Amir Khan effect: Rajasthan sarpanch files cases against female foeticide in his own village!
Jaipur: the relation between celebrities and social causes is indeed an uneasy one. A celebrity will always remain open to the accusation that she or he is making use of a worthy cause to add to her popularity. In the era of networking, the distinction between real belief and pretense blurs even further and we can never make up our minds on what or who is genuine and who isn’t. However, it is often easier to gauge the consequences of celebrity endorsements.
If reports are to be believed Aamir Khan’s “Satyameva Jayate” episode on female foeticide has inspired a sarpanch in a Rajasthan village to register police cases against women and families who go for tests to detect and abort a female foetus. “Illegal sex determination is rampant in the Shekhawati region (Jhunjhunu, Churu and Sikar districts),” sarpanch Randheer Singh of Budania village told the press. As we all know, problems like foeticide, dowry killings and child abuse have one thing in common – the first requirement is that a community clearly admit that the practice exists and place its secrets in the public sphere. It is indeed a fact that despite the occasional qualms, societies that practice foeticide discuss the matter only in whispers, and whispered discourse leads nowhere.
The village Budania lies around 200 km from Jaipur and is home to some 5,000 people. Inspired by Amir Khan’s TV show a sarpanch in a Rajasthan village has started filing police complaints against couples indulging in sex-selective abortion. Randheer Singh said a six-member committee had been formed to keep a tab on pregnant women.
“After watching Aamir Khan’s TV show ‘Satyameva Jayate’ on female foeticide, I felt that awareness in Rajasthan is not enough,” he said. “Checking female foeticide at the village level is necessary to save girl children.” He said that auxiliary nurses and midwives know about almost every pregnant woman in villages.
“If a woman is found involved in illegal sex determination and abortion of a girl child, an FIR (First Information Report) will be filed against her with the police,” Singh said. “If she is forced to abort by her in-laws, similar action will be taken against them also,” he said.
According to the 2011 census, Rajasthan has 883 girls in the 0-6 age group for every 1,000 boys. The child sex ratio in 2001 was 909. The Rajasthan government has taken several measures to end illegal sex determination tests. It has hiked the amount of money given to people who complain about errant ultrasound clinics.
Aamir Khan’s programme telecast on May 6 did not take matters from scratch and in fact based itself on a prior sting operation done seven years ago by two journalists to expose growing female foeticide in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Even in the next few episodes, Amir has shown a healthy tendency to involve activists and researchers who have been involved in the areas and issues for years. In this sense, he has not shown a tendency to ‘own’ the many causes espoused by him and in fact he categorically admits to NOT being an activist!