Lohri for girls receives appreciation

Anilesh S Mahajan TNN
13th January, 2008, Times of India, Chandigarh Edition
Chandigarh: Fazilka, situated near the Indo-Pak border, has put itself at the heart of the battle against female foeticide. On Friday the town celebrated a collective Lohri for more than 100 newborn girls. The folk festival of Punjab is usually celebrated for newborn boys only. While this reflects on the inherent patriarchic nature of the society in the state, the celebration for girls can be seen as an attempt to reform the mindset that works against them. The celebrations, organized by a local tabloid Sarhad Kesri have now received the appreciation of two women who hail from the town and have been successful in different spheres of life. Padmashree award winning singer Pushpa Hans and Maharashtra IG (crime) Meera Chadha Borwankar told TOI in separate communications that they were moved by the report regarding the celebration they read in the electronic version of the newspaper's Chandigarh edition. The celebration in Fazilka had the town's who's who taking part. This was a first of its kind celebration in the state organized without government help. Rakesh Nagpal, the organizer of the event said he was happy that two of the successful women from the town had appreciated the effort. Punjab has been criticized globally for its skewed sex ratio. The government has started acting against the evil of female foeticide but has not been very successful. "I still remember my days at my home there. My town has a history of supporting girls. The people there will not allow the menace of female foeticide to prevail," said Pushpa Hans. She is a noted Punjabi singer considered a living legend. She added that her area is known more for successful women than men. Be it Noorjahan, Reshma or Mandira Bedi. "I am sure that my town is proud of its girls," she said. Meanwhile, Meera Chadha Borwankar said she was proud of the efforts being made in her hometown. She stated that it was only because of her hometown's culture that both she and her sister, who is senior income tax officer had made it big. "We are ready to make any contribution needed to spread the message for saving the girl child," she said. It is high time that we wake up and stop female foeticide and killing of newborn girls, she said.

A Lohri to fight the darkness : FAZILKA AGAINST FEMALE FOETICIDE

Times of India, Chadigarh, 10th January, 2008

Anilesh S Mahajan TNN
Chandigarh: The cold, dark practice of female foeticide in Punjab is about to find resistance in the warm glow of the Lohri bonfire. In Fazilka subdivision of Ferozepur district, a local tabloid, Sarhad Kesri, is going to celebrate this festival for the girl children of the area. Lohri, which marks the last day of Paush month in the Vikrami Samvat calendar, is traditionally celebrated only for newborn boys. Fazilka is a far-flung, lessdeveloped area of Punjab. But this celebration can bring it to the forefront of spreading awareness against the killing of girl children and female foeticide. The local tabloid with it's small office here, will hold the celebrations for about 100 newborn girls. This would be the largest such programme to celebrate Lohri for girls in Punjab. That too without government support. "I have details of all the 937 girl children born this year in the sub-division, but we had limited resources, so we decided to keep it a low key affair," says Rakesh Nagpal of Sarhad Kesri. They have asked the families of the newborn girls to register themselves and they will be made part of the celebrations on a first come first serve basis. "We have already exceeded the 100 mark, but will accommodate the additional entries," said Rakesh. He said they had budget of Rs 35,000, which he was putting in from his own pocket. "I might not save every girl child in the state, but I am sure my small effort would encourage others to accept them," said Rakesh. The sex ratio of Punjab is 874 females per 1000 males, much below the national average. Ferozepur also comes low on the national district wise sex ratio chart. Punjab has also received criticism for not controlling the decline in sex ratio. Nagpal said the traditional song of the festival, 'Sunder Mundriye' also carries the message to save the girl child. Nagpal said that is what inspired him, "The whole song is based on a girl, and is sung by girls. It will be very unfair if we do not celebrate this festival for girls," he said. Wife of local MLA Surjit Jayni, Nirmala, is helping Nagpal in this effort. "The celebrations in this programme for newborn girls will be the same as they are traditionally for the boys. Every child will be given new clothes, and sweets like gachhak, rewri apart from peanuts, popcorn etc," said Nagpal. It can be added that in the recent times this area has shown improvement in sex ratio, especially infant sex ratio.