For so long, the society has enjoyed the birth of a male child. Every time when a baby boy is born, parents celebrate the moment by offering sweets to their relatives, friends and nearby neighbours. This hasn’t been the case when it comes to the birth of a girl child. According to United Nations report, Indian girl child aged 1-5 years was 75% more likely to die than an Indian boy child. In the past couple of years, there were just 914 girls for every 1000 boys under the age of 7.
The society must understand that the equality between men and women is important. In no circumstances where a woman or a man should be treated differently. Amidst all infamous activities, there are some positives to cherish. India is experiencing a positive change as 60% of children adopted in this nation were all girls. It is good to see such transformation in India, particularly in a society that is obsessed with the male child.
The states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have shown interest towards adopting a girl child. Between the month April to June 2015, child adoption centres across India seemingly received 1,241 requests to adopt a baby girl against 718 for a baby boy. According to a survey, in the past three years, 60% of girls were adopted whereas the remaining 40% is boys. It is during the same time when PM Modi launched scheme for girls “Beti Bachao aur Beti Padawo” to spread awareness for girls in the society.
Maharashtra proudly tops the list by adopting more girls than any other state. Then comes Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. These three states alone adopted 40% of girls according to information obtained under the Right to Information by Bangalore-based OnlineRTI.com from the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare.
“Many couples prefer a baby girl as they believe that girls by nature are more affectionate and loving towards parents than boys,” said A Sreedevi, superintendent, Directorate of Women Development and Child Welfare Department, Andhra Pradesh. “At the same time, let us not forget that non-availability of male children for adoption is also an important factor.”
“Maharashtra has the highest number of adoption agencies in the country at 60 while other states that are bigger have on an average 20 adoption agencies,” CARA CEO Lieutenant Colonel Deepak Kumar said.
In 2012-13, 5,002 adoptions in 2012-13, 3,050 were girls, and of 4,354 adoptions in 2013-14, 2,601 were girls. In 2014-15, 2,555 of the 4,362 children adopted were girls while in 2015-16, 2,295 of the 3,677 adopted were girls.
In 2017-18, there was a steady rise in the number of adoptions. Of the 3,276 children adopted in India, girls were found to be more in number as compared to boys. It reads, 1,858 girls and 1,418 boys, as per the data given in response to the RTI query. Adoption in the Indian nation also saw an increase, with the number rising from 578 in 2016-17 to 651 in 2017-18.
In 2016-2017, out of the 3,210 children adopted in India, 60% were girls ie. 1,915 in total. Maharashtra once again topped the charts with as many as 711 girls and Karnataka with 252 followed by West Bengal with 203.
“It is not that availability of the girl child is higher but that parents are opting more for a girl child. We give them three choices – one can either opt for a girl or a boy or can give no preference…The percentage of those opting specifically for girls to boys would be 55:45,” he said
