An estimated 30,000 women devotees who visit the Golden Temple every day will be given a sapling of one of the varieties of trees mentioned in the Guru Granth Sahib. They will be asked to plant the sapling as a reminder to save the girl-child and the environment. Punjab has one of the lowest sex ratios in India

Starting August 27, all women devotees at Amritsar’s Golden Temple will be given a sapling free of cost to be planted back home as a reminder of an important message: save the girl-child, save the environment.

The ingenious scheme, originating from the holiest Sikh shrine, in a state with one of the lowest sex ratios in the country, is called ‘Nanhi Chaanh’ (small shade) and aims to put the force of faith behind the need to spread sensitivity about the girl-child and the environment.

There is growing concern in Punjab over its poor sex ratio: 874:1,000 according to the last census in 2001.

The scheme, a joint initiative of the Punjab government, the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) and Impact Group of Companies, aims to underline the fact that both the girl-child and the environment need to be nurtured and cared for.

Under the scheme, to be made a permanent feature during the months of February and August, which are planting months, all estimated 30,000 women devotees visiting the Golden Temple every day will be given a sapling of one of the varieties of trees mentioned in the Guru Granth Sahib. The saplings will be distributed in special boxes designed to allow in light and air, along with water from the holy Sarovar.

Explaining the rationale behind Nanhi Chaanh, Harpal Singh, chairman of the Ranbaxy Group and Impact Group of Companies, said: “Mothers and trees are givers. They provide us so many things without expecting anything in return.” He added that they had asked the SGPC to extend the scheme to other gurdwaras as well. “This scheme is also being launched by us at several other religious places, including Ajmer Sharif.”

SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, who described female foeticide as “a major cause of concern,” said other gurdwaras could be roped in. “Earlier too a hukumnama (commandment) was issued by the Akal Takht condemning the hideous and reprehensible practice (of sex-selective abortion),” he pointed out.

Guru Nanak Dev is quoted as having said, in 1499: “It is a woman who keeps the race going and we should not consider her condemned or cursed, when from woman are born leaders and rulers”.

This is not the first time Punjab has come up with a novel scheme to protect the girl-child. Early this year, the state government floated a scheme honouring those who provided information about cases of female foeticide. It announced a reward of Rs 5,000 to anyone who tipped off the administration about sex-determination tests being conducted anywhere in the state.

Prior to that, activists in Punjab launched a campaign against female foeticide after the disturbing discovery of several female foetuses, in wells in Patiala.

Sources in Punjab’s social welfare department said that developed countries like the US had 1,031 women as against 1,000 men. The world average was 1,045 women per 1,000 men. India has lost a whole generation of women, especially in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, to female foeticide.

There are a lot of statistics on the subject: the British journal The Lancet estimates that over 10 million girl babies were lost in India over the last 20 years; the national average female ratio has gone down from 972 in 1901 to just 933 in 2001; in Haryana there are only 861 women for every 1,000 men as opposed to the national average of 927 women to 1,000 men; in Mansa district of Punjab there are only 779 females per 1,000 males.

Every year in Punjab about 1 lakh girls die before they are born, according to Anurag Aggarwal, a senior bureaucrat who has written a book on the subject. “With a gross birth rate of 3%, Punjab should see 7.5 lakh births every year -- over 3.5 lakh females and an equal number of males. But the census shows that one-fourth of baby girls go missing. This translates to 1 lakh girls a year.”

Source: The Indian Express, August 25, 2008
             http://www.punjabnewsline.com, August 2008
             http://www.panthic.org, August 2008