Tamil Nadu's preference for boys stumps council officials

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A couple from neighbouring Tamil Nadu had approached the state child welfare council here, armed with a stack of documents, for adoption two months ago. The couple wasted no time in selecting a frail two-year-old boy too, but then came the shocker. Council officials were stumped by their request that they needed the boy in exchange for their girl child.
At least 98 of the total 100 applications the welfare council received from Tamil Nadu in the past four years were for boys, council data show.
Non-governmental organizations working in the area of infant mortality in Tamil Nadu attributed this to the increasing gender discrimination in the state. "Though we are constantly campaigning against infanticide and gender discrimination, there are still such instances in rural parts of the state. The heavy expenditure for marriage and women security are the major reasons for such a mindset," said Bimala Chandran, director of Ekta Resource Centre for Women, Madurai. The sex ratio of Tamil Nadu was 946/1000 in 2011 as against 980/1000 in 2001, she added. In contrast, families from Kerala preferred girl children. According to a senior official with the council, more than 70% families in Kerala preferred girls for adoption.
B Ekbal, public health activist and former vice-chancellor of Kerala University, said parents in Kerala did not show any gender discrimination. "This aspect has been ingrained as an integral part of Kerala culture. Social factors like high female literacy and matriarchal family system have played a major role in this. Also, couples in the state believe that girl children are more caring than boys. Some even feel issues like property disputes are comparatively less if they have a girl child," he said.
A council official said the idea of 'Ammathotil' had its origin in Usilampatti, a town in Tamil Nadu that got the first hand-driven crèche from the government. "However, it's strange that most childless families on Kerala-Tamil Nadu border still prefer to adopt children from Kerala,'' he said.
The Union government had, in 2012, issued an order that any one desiring to adopt a child (in-country adoption) shall register himself/herself with only one specialized adoption agency, preferably the nearest to his/her place of residence, and such agency shall guide the needy on the registration process.
Council administrative officer P Sasidharan Nair said they had often wondered why Tamilian parents approach them for adoptions when they had many adoption centres in the state. "During pre-counselling sessions, they promptly decline a girl child irrespective of their age or education. And what is more disconcerting is that most families from the neighbouring state are financially and educationally sound," he said.