Chocolate sticks to your fingers. There is no plate or spoon, the slices of cake are served directly in the hands of around twenty guests. Curtains hide beds arranged at the corners of the large Spartan bedroom. To brighten up the room, a nurse lit candles. She distributes to families and the nursing staff roses which they must symbolically give to the two mothers. Jayashri and Nena, 23 and 28, embarrassed to be the object of so much attention, gave birth a few days earlier. Each presses her swaddled infant against her. A girl, of course!
"We only organize this party for girls," explains Doctor Ganesh Rakh, 45, owner of this clinic in Pune, 160 kilometers from Bombay, in western India. Those who give birth to boys do not need this ceremonial, their families do it. They always celebrate the arrival of a son. "
The doctor also reserves a "gift" for mothers: they do not pay! Ganesh Rakh gives birth to women who give birth to a girl. Or 25,000 rupees (about 320 euros) when there is no complication, and 40,000 (about 510 euros), if a cesarean is necessary. A gesture, hopes the practitioner, which will help to change mentalities and fight against millennial discrimination.
In this country of 1.3 billion inhabitants, women very often find themselves excluded from the inheritance, in particular from the land inheritance. In addition, it is the boys who take care of their parents during their old age and, traditionally, perform Hindu funeral rites at their death. A girl is seen as a burden, an “expensive guest” who, once married, will go and live with her in-laws. "Raising a girl is like watering a plant in the garden of its neighbors," says a popular expression.
In some rural areas, they may be overlooked at birth, when they are not killed. And India's economic development doesn't help. Growth has enriched a number of families, making the question of succession crucial, and therefore the need to have a male heir, even for the middle and urban classes. And the practice of dowry - the goods that a future wife must bring to her marriage -, which increases the cost of a girl for a family, although prohibited by a law of 1961, has become widespread throughout the population.
"When I started out, I saw mothers cry when they gave birth to a daughter," recalls Dr. Ganesh Rakh. Relatives left the room and did not return. They sometimes refused to pay the hospital bill. For me, announcing the birth of a daughter to a family was like announcing the death of a patient. "
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To make sure to give birth to a boy, some women resort to questionable prescriptions from traditional doctors. “They give them pills or liquids to swallow. Or ear and nose drops. Of course, there is no point. "
In India, the legalization of the voluntary termination of pregnancy in 1971, the arrival of amniocentesis in 1974 and ultrasound in 1979 changed the game. It became possible to know the sex of the child before birth. The Indians then began to mass abort when the fetus was a girl. The ban on these selective abortions, since 1994, has not prevented the practice from continuing illegally, especially in the northern states of the country, including that of Delhi, which form what is today called the "belt of feticides ".
A "massive genocide"
According to an economic report presented in 2018 to the Parliament, India has a deficit of 63 million girls - almost the equivalent of the population in French metropolis! And 239,000 girls under the age of 5 die there on average each year because they do not receive as much care and food as a baby boy.
The 2011 census shows the extent of the situation. India then had 91.4 girls per 100 boys (against 105.3 girls per 100 boys in France), even less in the northern states. The doctor speaks of "massive genocide".
It is the product of the social lift favored by the economic development of the country. He comes from a modest background, his mother cleaned and his father carried heavy loads at the grain market. As a teenager, he dreamed of being a wrestler. His mother dissuades him, lest he blow up the family's food budget. So he focuses on his medical studies. In 2007, he took out a loan to open his clinic, and became Tanisha's father. First realization: "At birth, I was very happy. A girl ? It was not a problem for me. But my entourage sought to comfort me, saying to me: Do not worry. Your next child will be a boy . "
The 2011 census pushes him to offer free deliveries. His wife is opposed to it, for fear that it will weigh on the finances of his establishment. But his father supports him, ready to return to work to help his son. On January 3, 2012, Ganesh Rakh launched his “Save the little girls” movement.
Through this initiative, it is all of Indian society that he hopes to transform. Because the doctor makes the link between the lack of women and the insecurity of which the Indian women are victims. The country is indeed often shaken by cases of sexual assaults and sordid rapes, especially on young girls. In December 2012, the death of Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old student, after a gang rape on a private bus in New Delhi had moved the whole world. Demonstrations had broken out in 52 Indian cities.
But it will take more to change mentalities. A year later, the chief of federal police declared in press conference: "When one cannot avoid a rape, then it is better to appreciate it. The example shows how little elite certain women make of women. " It's a vicious circle. Fewer girls mean fewer women later on to marry, explains Dr Rakh. This makes many men forced to remain single, and it creates insecurity for women, further deterring families from having daughters. "
A global movement
When we met him, the obstetrician totaled 1,686 births of young girls in his clinic. The initiative is beautiful, it could have been kept confidential. It was to count without the sense of communication of the doctor, who loves having a baby photographed in his arms. His initiative echoed. Today, nearly 200,000 doctors, 13,000 NGOs and 2 million volunteers are committed to saving young girls in Asia, Africa and in countries with high Asian immigration, such as Canada, the United States, United Kingdom… "Abroad, Indians change their clothes, not their mentality", regrets the doctor.
In his cabinet, shelves are cluttered with distinctions that reward his fight. He proudly shows a photo on which he poses with actor Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan and a car. "He gave it to me so that I could go around India and carry my message," he says.
At the clinic, the nurse puts out the candles, puts the leftover cake in the fridge. Calm has returned, the two girls have found sleep. They do not yet have a first name. "In India, they are given after a month," says a nurse. Jayashri is radiant in his orange sari. "I'm not afraid, my daughter can do whatever she wants," she hopes, smiling at her nine-day-old baby. More girls should be born to save our country. "
Due to lack of care or food, 239,000 girls under the age of 5 die in India each year.