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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Girl child, welcome home by Santosh K Kiro

Girl child, welcome home by Santosh K Kiro

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published Published on Apr 11, 2011   modified Modified on Apr 11, 2011

Low on economic progress, high on progressiveness. That sums up Darntoli, a tribal hamlet in Torpa block of Khunti district which clocked one of the highest sex ratios, 994 females for every 1,000 males in the 2011 Census, the provisional figures of which were released yesterday.

According to 2001 Census, the figure was 971 females.

The latest figures are much higher than the state average of 947 and the national average of 940.

About 54km from the state capital, Darntoli, with 30 Munda families, is dependent on farming, with an average annual per capita income of around Rs 36,000 to Rs 40,000. But local resident Subodh Purty said most households were nuclear, comprising husband, wife and children.

They not only welcome the girl child with open arms, they positively rejoice over her birth. In 2010, Darntoli saw the birth of six children, including three girls. All are healthy.

“Among tribals, girls are family ‘wealth’, which is why the bridegroom pays a bride price. Whenever a girl takes birth, the entire village rejoices,” said another Darntoli resident Chinta Bhengra.

Herbal doctors Chinta and his wife Sangita Bhengra, have three daughters — Anshu, Deepika and Shimran — and a son Nitish.

But sex selection was never an option, though the Bhengras could have done so without visiting ultrasound clinics. Herbal doctors, using traditional knowledge, have the expertise to predict the sex of a child inside the womb, they claimed.

“Most tribal elders know if a woman is pregnant with a boy or girl by observing her gait. Abortion is a strict no-no if it’s a girl,” Bhengra said.

Except ploughing in the field, still a male preserve, tribal women contribute to all economic activities of her household.

Gender discrimination is rare, if not virtually unknown. “I never felt that my parents love my brother more. They give more importance to my education compared to his, because I do well in studies,” said Shanti Hembrom (18), a student of Loyola Inter-College in Khunti.

Shanti’s brother Bipin is a school dropout.

“This is something that the rest of so-called developed India can learn,” said Torpa block development officer Ajay Kumar.

Tribal women are more proactive about earning than men, say NGO professionals. Bhaskar Kumar of Pradan working for livelihood promotion in Torpa block, said women showed greater interest in poultry farming, often earning Rs 4,000-5,000 a month each.

“A woman’s labour often turns around her family’s economic status, earning her respect,” said Kumar.

The village has electricity, and TV sets are not uncommon. Mothers are aware about free antenatal and postnatal care, and vaccines provided by health department under National Rural Health Mission. They throng the nearest hospital in Torpa — a referral hospital 8km from Darntoli.

Unlike most cases in rural India where the health of the girl child is neglected at the expense of boys, here, gender equality rules the health front, too.

“Boys don’t take care of parents like girls do. Boys don’t help us in household chores. This explains why tribal families cherish the girl child,” added Purty, a father of two boys and two girls.

But boys should not feel left out. After all, Khunti district was home to Jharkhand’s most famous son. Tribal icon Birsa Munda was born in Ulihatu, only 30km from Darntoli.

The Telegraph, 11 April, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110411/jsp/frontpage/story_13837936.jsp


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