267 ‘unwanted’ girls get new identity in Satara

A total of 267 girls in Satara district got new identities on Saturday morning. All of them had been named Nakusha or Unwanted by their parents, in the belief that this name would ensure that their next child was a boy.

A total of 267 girls in Satara district got new identities on Saturday morning. All of them had been named Nakusha or Unwanted by their parents, in the belief that this name would ensure that their next child was a boy.

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On Saturday, the girls were given new names at a special ceremony held as part of a drive to raise the district’s dismal child sex ratio of 881 girls for every 1,000 boys.

For many parents, the renaming washed away their own sense of social failure too. “It’s not just a new identity for my daughter, but a new identity for me,” said Swati Goud, 26, in tears, moments after her 10-month-old was renamed Mansi.