As world population nears 7 bn,UP gets ready for landmark baby

Seven celebrity women,including sitar player Anoushka Shankar,green activist Arti Kirloskar and conservational architect Abha Narain Lambah,will sponsor the girls for seven years.

Talking to The Indian Express over the phone,Bhagyashri Dengle,executive director of Plan India,said the seven girls will be identified from the babies born at the Community Health Centre,Mal,and will be symbolic babies to mark the arrival of seven billionth baby in the world. “Seven celebrity women will sponsor these seven girls and become their godmothers,supporting them financially as well as morally for the first seven years — the most crucial phase in their life,given the high under-six mortality of the country,” said Dengle.

Dengle said Arti Kirloskar,who is also a board member of Plan India,is promoting this drive. Anoushka Shankar and Abha Narain Lambah have given their consent while the four other celebrities are yet to be finalised.

The NGO will ensure that the seven girls get their due at birth like their birth registration and vaccinations. “We always promote birth registration,which gives the child an identity,but birth registrations are abysmally low in the country,” emphasised Dengle. “We will also be using this opportunity to create awareness about women empowerment among the people and tell them about the consequences of population rise,” she said.

“Statistics say that as per the birth rate of Uttar Pradesh,the seven billionth baby is expected to be born here. The statistics also claim that the baby should be a boy. But all these are statistical calculations which may or may not come true. The issue at hand is that the world’s population is soon touching seven billion and it has its consequences with respect to available resources. These are the issues we will be focusing on in the programme,” Dr Neelam Singh of Vatsalya,an NGO working against sex discrimination in Uttar Pradesh,which will also be a part of the programme.

Confirming that the NGO has been given the permission to hold the programme at the Mal CHC,Dr Ashok Mishra,Chief Medical Officer of Lucknow,said: “We will also ensure that the birth registration of seven identified girls who are born that day is completed on the same day,which is not an usual practice.”