Save The Girl Child.....Combatting Apathy or Reality?

             

                    In India, Girl Child is considered to be the Adi Shakti or the source of Power, as sacred and at parlance with goddesses. Welcome to the present day of India, where these things are said with sheer pride and attitude just to represent a perfect facade wherein it is depicted that these values mean a lot and are followed religiously, and at the same time the so called male chauvinists will eliminate the girl child because she is considered to be a unnecessary burden on Family.

                This 'Burden' is so much that to get rid of it, thousands of lives are slaughtered year after year. In India, people are blaming the skewed sex ratio, but one forgets to take into consideration that prime reason for this is female foeticide. It is an irony though, that today Goddesses are even worshipped in this

country!!!!

                When we think of a child, it is so much natural joy.... We feel no bias, no anger, no grief, no sorrow, no greed, no predicaments, no expectations, no lust... Only Happiness! May be that is the reason for considering new born baby similar to God.

                 One question then comes to mind. If this can be true in case of males, why cant it be a for a female as well?

                 We Celebrate Durga Pooja, Navratri, Symbols of women's power with pomp and gaiety and in an extravagant manner. But in reality the girl child is treated as a financial Liability on a family just because of fear of Dowry.

                  'Dowry' , is one of the most feared words in Indian society. This missle aged tradition has became so rampant in our society that it has made a deep impact on thinking of Indian minds who feel that an Indian marriage without Dowry is not complete, rather a marriage is just void in the absence of this demeaning custom. It is a monetary sum which a bride's family pays to the bridgegroom's family. But why? Just because they think the male is superior to the female!

                 
Now when we think about 'Saving The Girl child' is it just about female foeticide? The answer is not as simple as it looks; Female Foeticide is just a tip of the ugly iceberg. A women's life is a hurdle race. She jumps and clears one hurdle to the other not knowing which one will become the reason for her downfall.

                 In India, even if a female child is born, she  is not safe. In rajasthan and Haryana even today female infanticide is unbridled. This situation just doesn't seem to end here. Girls are dumped in Garbage bins just to prove it that in this world 'you' are unwanted or they are named as "Nakusha" or "Nokoshi (Unwanted)" just to remind them that they are a liability.

                  In a tender age, the Girl child is subjected to Child abuse or even worst like molestation or rape. They are denied the right to education just because the parents think it won't do any good to teach a girl child as after her education is over, any how she will be married and sent off to her in-laws house.

                  In teenage the apathy doesn't end... it begins at a greater level! Early Marriage at the age of thirteen, early child bearing and worst of all the fear of getting Raped. These are some of the few problems that the girl child faces in her life. A majority of middle aged women are not  secure either-the prospect of Domestic violence, susceptibility to all kinds of sexual harassments, high chances of getting STD's, no proper medical facilities regarding the sanitation are just some problmes that can be enumerated.

                 
                Finally, in the last phase of life, i.e, old age, women are  severely neglected and no proper care is provided for them. In addition to this, lack of government policies and inability to work due to old age , result in severe degeneration of their quality of life. It is high time that we, the new generation should realize the importance of this Adi Shakti in the development of humanity and start taking some concrete steps individually, people will Follow.