by Allanah Leahy – EM TV Online
According to research conducted by the Social Action Forum for Manav Adhikar New Delhi, in India, having a son is preferred. This unfortunately results in millions of abortions and dwindling numbers of Indian girls.
Maneka Gandhi, India’s Minister for Women and Child Cevelopment, said earlier this year that 2,000 girls are killed each day, mostly during pregnancy or just after birth.
A group of seven bikers from the Teesta Thumpers Motorcycle Club (TTMC) set off yesterday on a 27-day trip to promote gender equality and raise awareness on female foeticide. Although India has laws banning expecting parents from testing to determine their child’s gender, the country’s overall preference for boys remains strong.
“It is a 27 day-long trip, in which we are covering more than 3,000 kilometres on our bikes. The ride is about saving the girl child. So we are riding through the states where these things happen very regularly. We will try our best to create an awareness to save them,” said Sourav Bhattacharjee, TTMC road captain.
“We cannot change the mentality of the people but we will try to spread the ‘save the girl child’ slogan so that we can make people aware not to kill the female foetus. Because being a girl, if I can ride and if I can do all the household work, the girls can do everything. They are equal to boys so we will spread that slogan not to kill female foetus,” said Priyanka Bhattacharjee, whose female TTMC biker status breaks stereotypes in itself.
TTMC will travel from Siliguri in West Bengal, through Ladakh in the Himalayan region and on to Kashmir to spread their message of ‘save the girl child’.
Source: Reuters
