Save the girl child

When God made Adam, he also made Eve. But looking at the current provisional Census data released by the government of India, I really wished God had made provisions for one Eve for every Adam. In a country presided by a woman and where the 'hand' behind the ruling party is that of a woman, the census shows a really shameful face of India when it come to the child sex ratio. The 'Save a Girl Child' campaign has again gained momentum in India. Slogans, campaigns, posters are all over the place. But what remains a major question is that even after 64 years of Independence, why the girl child still craves for her freedom here in India?

(source: www.indianchild.com)

The census did give us a reason to smile with the welcome news that since the last nine decades, India is finally showing a significant slowing of the growth rate. It gives us a ray of hope that India's population will definitely stabilize in the near future. Also the literacy rate has gone up from 64.83 to 74.04 in the last ten years. But what has really shamed the nation is one statistic that shows the 'child sex ratio' has fallen steeply from 927 in 2001 to 914 in 2011! Even though the number of girls per 1000 boys in the age group of 0-6 has been falling continually since 1961, the fall in the last decade is the worst since independence, as the statistics reveal. So are we moving ahead or backwards?

Cynics will still argue that the overall sex ratio in the general population has in fact increased 932 in 2001 to 940 in 2011 and so we should be happy about it. Yes we definitely should be, but only after accepting the fact that the improvement is a mere reflection of the greater natural longevity that the female sex enjoys over its counterpart and also to the recent advances and improvement in the health care sector. It can be my no means be used as a blanket to cover the disturbing reality of the declining child-sex ratio.

The recent census has widened the gap between the northern and the southern India. Though the north-east states show a very healthy picture with Mizoram, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh displaying the most admirable picture of child sex ratio, the rest of the country has shown decline in the stats with even Kerala and Puducherry failing to sustain the upgoing ratio back in 2001. Only a few states like Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram and Andaman and Nicobar have shown improvement.

So where have we actually gone wrong? Everyday most of the dailies have some or the other editor emphasizing the fact that India is evolving into a global superpower. But what piece of wisdom explains the continually plummetting number of girl child as compared to the boys? The reasons are many! People started misusing the concept of the MTP act that was laid down in 1971. It took 23 years for the government to realise this, before the act was amended in 1994 so as to criminalise the practice of getting an ultrasound scan done for the sole purpose of determining the sex of the foetus. But that was certainly not going to be enough. Even the new PNDT act has failed to keep up to it's name and has not been strictly implemented as many studies have revealed.

Looking at the way this issue is handled in this country, it is rightly said that 'The hardest profession one can take in life is to be a girl child.' Right from the time she is in the womb to her adulthood, its not just the male domination in the society that is responsible for the pain and discrimination she goes through but even the elder females in the family contribute to it. Female foeticide, infanticide, early marriage, sex-discrimination and dowry are the social evils that have crippled the society right from the pre-independence era. It has become a norm in the northern and the western states of India that a male child is a must so as to inherit the name of the family for many generations to come.

Ever wondered what would be the consequences if the child sex ratio keeps dipping down in the years to come? If not, dont be shocked that the 'doomsday' has already started showing it's ugly face in northern states like Haryana where people have finally started 'buying' girls from other states like Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and the North East so as to give birth to their family inheritor. Often the poor girl is 'shared' by men in the same family and once the 'motive' is accomplished the same girl is resold. This 'bride-trading' has become a concept that will be hard to erase unless and until some major stringent action is taken by the competent authorities in near future.

What are the reasons that is pushing this 'global superpower' so behind when it comes to gender equality? Certainly the three main factors are Poverty, Illiteracy and lack of awareness about health resources. Poverty leads to malnutrition. It is said that out of 7.5 crore malnourished children in India 75% are females! It is no surprise that how nutrition wise girls are still discriminated even during their adolescence. This further results in various reproductive disorders. Add to it, the custom of child marriages and early marriages with ill-planned pregnancies and lack of proper health care. Needless to say that dowry and domestic violence are the next social evils that many women in our country have to face with a notion which they are expected to accept that its natural to suffer because of the X chromosome which they have inherited. With 70% of our population coming from the rural setup, this picture is really alarming. 

To all those who are still stuck in this age old ideology of male inheritor, I request you all to please free up your mind. Listen to your inner voice, listen to the unseen face of that beautiful life inside that womb which asks you 'Why?' every time a thought crosses your mind to take away her right to see this beautiful world even before she is born. In the end it's not the 50:50 sex ratio that is important but the equality in the thoughts of each one of us towards a girl child and the acknowledgement in her abilities to stand at par with the male sex that should make the difference. Its not about how one sex is superior than the other or which sex has an advantage over the other. Its all about giving equal opportunities to both of them and not resort to the devils in your mind that doubt the abilities a girl child has, to bring a smile on your face. Its high time that the gender bias should be uprooted from the social ideology and apprehensions towards a girl child be overthrown. 

No wonder why they say, 

"If you educate a man, you educate one person, but if you educate a woman, you educate a whole family!"

Pepsi Change the Game Videos

Recently there have been many Pepsi adverts on 'Change the Game' campaign being shot for the current ICC Cricket world cup 2011 that is being held in the subcontinent with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh being the co-hosts. The cricketers that acted in the shoots were Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Kevin Pieterson, Billy Bowden, Malinga, Dilshan and Shakib-ul-Hasan. I am just posting all the videos together here as I love them a lot. 

If you ask me, I really love the one shot with Billy Bowden. That man is just terrific with his antics and he acted so natural in that advert. Way to go Bowden! Anyways enjoy.

1. Dhoni's Helicopter Shot

2. Sehwag's Upar cut

3. Bhajji's Doosra

4. Dilshan's Pallu Scoop

5. Pietersen's Palti shot

6. Bowden's Tedi Ungal

7. Malinga's Slinga

8. Shakib-ul-Hasan's super scoop

So which one did you like???


(Disclaimer: All the above videos are part of Youtube and whole credit is given to the source)

Egypt presses Ctrl-Alt-Del

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

February 11th, 2011... 1102-2011... an interesting date when literally a crowd close to a few millions of young, spirited and determined youths turned the tide of their destiny back, just like the date, to start a new beginning to their future. By the time I write this post, the Egyptian Revolution that started much earlier than January 25th had resulted in ousting their President Hosni Mubarak who ruled them for 30 long years. (Phew!)

(Courtesy: Internet)

While writing this blog, I admit, before January 25th, I hardly knew anything about Egypt except about Giza, the Suez Canal and well of course the famous photoshop gimick about Hosni Mubarak. As a non-Egyptian, I guess that was the only thing I ever knew Hosni Mubarak for. And I assume there were millions others like me around the world who never particularly knew much about Egypt and its people except for the Pyramids. But as history would have it, the perception of the world towards this country with a sharp right angled boundary, changed so dramatically over the last 18 days. And no price for guessing who was responsible for that... it was the common middle class youth in his twenties, calling for their right to lead a life they deserve.

The Egyptians proved the real power of 'We the people'. This uprising will be known for the non-violent and peaceful approach that the demonstrators used to make their voices heard. It will be remembered for giving a new meaning to the word, 'Internet Revolution'. The protestors showed no sign of backing away at any time from their key demand about Mubarak stepping down.

The most important thing that came out of this revolution or uprising was that people not only in the middle-east but the whole world witnessed one's faith in humanity's spirit and its aspirations. Though there was so much to fight against - the government, the thugs, the police, yet the demonstrators remained admirably peaceful while defending themselves. They didnt show a single sign of resorting to violent means while sticking to their core demand of installing democracy in their state. In Tahrir Square or 'Liberation square' as it is called, everyone saw this tremendous spirit of cooperation amongst the people themselves. They were so much determined and illustrative towards their goal while cleaning the streets after the clashes, protecting the Egyptian museum, setting up make-shift hospitals, distributing free food and water and protecting the journalists. The spirit of the people behind this uprising showed that autocracies cannot long survive the sharp and focused glare of their own people and community.

(courtesy: blog.aljazeera.net)

The slogans and the chants like "al sha'b yurid isqat al nizam!!!" (The people want the regime down!) and "Yascot Yascot Hosni Mubarak" will be rememberd forever in people's mind. These people were no one else but the educated middle or upper middle class, responding to other young activists and bloggers well versed with blogging and other social media like the Facebook and Twitter. Wael Ghonim started it on facebook, Asmaa Mahfouz posted one dramatic self-recorded video on youtube, and it spread like a wild fire bringing down a 30 year old regime. Al Jazeera played a massive role in this uprising. Despite the fact that it's license was revoked, it quickly had other alternatives like satellite phone calls, video uploading facility through creative commons, linking a live feed through Youtube, just to keep the spark of journalism alive. The internet shutdown flopped big time in its attempt to stop protesters from communicating and coordinating with each other. The crackdown on the foreign press made the resolve of the protesters even stronger. Information was relayed in 140 characters throughout the world, faster than one could believe. Twitter proved as a mini-broadcast medium giving out information to the world who was stuck to the television to witness a revolution, one of its kind. Citizen journalism was at the summit.

All the petty attempts by Mubarak to stay connected with the Egyptian politics finally failed when on 11th February 2011, Vice-President declared that the president fled to Sharm-el-Sheikh. I would like to congratulate and thank the people of Egypt for showcasing such beautiful spirit of determination and human aspirations. The road ahead may be bumpy for you, but rest assure, the world has no doubt today that you will scale it on your own successfully. Greetings from India...

Sachin and the World Cup hype!

I am writing this post when it is just less than ten days left for cricket's biggest carnival to take place on the subcontinent. I was just surfing through the news channels. And was astonished to see how pathetic the 'special' coverage were on each news channel. 

(Courtesy: Internet)

Theres so much hype around the Indian team. I mean just look at the ads! Captains walking on the ropes, and Dhoni falling midway but ultimately reaching the Cup! I have failed to understand the hype around Sachin Tendulkar. I am a die hard fan of that man. And even the fellow cricketers talking about "Sachin ka sapna pura karenge!" The news channels going ga-ga over "Sachin ka world cup!" 

Come on Guys Why are we building up so much pressure around him? Sachin is mentally tough, I am sure about the fact that he is not new to this media frenzy but making a tamasha out of this just for the sake of a few TRPs is really disgusting! Just attributing this world cup win for Sachin might backfire on the Indian Team itself! Why cant we just pray for a good game of Cricket and leave the God alone...?