By Dishi Solanki:
The safest place for an infant is in her mother’s womb. The sentence is so not true in states like Punjab and Haryana where female infanticide is extremely deep rooted. These states have the worst sex ratio in the in the country. According to the 2001 census, there are only 874 women with respect to 1000 men in these states. The national average was 933. In fact, the sex ratio of Punjab has never gone above the national average India as a country reveres more goddesses than any other in the world. But when female infanticide occurs right in front of our eyes, we stand mute and indifferent.
It is really tough being a girl in a man’s world in India because her very right to live or be born is not granted to you.
This above sentence may sound a bit extraneous after the CWG 2010 that were held in Delhi. It came to be a delightful shock when 7 Haryanvi girls showed their competence to win gold, silver & bronze medals in various events that took place at CWG. Geeta, Anita, Babita, Nirmala, Suman, Seema are no girls next door. They justify themselves as a new horizon on Indian sports & each of them standing tall stretching the new era of female empowerment in society.
Grabbing these medals into their bags was no overnight achievement. It was an uphill struggle, sacrifice, faith of 10 years. Devoid of a lavish atmosphere and expert training, these girls hail from interior villages of Hisar & Bhiwani.Having burned the midnight oil these girls have come a long way clad with thorns of hardships. Due to monetary problems in those grueling years of training these girls used to exercise by following traditional methods like running through the fields, doing sit ups on the bricks. Bronze medalist at CWG Suman belongs to a very poor family who do not own basic household amenities. Sisters Babita and Geeta who won silver and gold respectively in freestyle wrestling also had to fight a long way to nab the right to wrestle. Their father was asked to shut down the akhara that he had set up for his daughters training. Despite such social blockages these sisters rose high to make their way to forthcoming Olympics.
Today when the scenario has changed with these girls having tasted success the Khap panchayts have now changed their dummy gods. They have now announced to facilitate the sisters and honour these successful young sportswomen.
With such great achievements there has already been a big leap been taken towards the deliverance of rustic taboos present in the society.