Speech on social problem

Indian traditions and rituals outline the existence of the Indian girl child. Amidst uproars of gender equality and law enforcement, female infants are still found dumped in trash, by the dozens, while unborn fetuses continue to be sniffed in the womb. Wrought with discrimination and prejudiced by rituals, our society has dealt the girl child a rough hand, starting even before birth, till the dark of life. We are here to show you the world from the eyes of a girl child, bright but unprivileged, twinkle in the eye, but remorse in the spirit; the Indian girl child, a picture of dismay. As a response to this issue, We Promote save the girl child campaign and its main objective is to realize a gender balance in society by eliminating female foeticide / infanticide and ensuring the right to identity, name and citizenship for the girl child. How do we do this?

We raise social consciousness on the issue of female foeticide, its negative impact on women’s health and the gender imbalance that is developing as a result of son preference. We help the movement to spread awareness about saving the girl child. We educate people to take some really firm steps to save the girl child. We provide the facilities to the noble cause by facilitating medical and educational counseling to rural family, and ensure that every child should be born whether He or SHE. We promote child survival services for newborns and we create an enabling environment (which facilitates addressing of barriers) to enhance women’s to access to health service. the problem of child labour and exploitation

We are working to promote the rights and welfare of children. In Sokoto State many children like anywhere else in Nigeria are used by their parents as source of generating income. Many children by the age of fivecan be seen walking in the streets begging or hawking boiled eggs, peanuts, water, cigarettes or working on the road side food areas with their mothers. Many parents would rather not send their children to school but instead they will make these children work and get money to feed the family. There are many children who are working in the markets as “barrow boys”. These children will be pushing wheelbarrows around the market hoping to get customers who will need their services. The loads at times are too heavy for the children but they have to do it if they are to take any money back home.

The girl-children have more problems, especially the ones who hawk their wares in “mummy markets”. Apart from clients not willing to pay for the goods they take from them, the young girls are very often molested by the male customers. For example, a male customer may buy boiled eggs and refuse to pay. The girl will ask for her money and the man will ask the girl to sleep with him if she really wants to be paid for her boiled eggs. The problem is that if the girl returns home without the money, the mother may beat her up and demand the money. In this case the girl is caught in the middle – if she refuses the man, she does not get paid and will have to face the wrath of her mother – and in most cases the girls would rather give in than go home without that money.

Asking parents to send their children to school is often not easy, as they will ask who will supplement the income that will be lost when the children are sent to school instead of hawking. Our organisation is trying to work closely with the Ministry of Education and UNICEF office in Sokoto in order to find a solution to this problem. ‘How sad, many girls missing from our country are found buried in some graveyard…. India is growing dynamically in every fields. Today, the boom in economy, innovative technologies and improved infrastructure has become nation’s pride. The country has witnessed advancements in all fields but bias against a girl child is still prevailing in the country.

This social evil is deep rooted in Indian ethos and the most shocking fact is that the innovative and hard high end technologies are brutally killing the Indian girl child. Innovative techniques, like biopsy, ultrasound, scan tests and amniocentesis, devised to detect genetic abnormalities, are highly misused by number of families to detect gender of the unborn child. These clinical tests are highly contributing to the rise in genocide of the unborn girl child. In today’s day and age most couples prefer the process known as a planned pregnancy, because of various factors; prime amongst them being the financial well being to support the birth and nurturing of a child. In such cases, the first prenatal visit actually happens prior to actual pregnancy, to see whether one is ready to go off the contraception pills and conceive a baby. However, in maximum conceptions, one is unaware of the pregnancy until actual realization dawns after one skips the first menstrual cycle. Normally doctors except ladies to pay their first visit anywhere between the sixth and twelfth week after conception. Amniocentesis started in India in 1974 to detect fetal abnormalities. These tests were used to detect gender for the first time in 1979 in Amritsar, Punjab. Later the test was stopped by the Indian Council of Medical Research but it was too late. The benefits of these tests were leaked out and people started using it as an instrument for killing an innocent and unborn girl child. Many of the traditional women organizations also took up cudgels to stop this illegal practice but all failed and with the passage of time these tests became a major contributor to bias against a girl child.

Female feticide and infanticide is not the only issues with a girl child in India. At every stage of life she is discriminated and neglected for basic nutrition, education and living standard. When she was in the womb, she was forced to miss the moment when she was supposed to enter the world. At the time of birth her relatives pulled her back and wrung her neck. After killing her she was thrown into a trash can.

During childhood, her brother was loaded with new shoes, dresses and books to learn while she was gifted a broom, a wiper and lots of tears. In her teenage, she missed tasty delicious food to eat and got only the crumbs. During her college days, she was forced to get married, a stage where illiteracy, lack of education resulted in high fertility rate, aggravating the condition of females in the country. Again if this female gives birth to a girl child, the journey begins once again. She missed all roses of life and was finally fitted to a graveyard. That’s where she got peace of mind.

The nation of mothers still follows a culture where people idolizes son and mourns daughters. UN figures out that about 750,000 girls are aborted every year in India. Abortion rates are increasing in almost 80% of the India states, mainly Punjab and Haryana. These two states have the highest number of abortions every year. If the practice continues, then no longer a day will come when Mother India will have no mothers, potentially, no life.

We all are proud citizens of India. The need of hour is to realize our responsibilities and give a halt to this evil crime. What can we do to curb the brutal and undesirable practice of mass killing girls? A determined drive can initiate a spark to light the lamp and show the world that we all are part of the great Mother India..