Baby 7 Billion: A milestone for girls’ survival rights
Lucknow, 31 October 2011: Child rights organisation Plan India today celebrated the birth of a girl in Uttar Pradesh as the world’s symbolic 7 billionth person. The organisation described ‘Baby 7 Billion’ as a milestone for comprehensive action for survival rights of girls.
In an event held outside Lucknow, the capital of India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, the newborn was given a birth certificate by the local administration.
Bhagyashri Dengle, Executive Director, Plan India said: “By celebrating the birth of a girl as Baby 7 Billion we are drawing attention to the serious issue of India’s declining child sex ratio.”
Hundreds of thousands of female foetuses are being terminated in India every year even though sex-selective abortions and use of ultrasound technology for foetal sex-determination are illegal in the country.
According to India’s 2011 Census, the ratio of girls to boys has dropped to an all time low since records began. Today, there are just 914 girls for every 1,000 boys between 0 and 6 years.
Plan India has launched Let Girls Be Born campaign in six Indian states to galvanise action to address the issue of female foeticide.
“Plan has been working in India for the last three decades and the survival, protection and development rights of girls have been a key focus of our community development work. With ‘Let Girls be Born’ we are raising awareness and advocating for the fundamental survival rights of girls,” added Bhagyashri Dengle.
In Uttar Pradesh, Plan’s partner Vatsalya is working with communities and making them understand the social consequences of widening gender gap. Plan chose Uttar Pradesh to mark the birth of Baby 7 Billion as the state accounts not only for the highest number of births but also the highest number of ‘missing girls’. With a population bigger than that of Brazil, it has just 899 girls for every 1,000 boys. The situation is similar in other states such as Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and country’s capital Delhi.
As part of Plan’s initiative, Baby 7 Billion, along with other six newborn girls from the same community will be sponsored by seven eminent women from India. They will support the sponsored girls for the next seven years – the key period for survival and childhood development and serve as ambassadors for girls’ survival rights. The organisation will report back on the development of Baby7 Billion girls at regular intervals.
Arti Kirloskar, Secretary, Plan India Board is spearheading this initiative and the other eminent personalities joining her are: Abha Narain Lambah, Conservation architect; Anoushka Shankar, Sitarist; Mallika Sarabhai, dancer and choreographer; Sunita Narain, environmental activist.
Arti Kirloskar, Secretary, Plan India Board said: “Through this small initiative we want to demonstrate that through concerted efforts we can bring in a lasting change in the lives of millions of girls. Allowing girls to be born and giving them equal chances in life is critical and it does not cost much to ensure a quality life.”
Editor’s notes:
• Plan India is a nationally registered child centred community development organisation. For over 30 years, Plan and our partners have helped communities throughout India to help themselves, so that children have access to their rights including the right to protection, basic education, proper healthcare, a healthy environment, livelihood opportunities and participation in decisions which affect their lives. We encourage children to express their views and be actively involved in improving their communities. Plan India currently works in 9 states in India and has impacted the lives of over a million children.
• As a response to India’s worst child sex ratio since records began, Plan India has launched ‘Let Girls Be Born’ (LGBB) campaign and its main objective is to realise a gender balance in society by eliminating female foeticide/ infanticide and ensuring the right to identity, name and citizenship for girls.
• Plan India is part of Plan International, one of the oldest and largest children's development organisations in the world with programmes in 50 developing countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas to promote child rights and lift millions of children out of poverty. The organisation works with more than 58,000 communities, covering a population of 56 million children.
• The ‘Because I am a Girl campaign’ (BIAAG) is Plan’s commitment to unlocking the astonishing potential of girls around the world by fighting gender inequality, securing girls’ rights and lifting millions of girls out of poverty. The campaign is dedicated to building the human capital of girls through knowledge and skills, aiming to equip, enable and engage girls of all ages to acquire the assets, skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in life.
• Plan believes that birth registration is a critical first step in ensuring the rights of a child. Since the launch of its birth registration campaign in 2005, Plan has facilitated registration of over 40,000,000 people across 32 countries, most of them children. The campaign has helped to improve laws in 10 countries enabling access to registration for an additional estimated 153,000,000 people.
• World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development says globally, “missing” girls at birth and excess female mortality after birth account for an estimated 3.9 million women each year in low-and middle-income countries. Almost one million of these excess deaths are in India.
