Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has decided to use his clout on social media to try and fix one of the most intractable problems in the country today—the declining male-to-female ratio.
On June 28, Modi launched #SelfieWithDaughter on Twitter. The campaign’s aim is to spread awareness about gender imbalance and urge parents to value their daughters. Within hours, Twitter was flooded with parent-daughter selfies, shared along with #SelfieWithDaughter.
In many parts of India, daughters are considered to be a burden because of the dowries required to marry them off. Parents also tend to view a son as a means of lifelong support, unlike a daughter who becomes a part of her husband’s family after marriage.
The result of these beliefs is that India’s child sex-ratio (below six years) is now the worst in 70 years, with 918 girls per 1000 boys in 2011. If the ratio does not improve, it could lead to a deficit of 23 million women in the age group of 20-49 years by 2040.
This discrimination isn’t just limited to India’s uneducated or low-income families. A 2011 study by the Centre for Global Health Research—a non-profit which works on health issues—found that selective abortion of girls is more common in wealthy households, and among women with at least a decade of education.
In spite of these grim statistics, there are still men and women in India who have only one child—a daughter—and choose to stop there.
Guys daughter is so important as like son.. So give value to daughter.
Thanks
Gaurav Sahni
