*Deepender Deswal* *18 March 2011*
*HISAR *: It is heartening to watch transgenders embrace the weaker sex in Haryana --notorious for its skewed sex ratio. Where the government has failed to do anything tangible in balancing the girl-boy ratio, a group of eunuchs has adopted young girls, whose parents did not wish to bring them in this world. They already have with them three girls, who could have been killed in the womb had they not intervened. Shobha Nehru, who was the first eunuch in the country to win a municipal council election in 1994, is one such proud foster mother. By queer coincidence, she won the civic body election 3 times and has also adopted 3 girls -- Shalu, 14, Ekta, 10 and Ena, 8, soon after their birth. "Since I have been close to their families, they happened to share their intention of aborting the female foetus. I requested them against it and offered to adopt the girls, to which they agreed and delivered the babies. They are my daughters now," said Shobha while holding on to Ena. "Though we earn a major portion of our earnings from ceremonies after the birth of a male child, we also visit families where girls are born. Even if we don't get nazrana (gift), we bless the newborn and try to convince the family that they should happily welcome the Luxmi (goddess of wealth). Last week, we celebrated the birth of a girl child in Saini family. Santosh Saini, the newborn's grandmother, offered us gifts and sweets," she added. The group, comprising Geeta, Chanda, Anju, Suman and Aarti, visits families with the message that there should be no discrimination against girls. School for special kids: At a time when politicians are confined to paying only lip service to issues of social importance, Shobha Nehru's group of eunuchs has engaged itself in building schools. They have constructed three schools, including one for mentally challenged children, using donations collected in Hisar town. While two primary schools in Nehru Nagar and Bhagat Singh Nagar are already functional and have around 600 students on rolls, the building for schooling mentally challenged kids has just been completed. Shobha, who remained a municipal councillor, said work on 2-storey building for running a school for mentally challenged kids was complete and that they had further donated the building to Hisar Welfare Society. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-18/india/29144691_1_girl-child-eunuchs-primary-schools -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/MhaNewsViewsIndia?hl=en ------------- Affiliated Groups : MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY INDIA [email protected] Discussions on mental health law / policy / plan monitoring / human rights etc [email protected] India-specific news and views related to mental health [email protected] Information and support to carers of people with mental health issues [email protected] Mutual support and sharing of experiential knowledge, skills and social learning amongst peers
