes, the Prez immediately said, “It appears you understand the problem.” What shook me hard was his comment, “How can they kill the girl child in the mother’s womb? Who knows, they may be killing another Mother Teresa! We need a concerted campaign to put this practice to an end. I visit so many educational institutions and find girls doing so much better than boys. Wherever in whatever position you are, you must run a campaign against female foeticide.” And he mentioned a woman from Bangalore, who after extensive study of the problem has written a book giving startling facts.
It was a wake-up call. My thirst to know more about UP’s affairs revealed that one lakh female foeticides were carried out every year, skewing the already-disturbed female/male ratio at 898/1,000. Though surveys conducted by various NGOs still mention the traditional cause of families treating the girl child as a social and economic burden, the reality is different. The practice is more rampant in prosperous homes. Why? Perhaps it has nothing to do with the degrees one has acquired or money one has minted, but with the state of mind. Has that changed?
As I studied regions, the abysmal condition of women in general in a district like Jhansi surprised me. The district not only boasts about its brand that it it sells and exports in the form of statues of Jhansi ki Rani, and proudly hums even today, ‘Khoob lari mardani, woh to Jhansi wali rani thi.’ The disturbing trend in the district is the mushrooming of one-stop shops for sex determination followed by female foeticide. One wonders if there is any governance in the state?
The President has pointed out a social evil that we have to eradicate. The campaign must begin on war footing.
