The Decreasing Ratio of Daughters in Society - A Social Problem
Dear brothers and sisters.
As part of the effort to create a global organisation for Sanatani spread across the world, Gujaratis living in countries like the USA, Canada, UK, Africa and Australia return to their motherland every year during December and January. To build family and professional connections and to exchange ideas with one another, an NRI gathering was organised at Vishv Umiadham on January 7, 2024, where a large number of NRI friends were present.
Additionally, after 500 years of struggle, the consecration ceremony of the temple of Shri Ram Lalla—a symbol of the country’s self-respect and pride—was completed on January 22 by India's respected Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. The entire nation felt the joy and enthusiasm of this occasion. Through the campaign "Spiritual Consciousness to National Consciousness," the Honourable Prime Minister has performed the monumental task of highlighting the established values of Sanatan Vedic Dharma by building temples that are the heritage of Indian culture. Because of this, the entire country feels a sense of pride and deep respect toward the Prime Minister.
The respected Prime Minister has given a significant message about awakening national consciousness through the construction of the Shri Ram temple to the so-called intellectuals who publicly criticise the building of temples. Under this same vision, the world's tallest temple of Jagat Janani Maa Umiya is also being built at Vishv Umiadham. This will serve as a center of faith and energy for the entire society.
On January 26, alongside the Republic Day celebrations, we are all working through Vishv Umiyadham to give the society a new direction by planting trees in large numbers. This is part of the "Save the Environment" campaign, implemented through the idea of "Tree Donors" for just ₹500. It becomes the responsibility of all religious and social organisations to make the community aware of social problems. As a part of this, we brainstormed about "Addiction as a Social Evil" in the last issue. Now, the time has come to deeply reflect on another social problem: "The decreasing ratio of daughters in society".
Through years of struggle and hard work, the Sanatan community has made rapid progress over the last few years. We have established new records of development. While we are all proud and happy about this, some worrying problems are also surfacing alongside this progress; in my view, the most serious problem is the decreasing number of daughters in society. If we consider the factors responsible for this, the first is "female foeticide".
As if a girl is an unwanted child, some people get illegal gender tests done and kill the foetus in the mother's womb. This is the biggest misuse of science and technology and is a social crime. But friends, in today’s age, it is not right to discriminate between sons and daughters, as God has given both equal abilities. In many fields of development today, daughters have succeeded in proving their capabilities by fulfilling responsibilities equal to sons.
There are many examples where a son becomes a "neglectful son" and leaves his parents in an old age home. In contrast, there are examples of daughters who remained unmarried to serve their parents, sacrificed their careers, or stayed with their parents even after marriage to be their support. We are seeing some success in the community's efforts to highlight these facts and erase the stain of female foeticide, but a new trend is now increasing in the new generation.
In this trend, if the first child is a boy, the parents do not want a second child. This trend is also responsible for the decreasing number of daughters. At one time, our families were large. In every family, there was the sweetness of relationships like brothers, sisters, uncles, and aunts, but because of our narrow and selfish mindset, these relationships began to disappear due to having only one or two children. Joint families are beginning to break, and our strength began to decrease. While more children are our strength, we started seeing them as a burden, leading to the slogan "We two, our two". Now, moving beyond that, the trend of the "One Child Family" has started, which could prove fatal for social relationships.
Today, many women in society run away from family responsibilities for their personal happiness, resulting in a trend of staying unmarried until an older age. This "Single Woman" trend also gives birth to many problems.
Additionally, the modern woman prioritises her job or business in the race to build a career; for her, family is not important. Believing that higher degrees and careers are life itself, she does not even think about marriage or family.
Due to all these factors, the number of daughters is decreasing, which is creating a terrible "social imbalance". Because of the low ratio of daughters compared to sons, we have to choose daughters from families with unfavourable customs and cultures and marry them even if we don't want to. If we don't find a solution to this, a disastrous social situation will be created.
In this situation, efforts should be made at every level to increase the ratio of daughters. Parents who give birth to more than one daughter should be honoured on social platforms. A permanent arrangement should be made at the social level to help families with more than one daughter with their education and marriage. I make a humble appeal that every organisation participates in these kinds of efforts.
