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285 Indian girls no longer "Unwanted"

Started by jimmy olsen, October 22, 2011, 04:58:31 PM

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jimmy olsen

October 22, 2011, 04:58:31 PM
What a lovely culture.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44998378/ns/world_news-wonderful_world/

QuoteName changers: 285 Indian girls no longer 'unwanted'

District hopes renaming ceremony will give girls new dignity, fight discrimination

By CHAYA BABU

updated 10/22/2011 11:54:16 AM ET 2011-10-22T15:54:16
- MUMBAI, India — Hundreds of Indian girls whose names mean "unwanted" in Hindi chose new names Saturday for a fresh start in life.

A central Indian district held a renaming ceremony it hopes will give the girls new dignity and help fight widespread gender discrimination that gives India a skewed gender ratio, with far more boys than girls.

The girls — wearing their best outfits with barrettes, braids and bows in their hair — lined up to receive certificates with their new names along with small flower bouquets from Satara district officials in Maharashtra state.

In shedding names like "Nakusa" or "Nakushi," which mean "unwanted" in Hindi, some girls chose to name themselves after Bollywood stars like "Aishwarya" or Hindu goddesses like "Savitri." Some just wanted traditional names with happier meanings, such as "Vaishali" or "prosperous, beautiful and good."

"Now in school, my classmates and friends will be calling me this new name, and that makes me very happy," said a 15-year-old girl who had been named Nakusa by a grandfather disappointed by her birth. She chose the new name "Ashmita," which means "very tough" or "rock hard" in Hindi.

The plight of girls in India came to a focus as this year's census showed the nation's sex ratio had dropped over the past decade from 927 girls for every 1,000 boys under the age of 6 to 914.

Maharashtra state's ratio is well below that, with just 883 girls for every 1,000 boys — down from 913 a decade ago. In the district of Satara, it is even lower at 881.

Such ratios are the result of abortions of female fetuses, or just sheer neglect leading to a higher death rate among girls. The problem is so serious in India that hospitals are legally banned from revealing the gender of an unborn fetus in order to prevent sex-selective abortions, though evidence suggests the information gets out.

Part of the reason Indians favor sons is the enormous expense of marrying off girls. Families often go into debt arranging marriages and paying for elaborate dowries. A boy, on the other hand, will one day bring home a bride and dowry. Hindu custom also dictates that only sons can light their parents' funeral pyres.

Fighting on behalf of girls
Over the years, and again now, there are efforts to fight the discrimination.

"Nakusa is a very negative name as far as female discrimination is concerned," said Satara district health officer Dr. Bhagwan Pawar, who came up with the idea for the renaming ceremony.

Other incentives, announced by federal or state governments every few years, include free meals and free education to encourage people to take care of their girls, and even cash bonuses for families with girls who graduate from high school.

Activists say the name "unwanted," which is widely given to girls across India, gives them the feeling they are worthless and a burden.

"When the child thinks about it, you know, 'My mom, my dad, and all my relatives and society call me unwanted,' she will feel very bad and depressed," said Sudha Kankaria of the organization Save the Girl Child. But giving these girls new names is only the beginning, she said.

"We have to take care of the girls, their education and even financial and social security, or again the cycle is going to repeat."

It is far better for the truth to tear my flesh to pieces, then for my soul to wander through darkness in eternal damnation.

Jet: So what kind of woman is she? What's Julia like?
Faye: Ordinary. The kind of beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you just can't leave alone.
Jet: I see.
Faye: Like an angel from the underworld. Or a devil from Paradise.
--------------------------------------------
1 Karma Chameleon point

Iormlund

#1
October 22, 2011, 05:01:25 PM
Wow, that IS fucked up.

dps

#2
October 22, 2011, 05:03:57 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on October 22, 2011, 04:58:31 PM
What a lovely culture.

Well, at least it's better than Chinese or Japanese culture.

Martinus

#3
October 22, 2011, 05:06:16 PM
Is our culture the only one that is not fucked up?

The Brain

#4
October 22, 2011, 05:07:49 PM
As long as it's done through abortions it's totally meh.
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

Razgovory

#5
October 22, 2011, 05:17:11 PM
Quote from: dps on October 22, 2011, 05:03:57 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on October 22, 2011, 04:58:31 PM
What a lovely culture.

Well, at least it's better than Chinese or Japanese culture.

I think it's a wash.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Habbaku

#6
October 22, 2011, 05:17:20 PM
Quote from: Martinus on October 22, 2011, 05:06:16 PM
Is our culture the only one that is not fucked up?

Polish culture is pretty fucked up.
The medievals were only too right in taking nolo episcopari as the best reason a man could give to others for making him a bishop. Give me a king whose chief interest in life is stamps, railways, or race-horses; and who has the power to sack his Vizier (or whatever you care to call him) if he does not like the cut of his trousers.

Government is an abstract noun meaning the art and process of governing and it should be an offence to write it with a capital G or so as to refer to people.
-J. R. R. Tolkien

Neil

#7
October 22, 2011, 05:19:06 PM
Quote from: Martinus on October 22, 2011, 05:06:16 PM
Is our culture the only one that is not fucked up?
'Our'?  That's pretty presumptuous of you, don't you think?
I do not hate you, nor do I love you, but you are made out of atoms which I can use for something else.

Razgovory

#8
October 22, 2011, 05:26:48 PM
Quote from: Neil on October 22, 2011, 05:19:06 PM
Quote from: Martinus on October 22, 2011, 05:06:16 PM
Is our culture the only one that is not fucked up?
'Our'?  That's pretty presumptuous of you, don't you think?

It's cute how he wants to be a westerner.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Eddie Teach

#9
October 22, 2011, 07:36:53 PM
Quote from: Habbaku on October 22, 2011, 05:17:20 PM
Quote from: Martinus on October 22, 2011, 05:06:16 PM
Is our culture the only one that is not fucked up?

Polish culture is pretty fucked up.

As is Western Culture. Just less fucked up than the alternatives.
To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

dps

#10
October 22, 2011, 10:00:36 PM
Quote from: The Brain on October 22, 2011, 05:07:49 PM
As long as it's done through abortions it's totally meh.

Since our laws do allow abortion for gender selection, in one sense it's a bit hypocritical to look down on India for this.  But it can't be anywhere as common for it to happen in the West, because we don't have anywhere near that big a difference in the number of male and female births (unless there's been a huge demographic shift that we've not noticed). 

Also, the article mentions young girls dying at a higher rate because of neglect.

Josquius

#11
October 22, 2011, 10:05:05 PM
Aborting girls is rather lame but I suppose one way of looking
at it is it helps in sorting  India's too large birthrate.
The potential trouble from India and China with their many
men unable to find women though.... who knows how that
will end up.

Calling girls unwanted- at first it makes me a laugh a little
at the sheer fairy tail messedupness of it all. But...yeah.
Poor girls. At least they seem to be doing OK, one they
talk to is still in school at 15 and all that.
██████
██████
██████

Razgovory

#12
October 22, 2011, 11:07:52 PM
Quote from: Martinus on October 22, 2011, 05:06:16 PM
Is our culture the only one that is not fucked up?

I thought you would be pleased with this.  It will encourage homosexuality.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Lettow77

#13
October 22, 2011, 11:16:08 PM Last Edit: October 22, 2011, 11:51:51 PM by Lettow77
 I never held much stock in India or its women, but they aren't completely without their charms.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-10-21/india/30305734_1_life-expectancy-infant-mortality-rate-muslims

Naming your kid 'Unwanted' is pretty despicable.

Quote from: dps on October 22, 2011, 05:03:57 PM


Well, at least it's better than Chinese or Japanese culture.

hiss, lumping China and Japan together? Japan deserves a lot better than that. Also, what about its glittering culture bothers you?
It can't be helped...We'll have to use 'that'

garbon

#14
October 23, 2011, 12:00:39 AM
Yeah it is pretty awful that a district would try and do such a thing...lol wut?
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.
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