Times News Network
AHMEDABAD, INDIA, November 15, 2003: On his 31st birthday, Mitesh Patel of Rajkot, Gujarat found his ageing father was worried because he had not found a suitable bride for his son. The old man was left with no alternative but to “settle” for a tribal girl, in the process coughing up a large dowry (bride price, actually), as per the tribal marriage custom. In Gujarat, where the sex ratio has dropped to 878 girls for 1000 boys, villages are grappling with this new problem. The grooms are waiting. But, where is the bride? Said Haribhai Adhruk, a village elder, “This trend is becoming commonplace in our village. It’s a fallout of people not wanting girls, and the sonography machine has played havoc,” he says. Experts warn that social practices like dhoodh-piti (tradition of drowning infant girl in milk prevalent in Saurashtra), sata-paddhati (tradition of marrying daughters into the family of daughter-in-law) and issues like domestic violence, gender discrimination and illegal abortions continuing unabated, there are grave consequences in store for Gujarat. “The state government has begun confiscating unlicensed sonography machines and has raided illegal sonography centres. But, it is society that should realize the problem and bring about a difference,” says Amar Vyas, a social activist in Mehsana, a district notorious for female feticide. A startling instance of the social complicity was apparent when the Ahmedabad district health office appealed to people to report cases of female feticide anonymously. Not a single call was received on the phone number that was advertised. “If this trend continues, it will create law and order problems with a rise in domestic violence and infidelity,” says social scientist Achyut Yagnik.